I was wondering whether anyone who has done an engine conversion has gone to the effort of matching the wiring colours when having to extend or change the current loom wiring - or even extensions from loom to rear lights etc? There are a heap of wiring colour combos out there - eg, green with black tracer, green with white tracer, etc etc

Is there anywhere where these type of wires can be sourced?

-Alan

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-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.

I like to colour match wiring. When I do an engine swap in a Mini I like to pull out all the Mini wiring and use the wiring from the donor car and modify it to work with some of the Mini components. I sometimes have to extend or shorten wires. What I do is pull wiring harnesses out of other Japanese cars that I scrap from time to time and save them for pulling out the correct colour wire with the correct tracer. I also save all the metric bolts when I scrap a car.

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email - [email protected]
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c207/TurboOrangie/

67 Traveller - Needs restoration
www.victoria-chiropractors.ca

I do as I have a few spare looms for just that purpose. It's more important that the colour wire at one end of the loom is the colour you will see at the other. It's poor technique to mix the wires up and leads to trouble later on.

I realise that a lot of people just need to get the car going, so can see how it happens however. But you leave a pitfall for the next guy to come along. Bad wiring is just another push towards the crusher when you look at a car in its entirety.

If I have to replace a wire without pulling the loom apart, I solder and heat shrink the join. Twisted wires and/or cable connectors just aren't up to the job. You feel better about the job once it's done.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

I'm a big fan of the solder and heat shrink as well. And making the harness neat by lengthening and shortening wires, running them in safe places, taping up the harness and using sections of plastic loom protection.

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email - [email protected]
http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c207/TurboOrangie/

67 Traveller - Needs restoration
www.victoria-chiropractors.ca

Heatshrink is my wiring looms best friend.

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T

I would never do anything short of soldering & heatshrink. You're asking for trouble down the track otherwise. I have seen some dodgy stuff with crimping and it looks terrible too.

I did get hold of a guy in Vic (http://www.classicwiringlooms.com.au/) who said he can supply a large combination of colours & tracers at $0.80/m (inc GST) for 3mm which seems a bargain for small wire requirements to extend / fix any current looms. I expect that other companies that do wiring looms may be able to supply wiring only as well.

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-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.

Mearcat,

Go to an electtrrical wholesaler and ask for some orange circular multi-core in the size (CSA) you want - 1.5mm2, 2.5mm2 etc.

These conductors are all white sheathed (insulated) however, every 10cm along their length they have a number printed on them. So if you have a 50-core cable, you will have 50 conductors labelled between 1-50, every 10cm along their length. Strip the orange outer sheath and use the inner cables as you would normally off a roll.

Then, all you have to do is just make up a wiring legend that states what cable is what - simple!

Cheers,
Tricky

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"Not Speeding Officer..........Qualifying"

He has got all the colours you need. I've seen his looms first hand and they are magic.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

i agree they are fantastic, they did the loom in madmk1 and were extremely helpful! and great price!

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-jamie-
1963morris 850
1965 solid side van
1994 rover racecar

I don't have a list of the colours I need yet. This is part of my forward/master planning for when I do all the wiring for the engine conversion. I don't want to get to the wiring stage and be held up for weeks on end trying to find matching colours/tracers etc. So it's good to hear I now have a source. Good to hear that they do good work too!

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-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.