Triumphants,
A most excellent point made by Randall and others here as I have as point of
reference what I assume is the wiring diagram for a TR2 on page 32 of my
Royal Red "Service Instruction Manual" Third Edition (Sixth Printing)
Publication Par No. 502602 to be tediously exact. I have found this diagram
to be correct so far but now that I think of it I just noticed that it does
not show the seperate rear turn signal indicator lights that my TR3A TS50550
has. I went ahead and ordered a vinyl harness from TRF for $170 that I think
includes the headlights. In any case its plain that the differences in price
are explained by originality. What is even more interesting is to learn from
more than one person that the degradation in my wiring would actually make
life easier for my poor old former generator. I have a feeling that it maybe
the real story was that it finally gave up the ghost after being abused for
who knows how long by the DCO (Darn Current Owner, me) by working with a
regulator doing no real regulation that contact was like on a 45 degree angle
and burned up to boot, and/or a cockeyed mounting of the genny itself. What
is really strange though is that it did, the charging system, actually work
for at least a few days between the time I got the new, to me, regulator, and
the day I actually got an ammeter in there to see in 'real' time all the juice
I was creating as I was so excited about being able to remove the battery
cable and not having the car stop running. None as it turned out but it sure
showed it discharging when I turned on the lights and the heater, with the
fuel pump going though I could only see it during the day.
Don't tell anyone but who knows how long I drove that car once in a long while
during the day, without lights, without an electric pump, without the
regulator working running directly off the battery, charging it for a couple
of hours because I thought the battery had just gotten low from sitting......I
doubt if it takes much of a charge to run just the ignition system off that
big old battery for an occasional spin. Ignorance was bliss I suppose.
I still don't really understand though how the wires being corroded, oxidized,
less conductive or whatever would not make the generators job tougher. I
would think it make everything work harder. I've only taken a really remedial
electrical course but I remember the analogy always being drawn between the
flow of water. I think of degraded wire as being like leaky or blocked, I'm
really not sure which, or how it could be both, but at bottom a less
efficient way of getting electricity from point A to point B. Therefore in my
simple mind I'm thinking, along with my alternator guy, that the generator,
and battery and everything in the charging system is going to have to work
harder and produce more, and maybe overload the system to keep things going if
things (power) isn't getting moved around as efficiently as it should be.
I'll take everyones word for it and I will go ahead and replace the wiring
anyway though more at my leisure now and for my future peace of mind and not
as a crisis measure. I must say it's pretty amazing how reasonable a cost it
is to replace the majority of the wiring in a car notwithstanding the obvious
sweat equity involved. The regulator and generator cost me almost as much and
I don't want to admit how much more the alternator cost for my 1990 300ZX that
I bought a year ago. And I didn't even want to put that one in.
Thanks all very much.
Jim Lee
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