HIGH BEAM LIGHT Ground Wire

[Tinkerman]

My TR is a post 60000 commission number car. I bought a new wiring harness from a reputable company. I noticed that on the high beam connection wire there is a small ground wire attached to the high beam light bulb connection. I called the company and was told that because of the plastic sockets it had to be grounded. Apparently the older cars the sockets were metal and self grounded when installed. The wire is about 4" long with a round terminal with a 1/4 " hole. About the only thing I can reach with it is a dash cluster mounting post. Would that be safe to use? Everything else in there that's reachable are larger than 1/4".
Your help greatly appreciated, Tinkerman

 

[TR3driver]

I would suggest one of the mounting studs for the speedometer. Close by, and smaller than 1/4". An "internal star" type lockwasher might be a good idea too, to ensure a good connection in the future.

Another solution would be to cut and splice the old socket to the new wiring harness. Given the comments that someone else on this forum made about the plastic breaking, I would be tempted to go that way.

The speedo still has to be grounded for the other lights to work, so you'll still want the other ground wire whichever way you go. Don't try to rely on the bracket's contact with the back of the dash; it may work at first but is bound to get worse over time.

 

[CJD]

Along those lines, there should already be a ground wire running from the center instrument cluster to one mounting stud for both the speedo and tach. The same stud that has that wire would be ideal...

John

 

[TR3driver]

That's an interesting washer pump you've got there, John, rather different than the one from TS39781LO. Is it original? Do you know what the commission number was?

 

[CJD]

Hey Randall...

I don't know if it's original or not. The car is #60732. I had to change the one in the picture out for reman one from Moss, as the seals were shot. You'll see that some PO heated the extra tube and pinched it closed, so I know that part of it was not factory!

How did they usually look?

John

 

[TR3driver]

I don't know how they "usually" look. Apparently most of them were dealer-installed, so the dealers may have installed different pumps depending on what was handy at the time. But mine looked more like the illustration below from the TR4 SPC, and had a knob like the one shown on TeriAnn's web site: