• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

wiring advise

Share this page

T

tomgt6

Jedi Warrior
Offline
I am going to rewire the 63 spitfire. The PO left wires all over the place, some cut and some still live. I have removed all the tape and find that the PO spiced in differant color wires. Example is from the headlights there is a wire that starts blue, than goes white and then ends up green inside the car. Some of the spices are good but most are not. So since this thing is a mess I have decided to put in a new up to date universal wiring harness. Has anyone else done this and do you have any advice. Thanks. Tom
 
I'm not quite sure what a "universal wiring harness" might be, but you can get an exact duplicate of the original harness from British Wiring <https://www.britishwiring.com/>, which will have all the correct colors, lengths, terminals, etc. And last I knew, they're willing to customize a harness (say you want built-in wiring for fog or driving lamps). The advantage is that it will go right in where what's left of the original came out, and you and/or any other future owner of the vehicle will be able to use a factory wiring diagram to troubleshoot in the future.

Oh, and contrary to popular belief, there's really no need for more than two fuses unless you plan on a: adding all kinds of electronic toys and such; or b: you plan in the future to allow someone to make the harness look like your current one looks now! :smile:
 
About the nicest thing I ever did on my TR3A was replacing the wiring harness. In addition to British Wiring you should be able to find a correct replacement harness from Moss, etc.

The right colors and routing will make your car much more reliable and easier to service as well as much better looking.

Not sure if a 63 Spit would have just 2 fuses -- even TR3As went with a third (inline behind the center panel) on US-Spec cars.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Not sure if a 63 Spit would have just 2 fuses -- even TR3As went with a third (inline behind the center panel) on US-Spec cars.

[/ QUOTE ]I'd have to double-check myself. Things get a bit tricky with early US-spec Spitfires, as the only completely correct wiring diagram came with the US edition of the owner's manual (factory workshop manuals do NOT include early US spec wiring diagrams). There might well have been a third (inline) fuse on the early Spits...and a fourth, if you count the one found in most period radio power leads!
 
I replaced the harness in the Mini and as mentioned above, I found this to be a tremendous and well justified improvement. (Incidentally, I put dielectric grease on all the new connectors to minimize any future corrosion). I've always had good dealings with britishwiring.com, they are good people. Another source for custom and stock harnesses is in the U.K.,
https://www.autosparks.co.uk/
I've never bought from AutoSparks but they have a good reputation particularly on custom harnesses and "combo" harnesses... like harnesses for a 1950's car where you've installed an alternator.
 
Back
Top