Winter Projects - Wiring Loom

[angelfj1]

After working on the 250 this week, in preparations for yesterday's annual Labor Day weekend auto show, "Duryea Days", it is clear that the wiring loom has seen better days. Basiclly most of the terminations are shot and most would need to be replaced. In addition, I am finding that the copper strands which make up the wire are broken in places where you might not expect such damage/deterioration. For example you might flex a wire several inches from the terminal end where it attaches to a dash lamp. The lamp will flicker indicating a bad connection. However, after confirming that the connection is good, the lamp still flickers. I am finding several circuits like this. When I strip back the insulation I am finding broken strands AND corrosion/oxidation under the insulated wire.

How can this be? What are the possible causes?
1. the wire was damaged before it was installed when the car was restored 20 years ago.
2. some agent has reacted with the wire, possibly something in the insulation, thereby weakening the wire.
3. the copper was not cleaned or otherwise treated properly prior to the insulation application.

Regardless of the reasons, what I now have is not acceptable.
I was considering just repairing/replacing the bad terminals, lamp sockets and otherwise places where the continuity is bad. However, considering my inclination for "correct" restoration, and the cost of the correct "Lucas" color coded wire, terminals, bullet connectors, the cost is high and this is a lot of work. So, now I'm considering replacing the entire loom.

Has anyone done this on a 250 or early TR6?
Are all the looms sold by the major suppliers of comparable quality? (I don't want to start a public debate over who's better, cheaper, etc).
Unless you have some general comments or experience/advice, please PM me if you have vendor related comments.

Many thanks

 

[Tinster]

Sorry, my mistake.
I stand corrected.

 

[JodyFKerr]

Here's another supplier: https://www.britishwiring.com/

And an interesting side note. Couple years back I made my own wiring harness for a Jensen-Healey. It became complex enough that I ended up skipping some of the less necessary stuff (seat buzzers, or anything that buzzed for example).

By the time I was done I'd spend nearly as much (~65-75%) money on wire and connectors as it would have cost to get a factory correct one. And that was three solid days of work to make it (10-12 hour days). While it was a great learning experience, and it allowed me to have the car back on the road much more quickly, I'll never do it again.

One thing I would recommend, and I design one for each LBC I do, figure out how to integrate in a secondary harness (that you make) which runs all the high voltage stuff (lights, horns, etc) through modern relays. It'll take the load off the replacement harness, can be hidden fairly easily, and it'll help those old lucas components last *much* longer.

Jody

 

[martx-5]

Dale, Don and I think BobbyD installed the Dan Masters entire car
Power Block. I believe they manufacture standard looms as well.
Very high quality, easy instructions. Even Dale accomplished it!!

https://www.advanceautowire.com/

Frank wants to go with a "correct" restoration, and as good as Dan Master's system is, it is modern with lots of relays etc. and is not anywhere near "correct" for a restoration that is looking to be as original as possible. Also, Dan doesn't make standard harnesses, although he does have the original schematics on the website.

I have installed Dan's harness in my TR3 and think that it is an excellent alternative to the stock system, but only if you're not into originality.

Edit: Dan's system is also a lot more work to install then a standard harness. You are basically wiring from scratch. He pre-wires the major "Power Block" which has all the relays and fuses, but after that you're on your own. His instructions are very good, but you'll have to run all the individual wires, add on any necessary connectors and bundle up the runs.

 

[BobbyD]

If you're going for originality, the AAW harness is not the way to go. Everything about it from the power block to the size of each wire to the color and feel of the wire screams after-market. It also screams high quality and reliability. BTW....if you visit AAW Web Site, you'll see that Dan has removed all references to himself from the site. He did this a couple of weeks ago. It's officially the AAW harness with which Dan is no longer associated.

 

[joejoecat]

I just had my TR4 rewired using the harness from British Wiring.They were very helpful and it seems to be good quality.

 

[pjsmetana]

When 2 dissimilar metals touch each other you get what is known as Galvanic Corrosion. This is the case inside your connections. The thing that you already know, is that it all needs to be replaced.

Don't get intimidated by the idea of building your own harness, its really not that hard. It is time consuming however. I would remove the battery, then pick a wire, label both ends, fabricate a new one, label both ends of that, then remove and replace. Easy as pie. Crimps, Solders, and even environmental spices are all super easy. You can even pick the colors to match the original, but I would go up a gauge (which is actually down in numbers) in wire size for each wire, as Lucas, aka the prince of darkness, made them a little too thin.

 

[MDCanaday]

The most important thing to remember when doing a harness replacement is to have the snippers ready and dont be shy!!Since the old harness is going to the recyclers,just snip off the wires at all the important locations leaving the end and just enough color coding to make it easy to unplug it and plug the new wires in.You should have lots of new connectors in one and two wire styles,and some dielectric grease to seal the connection.The grounds need more attention than most people give them(to their sorrow)dont join them in poor ground hades......
MD(mad dog)