Modern wiring.
Discussion
I've recently bought my first classic, a Jensen Interceptor. It's fantastic, but the wiring and electrics are just horrible. I am inclining towards rewiring the whole car, removing anything with the name Lucas on it! I'm thinking modern relays, blade fuses etc.
Can anyone recommend somewhere who could undertake this sort of work to this sort of standard:
http://www.ceautoelectricsupply.com/customrelaypan...
Can anyone recommend somewhere who could undertake this sort of work to this sort of standard:
http://www.ceautoelectricsupply.com/customrelaypan...
There shouldn't be anything wrong with an original style loom provided everything is in good order. If you need a new harness making either to original specification, or a custom job, try Auto Sparks.
www.autosparks.co.uk
They made me a full look with custom sections for my 3000m project, albeit I've not used it yet!
Good luck
Paul
www.autosparks.co.uk
They made me a full look with custom sections for my 3000m project, albeit I've not used it yet!
Good luck
Paul
Rewiring a car is a MAHOOOOSIVE job, I did it on my rally car from scratch, and it cost me a small fortune in connectors, relays and fuses, all the wire was from 2 dead XJ6’s. I would be in no rush to do it again. I have also helped a mate do a new loom from scratch on a 246 Dino. Another ball-aching job….
Wiring on an Interceptor is not great, and it wasn’t on day 1 leaving the factory, never mind on a car that is now 40+ years old. I was forever fixing the harness on my series 3.
There is a wiring diagram somewhere online for the car which I printed out on the A0 plotter at work, then “coloured it in” with felt tips, with the actual wiring colours. This task took ages just by itself.
Good luck with the job if you go ahead with it. If in doubt plan it very well, and then plan it again, just to make sure.
Wiring on an Interceptor is not great, and it wasn’t on day 1 leaving the factory, never mind on a car that is now 40+ years old. I was forever fixing the harness on my series 3.
There is a wiring diagram somewhere online for the car which I printed out on the A0 plotter at work, then “coloured it in” with felt tips, with the actual wiring colours. This task took ages just by itself.
Good luck with the job if you go ahead with it. If in doubt plan it very well, and then plan it again, just to make sure.
Lucas didn't supply or design the wiring, as far as I know, and so what if they did?
It's old, it's knackered, and as you suggest yourself, it should be replaced. That's the problem, not "Lucas".
But with an Interceptor, you'll find that it's the engine bay harness that has taken the brunt of the years, exacerbated by the massive heat from the engine.
Get a new engine bay harness from Auto-Sparks, and spend a weekend fitting it.
You'll find that there will be nothing much wrong with the dash harness and everything behind it.
The biggest problem (and this is not Jensen-related), is the muppets that have been there before you. This muppetry is normally confined to the engine bay harness (again), so replacing that solves, many, many problems.
You can download the wiring diagram here:
https://www.joc.org.uk/club/downloads
Interceptor wiring is not complicated, it's just power, earths, fuses and a few relays. In the Mk 2 and 3 models there is just quite a lot of it though! But it is all simple stuff.
Enjoy your iconic car!
It's old, it's knackered, and as you suggest yourself, it should be replaced. That's the problem, not "Lucas".
But with an Interceptor, you'll find that it's the engine bay harness that has taken the brunt of the years, exacerbated by the massive heat from the engine.
Get a new engine bay harness from Auto-Sparks, and spend a weekend fitting it.
You'll find that there will be nothing much wrong with the dash harness and everything behind it.
The biggest problem (and this is not Jensen-related), is the muppets that have been there before you. This muppetry is normally confined to the engine bay harness (again), so replacing that solves, many, many problems.
You can download the wiring diagram here:
https://www.joc.org.uk/club/downloads
Interceptor wiring is not complicated, it's just power, earths, fuses and a few relays. In the Mk 2 and 3 models there is just quite a lot of it though! But it is all simple stuff.
Enjoy your iconic car!
The head light circuit definitely needs modification, adding separate circuits and relays for each light unit, as the original setup had the current for all four headlights routed through the dashboard switch!
Modern fuses may be nice, but the originals are perfectly OK if they are of good quality, and all the contacts are clean.
There's too many Interceptors being taken away from original, and in the future (in my opinion), originality is they way to go.
As I said, the wiring / electrics, are all very simple, and perfectly reliable if everything is in good condition. (Bar the head light circuit!)
Modern fuses may be nice, but the originals are perfectly OK if they are of good quality, and all the contacts are clean.
There's too many Interceptors being taken away from original, and in the future (in my opinion), originality is they way to go.
As I said, the wiring / electrics, are all very simple, and perfectly reliable if everything is in good condition. (Bar the head light circuit!)
OP, the main problem with the wiring on the Interceptor, apart of course from age, is the significant underbonnet temperatures. This dramatically accelerates ageing of the insulation materials. Two ways around this is to firstly use modern high quality cabling which is much more resilient to heat, and secondly situate the cabling as far away from the manifolds and engine block as possible; or even build some shielding over them.
The worst design aspect of wiring on the Interceptor is the pathway of the HT leads on the ignition system. On the early cars in particular they run down the rear of the block and alongside the manifolds where they frequently get melted through causing serious misfires. I always re-route them over the top of the rocker covers and away from the manifolds. That way they last much longer and are usually trouble free throughout their service life.
J
The worst design aspect of wiring on the Interceptor is the pathway of the HT leads on the ignition system. On the early cars in particular they run down the rear of the block and alongside the manifolds where they frequently get melted through causing serious misfires. I always re-route them over the top of the rocker covers and away from the manifolds. That way they last much longer and are usually trouble free throughout their service life.
J
jith said:
The worst design aspect of wiring on the Interceptor is the pathway of the HT leads on the ignition system. On the early cars in particular they run down the rear of the block and alongside the manifolds where they frequently get melted through causing serious misfires.
Isn't the routing of HT leads down to the engine manufacturer, though? I mean, the distributor and plug positions are exactly where Chrysler put 'em.Thanks everyone for your advice. Now that I've had the car a while, I think it's correct to say that there's probably nothing intrinsically wrong with at least the design of the loom, I think a new replacement with a few mods to suit upgraded fans, headlights and alternator will do the trick.
As has been mentioned, routing of the HT leads neatly without frying them on the manifold has proved challenging, two frazzled leads later......
Good guess on the paint by the way. It is indeed Rover Nightfire Red, I found the original receipt for the paintjob from 1994! There are traces of the original colour, a very pale yellow, in the boot.
As has been mentioned, routing of the HT leads neatly without frying them on the manifold has proved challenging, two frazzled leads later......
Good guess on the paint by the way. It is indeed Rover Nightfire Red, I found the original receipt for the paintjob from 1994! There are traces of the original colour, a very pale yellow, in the boot.
Jorrocks said:
Thanks everyone for your advice. Now that I've had the car a while, I think it's correct to say that there's probably nothing intrinsically wrong with at least the design of the loom, I think a new replacement with a few mods to suit upgraded fans, headlights and alternator will do the trick.
As has been mentioned, routing of the HT leads neatly without frying them on the manifold has proved challenging, two frazzled leads later......
Good guess on the paint by the way. It is indeed Rover Nightfire Red, I found the original receipt for the paintjob from 1994! There are traces of the original colour, a very pale yellow, in the boot.
It looks seriously nice in Nightfire, an example of how a modern colour can actually work on an older carAs has been mentioned, routing of the HT leads neatly without frying them on the manifold has proved challenging, two frazzled leads later......
Good guess on the paint by the way. It is indeed Rover Nightfire Red, I found the original receipt for the paintjob from 1994! There are traces of the original colour, a very pale yellow, in the boot.
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