Wiring loom

[John Larkin]

I'm considering re-wiring my Elan this winter. Although it is an S3 it has S4 switches, so I am looking at using a manufactured S4 wiring loom. Paul Matty has only a dashboard loom listed. Can anybody recommend a good source of a quality made-up wiring loom for the whole car, or at least the dashboard and engine compartment areas? Who has experience of using the Paul Matty loom?

Alternatively, is there a supplier of the correctly coloured wiring who will sell it in quanties suitable for one car. I found a supplier last year but he would only sell in 100m rolls.

[steveww]

I purchased a complete loom (comes in 3 parts) from PM for my S4. It was very good and fitted straight in. I need a few extra runs for ground connections that were not included in the loom and also me being paranoid about good ground returns

If they are only listing one part of the loom I would say that this is a printing mistake, give them a call.

[Elanintheforest]

Autosparks are considered to be the best in the business. I've rebuilt a few cars using their looms, and thay have always been a perfect fit...and look correct too.

http://www.autosparks.co.uk/

Mark

[robb4100]

I replaced mine last year and purchased the loom from Dave Bean http://www.davebean.com/. I have an S2 and don't know for sure if the S4 is different. I replaced only the front loom (engine bay and dash) there was a separate loom for the tail lights.

When you go to do this take lots of notes and photographs. It will make putting it all back together much easier.


Robb

[pamitchell]

Have a look at British Wiring too. http://britishwiring.com/Harness.htm
These may be UK sourced anyway.
Phil

[elansprint71]

Well my Paul Matty 3-piece loom certainly did not go straight in! Check the archives for the full saga, then go to Autosparks.
Normally I've been very satisfied with Paul and his team, but their bought-in loom is not without faults.

[RotoFlexible]

Alternatively, is there a supplier of the correctly coloured wiring who will sell it in quanties suitable for one car. I found a supplier last year but he would only sell in 100m rolls.

Auto Electric Supplies (autoelectricsupplies.co.uk) and Vehicle Wiring Products (vehicle-wiring-products.eu) both sell correct colored wire by the metre. AES also sells bullet connectors, Lucas terminals etc. I just finished rebuilding and revising my S2 loom. If you choose that route, it will do wonders for your knowledge of the electrical system.

[Over Steer]

does anyone know any approximate prices of these looms as the site are quite primitive? I am toying with the idea of replacing the loom from the bulkhead onwards ie: just the engine bay as these wires are badly soiled/oiled/ruined.

cheers

[John Larkin]

I have come up with these costs so far. These are Euro costs delivered to Dublin. I'm double checking the prices from the Elan Factory as they are so high. I'm waiting for a price from Christopher Neil.


Supplier/Engine harness/Dashboard harness/Rear harness/Total cost (?)

Sue Miller/181/181/68/430
Elan Factory/345/345/333/1023
Paul Matty/167/167/78/412
Autosparks/187/173/84/444
Christopher Neil/--/--/--/--


John Larkin.

[Over Steer]

Thanks for the info;

British wiring quoted me 261 Euros and 6 - 8 weeks for delivery.

Do you know if they would be able to modify the loom to accept an alternator?

I am assuming that the prices for LHD and RHD are the same, is this so?

I am also curious to know how the new loom is attached to the old one, my initial thought was to install "plugs" in the bulkhead and make up a new front loom from scratch that simply plugs into the old loom.

[Alex]

Hi John,

I'm in the process of fitting a complete set of new looms to an early +2. I got them from Matty's and wouldn't be surprised if they came from Autosparks. I work on F1 chassis looms for a living and can tell the quality of Mattys looms are generally very good. The only parts that are missing are the instrument light wiring but hopefully you can re-use your old ones and bullet connectors to connect the 3 looms together.

For any missing bits I would use Autosparks or Vehicle Wiring Products (VWP). VWP's prices are very good, I bought the pieces to make a throttle cable for a fraction of the price of a complete new one.

When fitting bullet connectors together, I would dip the male part into petroleum jelly of similar to prevent future corrosion, especially in the nose.

The hard part with fitting the loom is working out any various production wiring changes and what effect it has on your loom. If you're logical, you should be ok but it can be time consuming!

[robb4100]

Hi John,

Not sure why you would want to only replace from bulkhead onwards. There are a lot of wires that pass through the bulkhead and all you would be doing is creating a bunch of connections that have the potential to fail. The wiring in the dash is just as old you just canot see it.

For what it is worth you are better off doing the whole loom.. Then again why listen to me I keep failing to fix my clutch.

Good luck and have fun

Robb

[Greg Foster]

John,
I have an S3 which has a later dash with rockers. When I rewired mine, last year , I Figured on using an S4 harness. WRONG! In my case the car had an S2 harness with a few add ons such as a small harness which ran the electric window motors. a warning flasher switch ,a brake fail switch and idiot light. Befor you buy a harness, take a look at the way your car is set up now. Check headlamp relays and other things which are going to be different on an actual S4 car.....someof the connections are completely different. Compare the wiring diagrams to what you have. Lotus used what was in its bins at the time.
Also I have the engine compartment harness for an S4 new in the bag. I had ordered it thinking it was the correct one and never sent it back. If you need it make me an offer as I won't need it. I am in Virginia USA and I purchased the harness from British Wiring so It would be wise to purchase the other sections from them.

Greg

[John Larkin]

Thanks for that warning Greg! I should have thought of examining the harness myself. I'll certainly do so now after hearing your experience. I maybe interested in your unwanted engine harness; is it for a car with an alternator?

[Greg Foster]

I think its for a generator, but British Wiring has the tools , proper wire, harness tape and connectors to add to the harness as necessary.
Greg