dash harness

[rdssdi]

I was asked by Leslie at British Wiring to check the main harness. It
appears also to be RHD but I am uncertain. It also appears to have far fewer wires.
I do not see where the 3 relays would connect and a few other functions.
Again, it is so difficult to tell as they did not provide a wire color key. The
wire colors on my original harness exactly match the diagram.

I think they are amateurs and only wish to sell what is easy. I would not be
surprised if they stop selling Lotus harnesses altogether.

What I fear will happen is they will take the you bought it you own it
attitude. I spoke with them today and they gave me that tired line that no one
else has a problem.

I will speak with them again next week.

Bob

[cliveyboy]

A few years ago when I acquired my Sprint it had all new harnesses from one
of the British parts suppliers . As I worked on it I found that there were a
few errors in the loom. I remember a few other owners mentioning they also
had problems with their new looms.
Clive

[archigator]

Of the three harnesses for the Elan Sprint, I bought the front (engine
compartment) and rear (boot) harnesses from British wiring. I've only
had the opportunity (and nerve) to install the rear harness, and found
it perfect. I look forward, I think, to attacking the engine
compartment wiring over the Thanksgiving holiday.

As an aside, while re-wiring the rear harness, I found two additional
concealed wires and a hidden toggle switch that the previous owner had
installed... I traced it back to the license plate lights. Apparently
the original owner liked to turn off his license plate lights at will.
(I also found several spent bullet casings in the trunk (boot) after I
first bought the car 18 years ago.) Was my RHD Elan once involved in a
bank robbery, or a great railway heist? Hmmm....

Gary
'71 Elan Sprint
Miami, FL

[saildrive2001]

Bob,
I have a 69 RHD S4SE DHC that I am in the middle of a ground up restoration
& am looking at building my own harness. Do you have a list of the wire
lengths, connectors etc that you purchased. How much do you think you saved
by building it yourself?
Keith Marshall
69 S4 SE DHC

From: "Robert Bulfin" <***@***.***>
Subject: Re: wiring harness advice

Bob,

I just rewired my 69 S4. I bought correct wire colors (and arger guage)
from Auto Sparks and made my own harness, one wire at a time. My car was
not *original* when I got it, and it is even less so now. I put in more
fuses and cleaned up many excess wires. If you follow the wiring diagram
and look at a few *uprated* diagrams on the web and ask the group for
help, it is not too hard. The real benefit is that you know what you
have when you are finished.

I just got my engine back in, but between getting married, moving and
having two relatives critically ill in the hospital, I haven't cranked
it up yet. I am sure I will find a glitch or two in the wiring when I
do.

The Other Bob
69 Elan S4 DHC


-
Bob Bulfin, Professor Department of Industrial/Systems
Engineering
207 Dunstan Hall Auburn University, AL 36849
(334) 844-1422 (Voice) (334) 844-1381 (FAX)
***@***.***://www.eng.auburn.edu/~bulfin


the
March '68 - March '69 federal +2 wiring diagram, I can easily identify
all the
wires.

Why don't the vendors ask for the original loom or at least inquire as
to
the wire color codes and position of components that change over time.


Bob
1969 Elan +2

[holywood3645]

I think you may be better off just buying a new harness, I recently
picked one up from British Wiring INC 20449 Ithaca RD Olympia Fields
IL 60461 (760)481 9050.
Good Luck, I'm in the middle of 69 S4 restoration also.
jim


--- In ***@***.***, "Keith I Marshall" <kimarshl@p...>
wrote:

[rdssdi]

It appears I will have to make my own wire harnesses.

Does anyone know where I can purchase bulk PVC wire in the proper color
codes and sizes. My wiring diagram shows 47 different color and gauge wires.

Bob
1969 Elan +2

[thewris]

Bob,
Try Autosparks - http://www.autosparks.co.uk/

-Pete Wrisley
1969 S4SE


-----Original Message-----
From: ***@***.***lto:***@***.*** Behalf
Of ***@***.***
Sent: Friday, November 25, 2005 3:56 PM
To: ***@***.***
Subject: [LotusElan.net] bulk wire supplier

It appears I will have to make my own wire harnesses.

Does anyone know where I can purchase bulk PVC wire in the proper color
codes and sizes. My wiring diagram shows 47 different color and gauge
wires.

Bob
1969 Elan +2

["e s"]

Well, there is always British Wire........

If you are doing your own harness, I would consider making alterations to bring it up to snuff.

Like fusing the windows by themselves, and increasing the wire size all theway through to them so they work correctly.

