Looking for Idiots Guide to fitting New Wiring Harness

BlueKraut

New Member
Local time
Today, 07:59
Joined
Nov 27, 2018
Messages
7
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Age
70
Location
Germany
First Name
Andy
My Ride
Triumph TR6P (1969) frame with T140V (1979) engine
Hi All
This is my first post her so bear with me if the answer has already been given somewhere.

I have decided to put a new wiring harness on my 1969 TR6 P with a T140V engine. I have never done this before so I would like some advice and preferably an idiots guide.
The old harness is still in place. I talked to MES in the UK and they have supplied me with a harness based on the mods on the bike: Boyer electronic ignition, and a solid voltage regulator instead of the Zener diode and rectifier plus bullseye indicators.
I now need to fit the harness and, before I make a "pigs ear" of it, I was hoping someone might point me in the right direction. Is there a good guide or a Youtube video which might help me?

Bluekraut
 
I replaced both wiring harnesses on my vintage bikes with a new harness and it wasn't that hard at all.
As the saying goes, if I can do it anyone can do it.
First of all, take some time to study the harness already in place and become familiar with what goes where.
At the same time study the new harness and compare the two as you explore. It will quickly make sense.
If necessary, attach some notes to the new wires if you don't trust your memory, but once you lay the harness on the frame the wires should almost fall in place.
I don't know of any YouTube's on the subject. I just went ahead and did it.
The important thing is to make sure your ground/earth wires are attached solidly and to a clean and dry point.
To ward off corrosion, I always use dielectric grease in all connections.
My new harnesses have been in place for nearly 20 years and I've never had any electrical or corrosion problems.
It's really not that hard so have a go. Good luck and take your time. Slow but sure wins the race BGRIN
 
Rocky's advice is sound. One or two others have changed their harness more recently, and they might chime in with more information soon.
 
Yep, the hardest part is to figure out which is the front end, and which is the back:

Front - blue, blue/white, and blue/red go to headlight

Rear - brown, brown/green, and red go to tail light.

The rest is tedious. Lay each sub-pigtail in the approximate routing for the bit that it serves; once you have all the pigtails sorted, route them as "internally" as possible, so no wires will be exposed toward the outside of the machine. Do NOT strap or zip-tie anything down until after the entire system is checked and fully operational.

Double-check all the terminal ends to see that they match the bits they supply, and start connecting. LEAVE THE BATTERY FOR LAST!

Double-check that all ground wires are on clean frame or engine points, and that all grounds are the same color (Red for positive ground, custom harness may use black or green for negative ground). Also, make sure your electronic ignition is properly wired for the grounding scheme you choose (Pos or Neg).

Connect the battery GROUND lead(s) to the battery (Pos or Neg, depending on your previous choice), make sure your lights are switched OFF, then turn on the key and barely touch the battery POWER lead to the other battery terminal; you should get a SMALL (tiny) spark with the lights off. If it shoots a big spark (or blows the fuse), you need to double-check everything again.

Use cable ties of your choice and secure the harness to the frame.

Done.
 
I replaced both wiring harnesses on my vintage bikes with a new harness and it wasn't that hard at all.
As the saying goes, if I can do it anyone can do it.
First of all, take some time to study the harness already in place and become familiar with what goes where.
At the same time study the new harness and compare the two as you explore. It will quickly make sense.
If necessary, attach some notes to the new wires if you don't trust your memory, but once you lay the harness on the frame the wires should almost fall in place.
I don't know of any YouTube's on the subject. I just went ahead and did it.
The important thing is to make sure your ground/earth wires are attached solidly and to a clean and dry point.
To ward off corrosion, I always use dielectric grease in all connections.
My new harnesses have been in place for nearly 20 years and I've never had any electrical or corrosion problems.
It's really not that hard so have a go. Good luck and take your time. Slow but sure wins the race BGRIN
Thanks for the quick reply. I will definitely take my time and it obviously makes good sense to label the wires. I think I will also take a lot of pics with my mobile phone before I take off the old harness. A picture is worth a 1000 words!
 
Yep, the hardest part is to figure out which is the front end, and which is the back:

Front - blue, blue/white, and blue/red go to headlight

Rear - brown, brown/green, and red go to tail light.

The rest is tedious. Lay each sub-pigtail in the approximate routing for the bit that it serves; once you have all the pigtails sorted, route them as "internally" as possible, so no wires will be exposed toward the outside of the machine. Do NOT strap or zip-tie anything down until after the entire system is checked and fully operational.

Double-check all the terminal ends to see that they match the bits they supply, and start connecting. LEAVE THE BATTERY FOR LAST!

Double-check that all ground wires are on clean frame or engine points, and that all grounds are the same color (Red for positive ground, custom harness may use black or green for negative ground). Also, make sure your electronic ignition is properly wired for the grounding scheme you choose (Pos or Neg).

Connect the battery GROUND lead(s) to the battery (Pos or Neg, depending on your previous choice), make sure your lights are switched OFF, then turn on the key and barely touch the battery POWER lead to the other battery terminal; you should get a SMALL (tiny) spark with the lights off. If it shoots a big spark (or blows the fuse), you need to double-check everything again.

Use cable ties of your choice and secure the harness to the frame.

Done.
Thanks for the extensive reply all of which makes good sense. I will take note and also add labels and photos to the process as in my reply to Rocky
 
We're happy to help.
I'm a 100% believer in taking pictures before anything is taken apart and also making notes as I go along - and sometimes even a crude drawing.
Unless you do this sort of thing all the time, memory can be fleeting BGRIN
 
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