DANMAS@aol.com wrote:
>
> Fri, 21 Mar 1997 Nolan Penney wrote:
>
> << If you've got the time and ability to spice in pieces from other harness',
> I'd
> Nolan:
>
> If you can wire a Spit in less than one day, you are one hell of a man. I'm
> not saying you can't, mind you, I'm just saying I sure can't! To do that, you
> would not only have to be a very fast worker, but you would also have to know
> the wiring of the car like the back of your hand. If you can, I sure envy
> you.
Dan, there is a trick to this... you'd have to have everything in
order--all the required wire, connectors and terminals at hand. And the
other trick (done this a number of times on much, much larger harnesses)
is to tag _everything_ as it comes off the terminals, strip the entire
harness from the car, and lay it out on a large floor. Unwrap it, and
spread it out a little, and go circuit to circuit.
> I agree whole heartedly that it is better to get or make a new harness than
> trying to patch up old ones. If you patch them up now, you can be sure you
> will be patching them up as long as you own the car - which might be only til
> the first fire!. Besides, it takes a lot more knowledge to splice one than it
> does to do it from scratch.
And, it's more time-consuming, as well. One of the clear advantages to
doing your own harness, however, is being able to take advantage of a
trick from the bus, truck and aircraft industries--spare wires. These
harnesses often come with spares from the supplier, by requirement. Any
harness which is hard to get at or very long usually has spares
installed.
> I would not recommend going to a parts store for wire. They only stock about
> 4-5 colors, and there are at least 50 different colors used on a Spit (at
> least on my TR6 and MGB there are). Troubleshooting later on would be a real
> chore. I would contact:
>
> British Wiring,
> 20449 Ithaca,
> Olympia Fields, Ill 60461
> 708-481-9050
And thanks for the address. And you're right... one would have to make
notations on a copy of the schematics as one went along for the
replacement wire color. On larger equipment that I mention, color is a
help, but most now require a circuit ID and wire number to be
hot-stamped into the insulation for identification.
> They stock a complete selection of the proper colors and sizes of wire for
> british cars, and I think they may even have harnesses for Spits. The only
> problem is that wire is special ordered from England, and may take a while to
> get if they don't have it in stock.
When the rush is over at work, I'll have time to finish up a wiring
guide for upgrading connectors, and conversions to metric wire, which is
very much available in this country now, in virtually the same wire
sizes and background/tracer color combinations. Probably at lower cost.
> For most people, if they don't have a strong electrical background, I would
> recommend buying a complete harness.
I agree. Hugh McAleer has recent stories about how badly some can screw
up electricals, even with a manufactured harness.
> While it is possible to rewire a car
> without a deep knowledge of wiring, Too much time will be spent wondering and
> worrying if it has been done correctly or not (this wire looks like it goes
> here, but I can't be sure, maybe it goes there?). This can lead to extreme
> frustration, maybe even causing cancellation of the project.
I am hoping to return a favor or two to those here and elsewhere by
writing a short wiring and rewiring guide as I mentioned above (I did
auto electricals off and on for a couple of decades, and for the last
six years, have been working as a service rep and technical writer for a
bus manufacturer). Such a guide may not be for the purist, but for those
who want their cars to run more reliably, it may be of help. Much of
wiring is common sense, and usually, one needs only to get people
thinking in common-sensical ways for them to do much more than realized
they could.
Cheers.
--
My other Triumph doesn't run, either....
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