I have dealt with this problem on a number of British motorcycles. The
harnesses are a lot simpler, but the problem is often the same: melted
wires, ratty connectors, clipped ends, scabbed on circuits, corroded Lucas
connectors, etc. I recall a Triumph Bonneville I bought actually had
sections of solid wire loomex wire and Marrs connnectors, usually used in
house wiring! UItimately you have three choices: make up new harnesses,
repair, or buy new.
I have made up harnesses from scratch. It is not really difficult, but it is
one of those things you have to really want to do. You can buy all the
various pieces you need from suppliers, including Lucas ends and connnector,
and appropriately coloured wire, if you want to stay original. In my case, I
had piles of British harness wire which I used. I was able to reuse most of
the Lucas bullet ends. Clip them off the old wire, put them in a lathe
chuck, and then run a small bit into the bullet, cleaning out the old wire,
solder, and junk. This works for soldered and crimped bullets. It would also
work on a drill press, but holding the bullets is a little tougher. They are
ready to solder at that point. I have done this on bikes. It is probably too
much hassle to make a whole car harness this way.
Often it is possible to repair a dodgy harness. If you have a melted wire
open up the harness and replace the length. Short/clipped runs can be dealt
with by adding lengths twisted, soldered, then protected by shrink wrap.
Lucas bullets can be soldered on, as mentioned above. The best protective
wrap is not black electrical tape, but a thin tape without adhesive. When I
bought my 1971 2500 somebody had done some welding on the frame near the
engine mount, and melted all the wires leading to the front of the car. They
then scabbed a number on wires, and ran duplicate circuits to everything
ahead of the melted area, leaving the old wire in place. Ugly, and not well
done!! I was able to bridge the melted section and use the original wiring.
I ripped out almost a wheelbarrow of wire that had been added.
A bit of an aside, but when you are working with the rubber coated
connectors which the Lucas bullets plug into, take the time to push the
metal piece out of the rubber and inspect it. The plated brass socket is
very brittle and often one of the ends is crushed or incomplete, resulting
in a poor contact. I find I have to pitch about half of them because of
this.
I don't know if anybody sells new TVR harnesses. (If anybody knows , please
tell us!) If they are available, I wonder how they deal with all the
variations required due to model changes. I am sure that there are small
companies who do custom wiring for English car, and could probably build
one using your old harness as a model. Check the back of vintage English car
mags for suppliers.
Stephen
> ----------
> From: GRIFF65@aol.com[SMTP:GRIFF65@aol.com]
> Reply To: GRIFF65@aol.com
> Sent: Friday, November 06, 1998 5:52 AM
> To: Rikrock@aol.com
> Cc: tvr@Autox.Team.Net
> Subject: Re: 2500M wiring harness?
>
> pick up a Street Rodding magazine and check out the wiring aftermarket
> stuff
> the hot rodders are using. There is some great stuff out there to rewire
> the
> car so that it all makes sense. I had never done such a thing before but I
> completely rewired a 2500M with a fuse box, wiring and components from a
> company called Centech. It was not that hard. It was great being able to
> add
> safety features like relays for high current circuits and extra circuits
> for
> fans, stereos, extra lights, etc.. It was also great to have to whole
> thing
> organized for easy trouble shooting. I used a modular approach with multi
> pin
> connectors for easy disassembly. There are several good books out there on
> auto wiring and the suppliers/manufacturers of the kits/components are
> extremely helpful. So, unless you are a real stickler for originality give
> it
> a try and make your own harness. Just a thought. Dave
>
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