I have a run list and harness board for the non s plus 2 for a harness I made 10 years ago. I used standard [non striped] wire and Brady wire markers.
It is set up for 4 fuses and an alternator.

I used to do high tech equipment harnesses for a living ina past life, so if you want some advise on proceedure contact me of list. It is not difficult, but organizing properly helps a lot.






----- Original Message -----
From: ***@***.***
To: ***@***.***
Subject: [LotusElan.net] bulk wire supplier
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:56:22 EST



--
_______________________________________________

Search for businesses by name, location, or phone number. -Lycos Yellow Pages

[bulfin]

Hi,

I bought rolls of the most used colors (red, white, brown, blue, black and green) from auto-electric suppliers. I bought striped wire by the meter (metre) from, I think, Auto Sparks. Probably spent less than $200 on connector, wire, fuse boxes, fuses relays etc.

My mom is in the hospital right now and I am also in th emiddle of a move. When things calm down I will try to post what I bought. I also have 10+fuses, relays on windows, and things powered from the ignition switch. There are several diagrams of revised harnesses available at Elan net and elswhere.

Caveat: mine is a DHC and I did not put rear screen defrost, rear courtesy light, glove box cutout etc, only the needed wires.

Bob

-
Bob Bulfin, Professor Department of Industrial/Systems Engineering
207 Dunstan Hall Auburn University, AL 36849
(334) 844-1422 (Voice) (334) 844-1381 (FAX)
***@***.*** http://www.eng.auburn.edu/~bulfin


Does anyone know where I can purchase bulk PVC wire in the proper color
codes and sizes. My wiring diagram shows 47 different color and gauge wires.

Bob
1969 Elan +2

[rdssdi]

Take care the most urgent things. I appreciate your input.

I have found one U.S. wire supplier and several in the UK. I wish to
accurately copy the original therefore I will need many spools of different color
coded wire. I have not yet investigated, but it appears many colors are
repeated on the schematic key as they use a variety of wire gauges. I assume I will
be able to merge some of those to one or two size wires and save on the
number of individual spools of wire I would have to purchase.

I am awaiting the answer from British Wiring regarding their issuance of a
return authorization and a credit. I am confident I will hear from them on
Monday. I am not certain I will be satisfied with their decision.

Take care.

Bob

[jopalm]

Perhaps rather than an outright return of the harness, returning it for
credit towards the bulk wire you prefer would be in everybody's interest.

[rdssdi]

A good idea.

[Elan45]

Did you get your Mini OK. How'd the trip go?





Tony V



_____

From: ***@***.***lto:***@***.*** Behalf
Of Roger Sieling
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 10:13 AM
To: ***@***.***
Subject: Re: [LotusElan.net] wiring harness advice



Bob,

My late '69, English spec RHD +2S is sitting off road awaiting my
restoration. I intend to convert it to LHD during the restoration and I've
been told by someone whose expertise I trusted, that the wiring looms for
RHD and LHD +2s were the same, so I have already procurred a LHD rack, pedal
box and dash from a Fed +2. I also found, when I was working on it in
running condition that the loom colors bore little resemblance to the
schematic color code. I was able to trace things around and familiar enough
w/ typical British standard color codes that I had everything working. This
was a car that had sat for 8 years before I got it and now, after running it
for two years, has been off road again for over 15, due to a van reversing
into the nose and other car projects taking priority. I wish I had better
access to it, but it is stored in a friend's barn until I have time.

I suppose if I were faced w/ your problem, I would make up a short plug in
harness to carry the connections from the wrong side of the dash to the
correct side, using same colored wires as is on the new loom. Perhaps you
could convince British Wiring to supply materials to you for free to make
this conversion. This is probably what I will do if I have to extend the
loom when I convert from RHD to LHD. The other potential problem you will
face, which I have anticipated, is the fuse boxes etc are oposite sides of
the car in RHD vs LHD, because the pedal box must change sides and the fuse
boxes are mounted to the blanking panel which covers the opposite side pedal
box hole in the firewall. Good luck.

Roger



here in the U.S., is most likely a RHD harness.

I found a wiring diagram in the workshop manual that is mostly correct in
color coding. Although incorrect for my application. It appears the
ignition
switch wires branch from the loom in a RHD position. I used the ignition
switch
as a determinate as it is not a "mirror" image item.

If I am correct, I do not know how such a mistake is possible. I have a
difficult time believing that an experienced company can be so obviously
wrong.

I am getting sick and tired of having to learn more than the suppliers and
supposed experts when it comes to sourcing parts for my restoration. I would

certainly be lost if not for this list and the expertise provided.

