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TR2/3/3A New wiring harness

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Wifesmainwrench

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I'm stripping the 3 down for paint and am rebuilding everything rebuildable. TRA has a sale on new wiring harnesses. I am sorely tempted, but also cautious. I've read stuff in the forum about this from time to time, but I'd like to hear the most recent skivvy on the subject. Everything electrical worked just fine on the car when I jacked it up, save the horn, which took to blowing all the time (disconnected at the horn). Any tips or references appreciated.
WMR
 
My position on wiring harnesses is this: if the insulation is undamaged and not hardened, cracking, or crumbling, the wiring is OK and you won't get much of an advantage in replacing it. Rewrapping, if necessary, and reusing it is fine. A better upgrade is to replace those crappy bullet connectors with something more modern, like Molex connectors. If the ends of the wire are badly tarnished, you can turn them back into bright copper with a little weak muriatic acid or even vinegar. Just splay the conductors, dip them minimally into the acid, and then, when it's bright, into some ammonia (or other base) to neutralize the acid.

A lot of money is spent unnecessarily on new wiring harnesses.

FWIW, I'm an electrical engineer, so I'm not a complete babe in the woods here.
 
Really depends on how your old harness worked and looked. Mine was a nightmare - everything worked but a bother to deal with and the appearance bugged me:

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I got the PVC replacement loom from Moss. It was perfect. Much easier to work with and on the eyes:

uFxD6Pa.jpg
 
FWIW, I've been using "Tarn-X" to remove copper oxide for several years now. Seems to work very well, can be rinsed off with plain water or just wiped off with a paper towel. I'm not sure what the effect will be in 50 years, but I've not seen any bad effects in almost 10. And sure is a lot easier than spreading the strands out and scraping with a knife.

As far as whether to replace or rebuild the harness; that seems like more of a philosophical question to me. I kind of like keeping the original components as much as possible, but I'm also much less worried about appearance than most. Which is why my TR3 still has it's original harness even though the colors are long since faded to invisibility, and most of the cloth has rotted and fallen off.

Kind of reminds me of the old saw about George Washington's axe. If you replace every piece with a new one, is it still an original Triumph ?

Along the same lines, replacing bullets with Molex connectors strikes me a lot like dropping in a complete Ford drivetrain. It's probably an improvement, but ...
 
I pretty much agree with Randall on the old harness. Mine is old, original as far as I can tell, has a few add ons, dead ends, and hand made OD harnesses, a bit long in the tooth in general, but if I were to redo the engine compartment with shiny new paint , for which I have no plans, I'd have to think again about putting those old harnesses back in.
+1 on the Molex also.
Tom
 
My 1958 still has the original cloth and like said it is getting close to 60 years old. Anyways, on a new rebuild, I would go new and stock original and make sure you get the correct type of covering for your year. A stock 1957 is heavier covering or maybe wirer or at least it looks that way to me. At some point the factory stopped using cloth and I might be wrong about that, but I think the tr3B has black tape covering stock, and some these guys sell black type covering for all years of the TR3. I like the cloth and would tape my own.

The sub harness like lights and generator do not come with the harness I have seen, but they are available. They just do not come with the initial harness. On a rebuild I did and Just in case British Wiring is reading, I am still waiting for that high beam socket you were going to send me. I used my old one and you lost a customer! Often it is best to go with one of the Big 3 for the warranty.
Steve
 
It's sold as "tarnish remover", which works on copper as well as silver, etc. I picked mine up at the grocery store.
https://www.amazon.com/Tarn-X-Tarnish-Remover-12-oz/dp/B0716HLLNX

Doesn't leave any stains that I've seen, but it is a fairly strong acid so you want to be careful with it. Promptly rinse with water if you get it on your hands or anywhere else it doesn't belong.

This might give some idea of how it works. I just wiped it on with a cotton ball, then immediately wiped off with a paper towel. The dark areas are where I didn't apply the Tarn-X.
 
We used it to shine our belt buckles in military school.

Nothing beats a fresh wiring harness!

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