• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

TR2/3/3A Wiring 1954 TR-2

Share this page

R

Redoakboo

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
I am at the wiring stage in the restoration of my TR-2. The Mtc Manual is not very helpful when it comes to the wiring. I labeled most of the harness when I removed it.

Question 1- Dist. wire to coil, yellow/black. Does it go to the + terminal or - terminal. The white wire goes to the other terminal

Question 2- The four wires from the Horn Push/ Direction Switch are light green, green, dark green and purple. They don't match the colors in the wiring diagram. They are green, green/red, green/white and brown/black.

Any suggestions??

Dick
 
1) For positive ground, the dist lead goes to the "+" terminal.

2) My suggestion is to "buzz out" the wires to the control head. You'll need something that will test for continuity, a DMM set to ohms (X1 if you have a choice) will do. Some of them offer a continuity check function, or a powered test light will do as well.

Set the switch for left turn, then test each possible pair of wires until you find two that show continuity. Mark them, or write down the colors.
Then set the switch for right turn, and check again.

There should be one wire that showed continuity in both of those tests, it goes to the GN wire in the wiring harness. (Assuming your car is LHS.)
Then the one that showed continuity only for left turn goes to a 4-way, where it joins GR from the harness, and the lead to the left front turn signal.
Right turn goes to a 4 way, with two GW wires from the harness.

The remaining wire should be for the horns (also noticeably heavier gauge than the other 3). It goes to a 4-way sleeve, with the NB wire from the LH horn and the NB wire from the harness.
 
"Positive Ground"? The engine is set up for negative ground, does the lead from the Dist. still go to the + terminal? "Buzz Out" ? what does that mean? I think I understand your procedure for checking the continuity of the Control Head wires.

Thanks Randall, wish you lived next door!

Dick
 
Antique analog ohm meters had an audio setting that would "BUZZ" when continuity was achieved, hence
the "Buzz out" expression.
 
Randall,

I "Buzzed" the wires with the common wire connected to the Green, the Right was connected to the GW's. There was no GR to connect the Left one to nor was a NB for the horn wire.
Question: I see the two Snap Connectors on each side. It looks like, per the wiring diagram, that the two large Bn/Blk wires should go through the Snap Connectors before they connect to the horns? Furthermore, should there be another Bn/Blk wire connecting the two Snap Connectors?

As you can see I'm not a wire Geek. Dick
 
Dick:
When I first received my TR2 (TS981) back from the paint and body shop in 2003 there was no trace of any wiring. I ordered from British Wiring a correct black cloth braided loom. The tangled mess in the shipping box was very daunting so I went to the red Triumph service manual (TR2 / early TR3) where in the electrical section there is a very good wiring diagram. Took that book to the local Staples (I think) where they enlarged the diagram to 2' X 3'. They then glued that 2' X 3" to a piece of plaster board which I used in wiring the 2. That piece of plaster board now hangs in the garage.

Now some 46,000 miles later, I have never blown a fuse nor had any problems with my wiring job. Must add that I had no meter or continuity gauge to guide me. Total job was a weekend so don't be afraid.

Lou Metelko
Auburn, Indiana
 
Lou,

I have a pretty good wiring diagram but, It lacks things like wiring for the heater, overdrive/relay until I found one recently that included them. If you read my post above #7, two of the wires from the horn hub, the left turn wire and the horn wire have nothing to connect to ? As I stated in #7, the large brown wires to the horns, per the wiring diagram, seem to pass through the Snap Connectors before they get to the horn? There also seems to be a connecting wire, large brown, that runs between the Snap Connectors; mine don't do that. There is no GR for the left wire and I can only assume the horn wire is supposed to connect to the left Snap Connector?
My main harness looks like it was added new 30 years ago and was in good condition.This was the sleeping position for the Tr, for next 30 years. The harness going back to the rear was also in good condition. The only ones I had to replace were the headlight and parking light harness and the overdrive harness. They had completely rusted away.

Do you have a large pic of your poster board you could send to my email address. I can download it in Picasa and enlarge it. redoakboo@yahoo.com Dick
 
The heater wiring is described in the Service manual, since it was often a dealer installed option....in Body, p12. There are front sub harnesses for the turn signals, which may have some of the wires you are missing up front.
 
Have you taken the top covers off the horns to see the 2 connectors inside? there sub-harness for the horns. There should 4 wires coming out of the steering column. 2 blinkers left and right --1 for flasher-- 1 for horn. My experience is the wires hook front and back of the 2 way connector to engage the horn with the small bnbk, making a 3 way. The small brown and black or some might say NB for Brown & black so you do get BB for black and brown.
steve
 
Back
Top