Mains brown wires to the starter......

[AntonyJ]

One of the jobs to be done before the body goes back on is a repair to the mains cables that attach to the starter.

When I took the body off,I noticed there was a very stiff section in these,which I presum is heat damage to the wire.
Would it be ok to cut and replace the last 12" of the wires to remove this probable high resistance? (I am assuming that if the outer insualtion has gone hard,the actual wire wont be in great shape either)

I was thinking of jointing on some new wire.

[kenny Chim 4]

A few years ago, I extended the alternator to starter motor cable to enable the 100 amp fuse box to be repositioned. The box is now cable-tied to a chassis strut under the alternator tensioner.

This means I can access it by simply removing the off side front wheel other than crawling under the car.
I used a battery cable from a scrapyard.

[spend]

Ant, if its just the starter to Alt ones, its just as easy to replace them completely. You could cut the bad bits & introduce the 100A fuse as a joint if you wanted.

TBH If it was me I'd buy 6m of 50A thinwall and replace the starter-alt & alt to bulkhead connector - the whole car except the starter is powered in this round about way...

Alternately I removed the starter - alt cables, and linked the fusebox to the battery.

All assuming you have the battery - starter - alt - fusebox arrangement prevalent on the early cars...

Dave

[AntonyJ]

Dave, at the starter I have the main red to the battery, then there is four browns in one ring terminal, two go to the alt and the other two go into the bulkhead.

All the rest of the brown wires feels ok, my main question is ,is it ok to joint these brown wires, i.e crimp terminals?

[spend]

I wouldn't join them. Whether its the starter-alt or starter-bulkhead wires (you didn't say which) what I said earlier still applies. Its not much wire to replace, and if there is sign of heat damage (surprised down there?) it is likely to extend further than you would first suspect (but that means stripping the insulation till you see clean & tight strands..) As I said if its is the fusebox connections, it makes no difference if you rip them out and connect the fusebox to the battery (as in the very last cars IIRC).

Dave

[AntonyJ]

Dave I see what you are saying now.
So the four wires, two link up to the alt and the other two go to the fuse box?

[steve-V8s]

If you have to join cables that carry a lot of current and live in inhospitable places it is often best to make a good quality solder joint and then cover it with some heat shrink. The less connectors the better but if you do join with a crimp connector then put some heat shrink over the joint to keep the elements out.

[spend]

AntonyJ said:

Dave I see what you are saying now.
So the four wires, two link up to the alt and the other two go to the fuse box?

Exactly... (keeping wires away from heat wherever possible would be my best tip )

Dave

[AntonyJ]

So I can cut the two to the fuse box and connect to the battery directly and just replace the two to the alt-starter.

Cheers

[spend]

Yes, it should also make it easier to bolt the cables onto the starter.

The way mine is done is that only the Battery cable connects to the starter. Two 50a cables run from the alt over the engine to the bulkhead, originally to the fusebox, now redirected to the battery. I ripped out the starter to alt cables and replaced them with battery to fusebox. In the footwell I used a pair of 100a midi fuses, mainly just because it was easier to blend in / re-use the old/new cabling in my case. Obviously mine started out different to yours..

You will be able to remove the 2 brown cables that from the fusebox go in the loom to the connector behind the dash on the bulkhead.. You should get quite a bit of cable out (weight saving ) and a simpler implementation away from the exhaust heat.. All you are doing essentially is linking the fusebox to the batter end of the Big Red Cable rather than the starter end of it

Those sets of brown wires are pretty easy to work on, they just link battery / alt / fusebox, basically its the root of evrything, live all the time so no interdependancies... It just gets a bit confusing where TVR used several different implementations and of course the demon fuse.

Dave