Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Ajs & Matchless forum 1949 wiring ?

Anyone have a sample of genuine circa 1949 wiring to show ?
Mine was well past its best by then. Very well past it.

Anyone explored the quality of the wiring harness supplied in
the spiffy new Lucas red (or green) boxes ?

I've already had a reply, elsewhere. Thanks Lex.

"Never ever use the ready made ones, totally wrong construction and materials, and way too expensive.
By 1949 rubber covered wire was still used, have had several NOS lamps with looms attached to them."

I suspect this sums up the situation 100%.
More on this shortly.

The wiring chart that came with this kit was a little strange.
And remarkably short on detail.
When I hauled it out of the box, thats exactly what the main loom looked like though !
A mix of bare wires, braided over wires and wiring in a plastic tube.
The headlamp is on the left, and the middle of the bike on the right.



The large handful of smaller looms and chunks of extra wire hinted that this was going to be a challenge,
And not entirely straightforward - the colour coding was nothing like diagrams I've seen for this year/model either ...
It does mention down the bottom to refer to the diagram for your bike ...

Hmmm, all these extra bits and more harness came in the package too.
Not impossible to figure out, although the yellow/green wire pair are a bit of a mystery at this stage.
No explanation or instructions for these.
It does say to refer to an original harness diagram (which you have to locate for yourself)



I'd comment also that the original harness was all black rubber coated wire, with little colour coded ends.
So coloured plastic wires are not entirely an exact replacement !

The yellow/green pair connect the generator to the regulator.

Thanks Trev.
Where do you get that from ?

Now, this harness has quite a number of bullet connectors on it.
As far as I am aware, a 1949 bike would have had zero * bullet connectors ?
There is nowhere - and no provision - to plug them into anywhere or anything ..



The harness for 1949 would have been all black rubber coated wires.
With coloured bands at the ends to identify them.

* With the possible exception of the connectors into the generator.
These had a pre-bullet type of connector - the wires were splayed out over a tin collar.

Remains of the 'wiring' on a similar era project I have.
Miller, not Lucas though.



Any coloured wire you like - as long as it is black. !
Note how many (tinned) strands are in each wire.
Quite generous - and essential for 6v ...

If you look closely, one strand is/was actually red rubber.

P.S. Someone has contacted me with a nice sample of an original Matchy wiring harness.
All black rubber coated wiring, as you would expect.
Not sure if I can show his pic ...

The yellow/green wiring for the generator is standard Lucas. Check out the wiring diagrams for other makes. The connections on the generator and regulator are known as split sleeves.
I had a look at a 1949 wiring diagram and it shows the wires as being coloured.
I had the unenviable task of sorting the wiring on a plunger A10 which had one of these horrible repo harnesses fitted. Very few of the wires matched any wiring diagram.

Here's a link to the manual, Rohan.

http://archives.jampot.dk/book/Owners_manuals/1949_=M=_Instruction_Manual.pdf

Ha !
I had a look at my dominator wiring diagram, and it indeed shows those colours.
The old grey cells must be fading ...

The rijjinal harness pic that someone sent me has coloured bands on the very ends of
an all black rubber coated wiring set.

I have some little shrink wrap bands that I use for the same purpose.
I doubt these were available back then, I wonder how they did it ?

P.S. And if you haven't twigged, then Dim is parklights.
Same as L in the Lucas world ...

Found this tucked away in the MM & Instruction Booklet.
Right next to the wiring diagram.
Not noticed that before - or taken heed of it ..

What are you trying to achieve Rohan? A correct, in period exact replica of the original wiring, warts and all? One that looks original but won't rot to pieces in a couple of years as did the original? A practical and reliable working system? Or what? It's not clear to me what you are trying to do.

I must admit I've never bought a replacement wiring loom in my life. No particular reason, I think it's mainly because I ride weird crap that no one makes looms for anyway. But I'd probably do it myself anyway.

I was in my infancy unwittingly taught that commercial looms are just that. Commercial. Made to a price. No better than they have to be. I was an apprentice fitter and turner, my mate Brian was an apprentice aircraft electrician. He did all the bike wiring needed and his wiring invariably led to markedly improved lighting from exactly the same components. He thoroughly demonstrated the value of proper earthing and proper connections. The motorcycle manufacturers wiring diagram was viewed merely as a minimum suggestion. Brian did it PROPERLY. Of course him having access to the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation 100% discount store ensured a plentiful supply of appropriate materials as well. Ahhh, happy days.

Anyway, back to the original question, Rohan. What are you trying to do?

I don't know !
Just bought this on a whim, when it swam into view on my screen.
Thought it would be worth a look.
Since I've never had a viable new loom on anything old I own/have owned/will own.
And the nice new red Lucas box looked enticing ...

And, oddly, the chap that sold it to me tried to tell me this WAS totally original.
That was funny - and worth the price alone ?
Its a strange old world out there ...

Also asked about this on the Matchy forum. And got a couple of replies showing original harness's.
And suggestions on how to proceed if I did indeed want something close to original.
So now I've got yards and yards of black wiring, and some little coloured sleeves to colour code it with.

And, I reckon this will fit a Norton project I have, where being faintly original won't matter one jot.
So it wasn't a total waste of $$
The wires in it are all rather thin though. We may have to use a heavier main power wire, for sure ....


"Proper connections" are an interesting subject in their own right ?
And evolved over time ?

Cheers.

They were what Brian said were proper connections, Rohan. He was the apprentice aircraft electrician, not me.

What does that mean though ??

In the 1930s, 'connectors' would appear to have been little brass screwed together thingies.
Rare as rocking horse droppings, unless you make them yourself ? (the brass bits !)

Did they carry on after the war, or go to something simpler ...
And when did bullet connectors come onto the scene ?
They had those half baked ones that pushed into the generators' connectors ...