I would appreciate pictures or a sample of an Elan +2 dash wiring harness
for a 1969 car. My original is in terrible shape and was cut up by the P.O..
It
appears I will have to offer an original to copy as specifying a wiring
diagram and LHD means nothing to the experts.

Bob
1969 Elan +2 LHD Federal unit no. 50-2060












Copyright* LotusElan.net and the author:




_____











Copyright* LotusElan.net and the author:

[denicholls2]

RE the duff harness purchased by a lister, one suggestion I have not
seen is to send it back, pocket at least half its purchase price, and
procure one of the universal harnesses available on Satan's swap meet.

I did that recently (for my Europa, no Elan yet) and for under $150
received a reasonable quality harness with 20 separate fused circuits.
But the real joy is that each wire is marked for what it does every
foot, e.g, "left low headlamp".

It's designed for 80 amp service, and all of the wires look much
beefier that what's in the Europa now. I haven't confirmed there's
enough of each circuit to do the job in a mid-engined car, but Loti are
short enough that I doub't I'll find any issues larger than where to
locate the fusebox. A nice plus is that the horn and headlamp circuits
both come with pre-wired relays. Yes, I will need to provide my own
ground circuits or cheat from the spares in the loom.

Not original, you say? Well, neither is a $500 harness from a
specialty vendor after you bodge it up to make it work, is it?

The one downside I see is that the colors aren't right, but half of you
have posted that neither are your expensive replacements. And you
don't really need the right color if the wire tells you what it does
without a diagram, do you?

For authenticity, you either need to find an accurate supplier and pay
through the nose, or build your own. But even so, while the harness
may be authentic it will not provide useful safety improvements like
relays and circuit fusing.

If one of you has yours out, I'll be happy to provide more details and
free lengths. The wires are not wrapped; they are ty-wrapped every so
often, so modification is simple. I plan to wrap them with a plastic
conduit product that's been lying up in the attic awaiting this
application.

I have no interest in the products, but took a chance on price and am
satisfied to this point that it meets my expectations. And I'm
astounded at some of the prices I've seen for replacements on the Lotus
lists.

Doug Nicholls, 54/1822 Ma~

[simon.mitchell]

I used a universal 'Lucas' loom from Premier Wiring in the UK - cost is
around ?100, has a proper (modern) fusebox and the colours are correct. It
came with comprehensive instructions, a crimp tool and was easy to install.
As an added bonus Alan, who runs the company, is extremely knowledgable and
will talk you through any problems you do have over the phone.

http://www.premierwiring.co.uk/

Highly recommended.

-----Original Message-----
From: ***@***.***lto:***@***.***
Behalf Of denicholls2
Sent: 02 December 2005 00:17
To: ***@***.***
Subject: [LotusElan.net] Re: Wiring Harness Problem


RE the duff harness purchased by a lister, one suggestion I have not
seen is to send it back, pocket at least half its purchase price, and
procure one of the universal harnesses available on Satan's swap meet.

I did that recently (for my Europa, no Elan yet) and for under $150
received a reasonable quality harness with 20 separate fused circuits.
But the real joy is that each wire is marked for what it does every
foot, e.g, "left low headlamp".

It's designed for 80 amp service, and all of the wires look much
beefier that what's in the Europa now. I haven't confirmed there's
enough of each circuit to do the job in a mid-engined car, but Loti are
short enough that I doub't I'll find any issues larger than where to
locate the fusebox. A nice plus is that the horn and headlamp circuits
both come with pre-wired relays. Yes, I will need to provide my own
ground circuits or cheat from the spares in the loom.

Not original, you say? Well, neither is a $500 harness from a
specialty vendor after you bodge it up to make it work, is it?

The one downside I see is that the colors aren't right, but half of you
have posted that neither are your expensive replacements. And you
don't really need the right color if the wire tells you what it does
without a diagram, do you?

For authenticity, you either need to find an accurate supplier and pay
through the nose, or build your own. But even so, while the harness
may be authentic it will not provide useful safety improvements like
relays and circuit fusing.

If one of you has yours out, I'll be happy to provide more details and
free lengths. The wires are not wrapped; they are ty-wrapped every so
often, so modification is simple. I plan to wrap them with a plastic
conduit product that's been lying up in the attic awaiting this
application.

I have no interest in the products, but took a chance on price and am
satisfied to this point that it meets my expectations. And I'm
astounded at some of the prices I've seen for replacements on the Lotus
lists.

Doug Nicholls, 54/1822 Ma~