The wire harness looms over me.

It took four and a half months, but the brand new wire harness (loom) finally arrived! It is beautiful…and it smells good, too!

The first task was to inspect it and compare it to the original. I laid them out side by side on the cellar floor. The old one is in bad shape with many wires chopped up, and some were “repaired” at some time.

I only had three minor issues with the new one. The clip connector cover to the voltage stabilizer from the generator/dynamo had a different cover than the original.

Not a big deal at all. I just took the original one off, cleaned it and then replaced it onto the new clip. These connector covers are no longer being reproduced. They should be since they are used on almost all vintage British cars (that I know of anyway.)

Next, I found that the new lamp/bulbs connectors to the “idiot” lights and the speedometer were different than the original. The old bulbs and sockets, the screw-based #987 for the speedometer, and #281  for the small “idiots,” were replaced with new plastic sockets. I e-mailed Josh at British Wiring to see what the modern replacements were since the original bulbs did not fit. He told me that the larger bulbs are now #194 and the smaller are #34. We will go with those because I do not feel like chopping up a brand new harness (that was fairly expensive!) to put old sockets on it.

The last issue was that the two rubber grommets that cushion the harness in the firewall and interior body panel were missing. Josh informed me that there should have been grommets put on the new one so they either forgot at the factory, or that size is not made any more. It should still be available because 1100s were very common in Britain. I think they are a #508 grommet.

Once I get the grommets and bulbs (again, little parts are holding me up!), I can begin to install the harness. I cannot wait to put in the other electrical components such as the fuse box, and the solenoid, etc…

I am very pleased with the harness! Special thanks to Josh at British Wiring, who has been through the muck with me, and the folks in England, who made it…ever...so...slowly. The old harness was just nasty and unusable. So glad that I got the new one!

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy