Crumbling wiring

I have been working with the wiring for a while now. Like many others, I have found half melted wires, holes in wires, and poor connections. I have been suspicious of the main junction under the tank, and when I cut it open, this is what happened.



I can understand the rubber going bad after 37 years, but this is simply ridicules. Mind you, I didn’t yank or twist on the connection. The metal simply broke as I was pulling the wires apart.

Learned two things tonight.

1. Check and repair/replace all the wiring in the bike.

2. The next time someone with a 40 year old Cessna says “ lets go for a spin”, I think I will pass.

Diablouph said:

I can understand the rubber going bad after 37 years, but this is simply ridicules. Mind you, I didn’t yank or twist on the connection. The metal simply broke as I was pulling the wires apart.

Click to expand...

Yes, the old tube connectors are often very brittle! I recommend that you replace ALL of them.

Clearly, good wiring is at the heart of Norton reliability.

Diablouph said:

Clearly, good wiring is at the heart of Norton reliability.

Click to expand...

Indeed, as I believe the majority of vehicle (not just Nortons) breakdowns are caused by electrical problems!

After cobbling together my own set of double connectors to replace the same rubber block of doubles and not being entirely happy with it, I ordered a part from British Wiring that appears to be an exact match - - Part #336 Ten-way - Jaguar applications - - http://www.britishwiring.com/CAT14_15.PDF

They are a great resource. And in this case their rubber block would secure nicely with a cable tie, as I'm sure the original did before it turned to dust. I'm keeping it as a spare for when my custom block inevitably vibrates loose. As LAB said, these double connectors seem to be very brittle, and after replacing several of the ones on my bike, the electrical problems have been solved (for the time being I'm sure). Anyway, if your wires are in good shape (even with the soot they don't look too bad on the photo) you might want to concentrate on fixing the connectors and not replacing all the wires.

Alas crumbled Lucas bullets are common initiation rite to get past.
Lucas bullets are great solution to space and function and
I dare ya to show me flat blade crimp terminals that can
last as well the decades of Lucas stuff for the price.
Spend for the bullet crimp tools or work around for
a more short cut ordinary way.

Worse issue to face is finding the broken copper inside perfect
insulation that allows intermittently great function.
There is some good logic to just starting again with all
new loom and connectors, removing police circuits or getting after market
chopper wire gizmo with bulky modern weather proof
connectors.

A factory fresh harness is a wonder to view for
order out of chaos.

hobot

Similar issues here...mine (perished insulator sleeves and cracked connectors) manifested itself by shorting out the wiring inside the headlight and nearly setting fire to the bike, not helped by my friendly Norton Specialist who had supplied a 35A fuse which was evidently 35A continuous: the soldered connections in the fuse holder melted, but the fuse held :evil:

Fortunately, only 2 wires were damaged, and there's so much spare copper in the loom it wasn't actually too bad to reconstruct - and with all the unused wires removed it's now a lot easier to get the tank on!

I junked all the Lucas terminals and replaced them with Jap-style bullets which take up half the room - and can be disconnected without tearing the wire out of the bullet :roll:

Andy, my Ms Peel ain't really no Norton no more,
could you educate or point me at these sleek new fangled Jap. bullets?

I've looked at modern automotive types and what I find on my
Suzuki but nothing struck me as better than Lucas re-usable bullets so far.

hobot

I use blade connectors (full insulated). Seems to me they have more contact area. Also, I like them TIGHT. If one gets loose, you can tighten them up with pliers.

"A gentleman does NOT motor about after dark."
Joseph Lucas

if a gentleman doesn't get his electronics in order, the gentleman walks, day and night. O.K., he pushes a 400 pound object back to his house.

hobot said:

Andy, my Ms Peel ain't really no Norton no more,
could you educate or point me at these sleek new fangled Jap. bullets?

I've looked at modern automotive types and what I find on my
Suzuki but nothing struck me as better than Lucas re-usable bullets so far.

hobot

Click to expand...

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product_list/6
They do much the same job - maybe not even for much longer than the 36 year old stuff I just cut off, but where they do score is the ability to disconnect without it becoming a permanent job!
The only way to discomect the original connectors is by pulling on the wires - not good, and no wonder they fail.
At least with these the insulation can be pulled out of the way to get to the plug & socket.

Thanks Andy, your find may be salvation to Peel special wiring
needs, beyond normal stuff. deer scattering Cougar screams with
howling hunting dog pack sounds inbetween, flame thrower megaphone,
video triggered with 2-4 paint ball machine guns, helmet mounted
search light or another paint machine gun, etc etc.

hobot