Circuit diagram for the Plus 2

[jeff jackson]

Hi All,
I am in the process of re-drawing the circuit diagram for my Plus 2 S130/5.
I have an old drawing titled "Elan+2S (non Federal) RHD Alternator conversion & LHD Alternator, from my workshop manual.
If I believe the stories, this is about as much use as a chocolate fireguard, the stories being that many Lotus wiring installers were colour blind, and they used what ever wire was available at the time, so wire colours could be anything.
As I said they were rumours.
That said, my diagram shows a front, middle and rear fuse box. On my Elan, I only have the middle. I have never seen a front and rear fusebox, have any of you?
If these were fitted, could anyone tell me what year please?
Also my Elan is a 1972/1973 version (made Dec 1972, registered Jan 1973) so almost exactly 37 years old.
If anyone has a scan of the wiring from that year I would be grateful.
When this diagram is finished, I am willing to share with anyone who wants it, but, I have to do this in between panics at work. ( I will make it available as a PDF).
Kind regards
Jeff 72 +2
PUP

[terryp]

Hello
I think this is the one you need. I've always found it reasonably accurate for my S130/4 1973

Terry

PS Sorry its upside down!

[jeff jackson]

Hi Terry,
Fantastic! Thank you. So gone are the fuse boxes, and the door ashtray lamps, on my diagram.
Thanks again, will use your diagram as the baseline for the new one now, looks much more like the wiring in my plus 2.

Kind regards
Jeff

[bob_rich]

Hi

I agree with Terry P the diagram he provided in his post is the one. I am redoing My +2S 130/5 ( car left factory December 1973) at present and as far as I can see the wiring diagram he provided is accurate. My wiring is a mess and I will B re-doing it during the rebuild.
best of luck with yours!

regards

Bob

[alaric]

Whehey we've all got the same car! I've been using the same wiring diagram from the manual. I have the same concerns as yourself re fuse boxes, but also on relays - I've never seen any relays in the boxes that came with the car so will be replacing them with the best equivalents that I can find - stuff originality.

I've found my new wiring looms don't match the wiring diagram - came with the car so they may not be correct. It's never easy is it!

All the best.

Sean.

[Bob]

Many Tks Terry

[stugilmour]

I too have heard the stories about the colour blind workers and difficulty with the diagrams. Not directly applicable to your car perhaps, but my federal '71 matched the diagram completely & exactly in stock form, save a series of 'improvements'. Colour blind workers makes a great story, but I really wonder. I am thinking the assembly team was basically presented with a pre-built loom and a series of connections to make to components; connect them wrong and it doesn't work, gets corrected under warranty, and 'Bob's your Uncle'.

Issue to think about is 35+ years of 'owner improvements' definitely don't help with comparo to the diagram. Other issue I found with my car was many of the wire colours had faded badly leading to confusion determining the real colours; stripping the loom tape back helped a lot.

Cheers!

[jeff jackson]

Hi Sean,
The reason I'm re-drawing the loom, is the same reason that you are re-doing your wiring.
I am re -drawing the loom, so that I can add modifications to it. This already includes a relay in the fan wiring, saving the otter switch. As I add things I can keep them up to date in the loom drawing. As I add, or remove things I can keep a version or a modification number, and the date I did it.
The software package I am using allows me to compare the latest issues with any previous ones so I can easily remember what I did and why. This also (hopefully) enables me to find any starnge wires in the loom.
Thanks to Terry, I have a staring place, I didn't before.

Kind regards
Jeff 72+2
PUP

[msd1107]

During the initial production of the A-12 and SR-71 aircraft, Lockheed tested its workers and found that about 15% were color blind.

Now, there are many kinds of color blindness, and many people adapt and function quite well with this disability.

However, on one plane, the horizontal and vertical stick movements were crossed. Somehow, this was not caught in QC. The plane somehow got off the ground, but was uncontrollable in the air and crashed. This was a very expensive and low production plane, so was not very funny.

Lockheed then designed differently shaped connectors in these critical circuits so there was no was they could be assembled incorrectly.

Modern day wiring looms with multi-pin one way installable connectors or bus systems do not have that problem anymore.

David
1968 36/7988

[mikealdren]

Jeff,
I like the idea of an upgradable wiring diagram, will you be able to make it available in a 'raw' I.e. non PDF format?

Mike

[jeff jackson]

Hi Mike,
I can make it available in "raw" form as you say, but you would need the software I drew it with to modify or open it.

Kind regards
Jeff
72+2