Page Fifty-Seven - Can-O-Worms

 

Little multicolored wriggly worms!

Heard this one?  Always buy two MG’s, one to drive and one to fix.  Yeah, the one that wasn’t running had electrical gremlins from infamously sketchy Lucas wiring harnesses.  They came with factory shorts – apparently, Lucas was invested in the anger management industry.

“Sketchy” doesn’t sufficiently cover the state of Alphie’s original harness, maybe “tattered” to be polite, “f@#*!” to be accurate.  So, he gets a brand-new aftermarket-one-size-fits-several-models clean and pretty harness.

The problem is that the wires aren’t labeled (I don’t blame the wiring folks for that because some wires have many possible uses, depending on model and optional equipment), and the colors are about 93% (a completely made-up statistic) correct.  The connectors are mostly the right ones (another reason to keep old harnesses).

American companies use multi-wire plugs, which fit things like ignition switches, flasher units, relays, etc., and those plugs are configured so that they only fit the component they are meant to power.  You really can’t (although some have) attach a plug to the wrong component.  But our British cousins opt to plug each individual wire to a numbered post based on what appears to be a hand drawn wiring diagram for most, but not all electrical components, which, for we Sunbeamers, have been photocopied several blurry times from an oil-stained original, then scanned for extra blur, and printed quite small, but I digress…

That means I had to figure what wire went where, and you will too, good luck.

You will need:

Wiring Diagrams: As many as you can find!  If you have a Series IV (like Alphie) get the Series V diagram too because late SIVs are very like SVs.  Find specific diagrams for things like the overdrive unit, reversing lights, amp meter etc.  Oh, and the heater isn’t on the main harness diagram because it was “optional” equipment, even though almost every Alpine came with a heater, so find the heater section in the workshop manual.    

Specifc digrams like this one for the overdrive unit are really helpful

Early Series IV’s had a fan switch on the “screen” (directional) heater control while later ones used a switch on the dash.  Eleven times out of ten, the heater control switches are broken so find a dash switch.  Some cars have two speed fans while others have a single speed.

The path to wiring bliss is crooked and confusing.  AND the positive earth thing wreaks havoc on American brains.

Multimeter: There are a lot of brown, white and red wires; you’ll need to know which ones connect to which.

A multimetter is absolutely needed and the label maker is really great

Old Wiring Harnesses: I have two complete (within reason) harnesses – DO NOT THROW THEM AWAY!

This one of my two old harnesses, the other one is off the dash.
I referred to it MANY time!

Soldering Iron, Shrink Wrap, Connectors: Really, the new harnesses are great, but I found several instances where a spade connector needed to be a bullet connector, or a small spade connector needed to be a large one.  You will need to make some adapters and jump wires too.  I had to repair the overdrive and dynamo (generator) harness because it had become brittle, and I’m sure there are other sub-harnesses that will need repair too.

The overdrive wiring sub-harness is particullarly confusing

The dynamo (generator) sub-harness is ready for action

Flashlight and a Magnifying Glass: For eyes that ain’t what they use to be.  The little numbers for the switch posts are very small.

Label Maker: Or at least some tape and a marker.

A Computer: You’re going to the forums, you’re not that good.  There are some very useful color-coded wiring diagrams out there.

Pictures: Before you yank out the old harness, take lots of pictures.  If you think you’ve taken enough, go take ten more!  (I hope you haven’t yanked it without taking pics.)

Take many pictures like this!  You haven't taken enough!
BTW, this one isn't that great.

Patience: It took much longer than I expected!

I have said before that sequencing is a special problem when restoring dead automobiles.  My original plan was to wire up everything on the dash and install the dash and harness in one assembly.  BUT you can see from the pics that everything gets dusty as I work on other things.  I didn’t want to muck up the dash, especially when I install the dash pad and windscreen (windshield for the yanks).

It's now laid in place, and I’ll adjust its placement as I add engine bay components, lights, interior pieces and so on.

I just hope I don’t melt the whole shebang when I first connect it to a battery! (I've done some reading on this - the forum folk suggest using a battery charger on its low amp setting in place of a battery.  That way you don't pump in wire melting loads into a wiring harness you aren't 100% sure you hooked up correctly.  I'm agonna do that.)

Some New Stuff: Alphie is getting new recycled turn indicator and overdrive stalk (steering column) switches from Sunbeam Spares and a new remanufactured (read “reproduction”) cigar lighter from eBay.  Apparently, Sunbeam drivers sucked on stogies whilst touring the country instead of cigarettes, quite posh!

My new "cigar" lighter gets an extreme close up
mainly because I paid WAY too much for it.
These fit Jaguar XKEs so they claim heavy pounds!

New "recycled" indicator and overdrive switch, for which I also paid WAY too much. The arrow points to a stalk mounted horn switch*, so this switch came from some other Rootes product.
It only means there are two extra wires on it, but none of it can be seen 

*forum crowd sourcing informs me that the indicator stalk switch is from a MKII Tiger and is a dimmer switch rather than a horn switch.  It's a bit of a unicorn, so maybe I didn't overpay as much as I thought.

Okay, I spent a lot on three dash components (an embarrassing amount if I'm being honest), but the dash is one of the most visible parts of a car, it was not a place I was willing to spare expenses.  Alphie's dash will be a full-on, optioned-out, walnut version, with which no Alpine ever left the factory.  It's my build so hush.

(I know I said the next post would be about fixing runs in the clear coat, but it’s cold here in Alabama, so I opted for some inside tasks.  I’ll get to the paint runs - hold your horses!)