Home made wiring harness

I'm going to put in a 3rd party rectifier/regulator and maybe a 3 phase alternator during my rebuild. I wrote the Colorado Norton folks about a custom harness and they said do it myself. Where do I get quality color-coded wires and is there a connector system which is the best for waterproofness (is that a word?)? Has anyone published a wiring schematic for an 850 mk3 for this setup? My plastic connectors are crumbling and this is one of the reasons I want to do a new harness. I have a Rita ignition and another reason is just to simplify the wiring. Any help here? Frankly, I'm somewhat hesitant to use a web site "britishwiring" as that's the problem to begin with!

Wire ? , Mk 4 Zepher of Hillman Hunter . :shock: . Actually hard to beat , if wires black at where you cut it , discard it .
Most wireing in the cabin is mint in a tidy car , big lengths under the dash and through to the rear . Mk 4 has ' just a little ' wireing
in it , would keep you going for a few centuries , but the Hillman stuffs probly better wire / plastic , and Fittings .

Any pre Euro 74 colour code should be acceptable , i.e. any other pre 74 thing like a Volvo has acres of wire , all ikle pretty colours .

Gosh, I was almost ready to look for that harness then I found this:

http://www.sa.hillman.org.au/TT_HunterE ... roblem.htm

It seems the word "Lucas" seems to surface frequently

At least britishwiring has the correct wire colours. You can always substitute the connectors of your choice. I'm not up on what are the best connectors these days, but there have been some recent threads that discussed them, I think they are even water resistant.

Dave
69S

Keep the original wire color codes for ease of troubleshooting. Wire is available from British Wiring (http://www.britishwiring.com).

I like to use weatherpack connectors in any area where there is space. http://www.weatherpackkits.com/tag/weather-pack-connectors/

For spade connections, I prefer a good quality open barrel spade with a heat shrink tube for strain relief. A ratchet style crimper assures good solid crimp.

The olde ' loose diode in the alternator ' trick . Whys that smoke coming out of under the dashboard . :shock: Direct short of EVERYTHING . :lol: 8)

The Electric overhaul bloke in Mangere thought he was right for life " All the British Componets are trash , but the Wireings Good , The Japanese components are good , but the wireings rubbish " This was 78 .Showed how the japs put minimal core in for load , to save X yen per 100.000 . " You cant put any more load on them . Cant even change the headlamp bulb " .

Depends if your a decadent capitalist , or doing it as a hobbie . Wire in Hunter is as good as you get , trailer multi core lead is good for the handle bar clusters .

Or you could use aero space stuff .

Has anyone put out a schematic for simplified wiring on a Mk3? Is crimping the best way or soldering?

Crimping vs soldering. There will be those who will tell you that soldering is the best way to go to avoid moisture creeping up the wire and then there will be those who say it will break from vibration. Both are probably right. If you get tinned copper wire and a good crimper, you basically fuse the fitting under pressure. This is a good connection. What I started doing on my harness is using the bullet connectors, but instead of snapping them into sleeves like the originals I place a small length of grounding strap (I actually steal it off of Frostex heat tape) inside some shrink tube, push the bullets in to overlap and shrink it down. The stap provides a flexible connection, and the shrink tube keeps the bullets in place and water out. I can take them apart with a razor knife when necessary. So far so good.

Russ

Nautically , theyd have a fit about crimped , as the salt laden sea air would get in , theyd go mouldy , oxidise & f out .

SO , Either Way , you dose it all with CRC in the fittings , washem in boiling water if soldered , scrub of residue .
I use a real soldering iron ( 60 W plus ) Duzall flux and ' soft ' bar solder .The bendier one . theres 50/50 & 60/40 .
Plumbers solder or whatever.NOT the cored electrical stuff .

Breaky ends would be through lack of artistry with the Iron , Though a Heat Sink or two would be usefull on heavy wires .
Bunching wires with a few loops of tape , as you go . Charge , Ign , Lighting & so on keeps it saner .

Glareing at a Rally Car ( of the 70s Escort type ) wireing diagram gets it to essentials .
Most Olde English Cars have same type instrument light fittings etc & switches .
BMC , Morrie 1100s , Wollesleys , and other wonders of automotive tecnology .