Rewiring OJR

[mikealdren]

Looking further at stalks, the classic mini stalk assembly has a 24mm id but the Triumph column has a 32mm od. Triumph LHD stalk assemblies are available new but RHD versions are obsolete new and not so easy to find SH.

Thinking about it, the LHD version would put the indicator stalk on the LH side, not correct for a classic British car but the same as my other more modern cars, I think I'll go that way!

With the wiper controls on the stalk I need to decide what to do with the spare rocker switches on my dash, I'll possibly use the wiper switch for side/headlights (with relays) and the wash position for parking lights but I'll need a latching switch.

[Matt Elan]

Just a quick update - got my mate Dave round this morning to sanity check my dash wiring. I've labelled most leads, we found a few 'spare' ones, sanity checked what I had fitted and Dave pointed out that the Holden website showed the function of each switch terminal - see https://www.holden.co.uk/p/lucas_57sa_t ... for_wipers - if you look under 'technical advice' it tells you the terminal number and which wire(s) go to them - this should hopefully mean I'll have the wires on the right terminals.

To mark up the dash wires I used sticky lables from Amazon which work really well - search amazon with
" FJSM 480Pcs Self-Adhesive Cable Labels Tags" and that should bring them up.

So here is the back of the dash hopefully ready to replace (once I've fitted the new radio) in the car:

That's all for now, but next step is to get the engine bay loom in and then join all three together.....

[Matt Elan]

Well, having found the position of the stop light switch, I thought I would nip out to the garage and fit the wires to it. However, I wasn't convinced that the spur on the new loom would be long enough, so I made up an extension cable - two wires, female spades on one end to fit to the switch and male spades on the other end to fit onto the new loom, and all encased in shirnk wrap. A little job, but fulfilling. Fitting was a bit of a pain as it was very tight, but got there eventually and found a use for my very long nosed and shanked pliers at last to snug the spades onto the switch.

Then it was a quick fix on the heater hoses. When the car was restored the short hoses from the heater outlet to the dash vents were too short, and were wrapped (badly) in sticky tape to make them fit, which had not worked very well and leaked, and the vents never sat properly on the dash top as well.

I had some hose 'in stock' so thought I'd replace the existing with some that would have half a chance of directing some air onto the screen. Poppy thought she would help too...

A good idea, and it all went surprisingly well.

The only snag was that I needed to fit some new clips to give the self tappers which hold the grill plates on the top of the dash something to grip - there were none present with the self tappers just going into the glass fibre - and half were a push fit so no wonder the grills were a bit wonky. Both sides were treated to two new clips which were fitted after a little bit of trimming of the glass fibre under the dash pad. So now my vents not only sit square onto the top of the dash, they are secure as well.

A good job jobbed!

[Matt Elan]

Things are moving on albeit slowly. I've been working on the car sporadically as other things and life get in the way!
I'm bought some neat labels from Amazon which I can write on and then wrap round the wires so they have a little 'flag' which work well. Most of the engine bay is sorted, I've rigged up a box of four relays (dip, main, heated rear window and spotlights) and fitted that in the place where the old fusebox was, and fitted the new eight way fuse box just behind it. I had written what each relay was on the inside of the cover - but the writing dissapeared when the cover was in place thanks to the black relays so a bit of masking tape inside the cover over the writing sorted that out. In the pic you can see the new hole in the bulkhead where I'll route the engine bay loom into the cabin to meet up with the dash and back looms. I've got three wires through it already so must remember to sort out a grommet!

Today's job was something I'd been having a few sleepless nights (well, late night pondering) about. My much modified car has a fail safe headlamp setup, with a solenoid operated air valve to tap into the vacuum to hold the lights down as seen on the last Plus 2s. Of course I'd bought the early engine bay loom so had to work out how to make it work. Turns out, looking at the late cars wiring diagram, I needed to run a power line from the light switch (which was a simple off/side/main setup) which would operate the solinoid to release the vacuum when the lights had power to them thus making the pods pop up - hopefully.
Anyway heres the new lable system I'm using ready to be peeled off and fixed to the wire - in this case the earth wire for the headlamp valve solenoid

And finally this the wired up solenoid - blue and read from the light swith and black to earth - note the yellow label!

I also took the oppertunity to replace the rusty self tappers holding on the horn relay with some nice shiney stainless ones!

[Bigbaldybloke]

You might want to try this split loom sleeving, easy to retro fit and tidies up the wiring nicely, once you have everything in place, comes in a variety of sizes

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Design-Engin ... 635-2958-0

[Matt Elan]

Thanks for the tip - it looks a neat solution, but I've got a couple of rolls of self amalgamating tape which I'll be using for the job once every thing is in place.

[stugilmour]

Nice progress Matt. I often get similar energetic help.

[Matt Elan]

Awww lovely pair of spangles - poppy was in the garage with me this afternoon when I sorted out a new sub loom to wire up the headlights, indicators, sidelights and the spotlights. Also fitted a new earth point using one of the front chassis mounts - new longer bolt, cleaned up and copper slipped in place with a nice ring terminal over the end of the bolt and a nice shiny nut to fix it in place. Then connect the ring terminal to the loom earths so hopefully my front lights will be nice and bright