Advice where to purchase a wiring harness for a 1954 A10?

[andrewk]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum and would be grateful for a little advice.

I need a main wiring harness for a 1954 A10 Golden Flash with a swing arm frame.

Where's the best place in the UK to buy one which is as close to the original Lucas type as fitted by BSA at the time of manufacture?

I've heard of TMS (and AutoSparks who actually make them for the firm), but I would assume there's others out there who fabricate them?

I would really appreciate the opinion of those who have experience on the matter and are more knowledgeable than me.

Any advice will be great !

Kind regards,

Andrew

[RoadRunner]

Hi Andrew,
The only advice I can offer is view the harness before purchasing - I bought one from a well known dealer and all but a few of the wires are all brown! Not helpful when following the orginal diagram or fault finding hence I intend to make my own - can't be that difficult (can it?).

I seems to remember one of the members bought one from Draganfly. Might find it if you do a search.

Good Luck,

RoadRunner

[lawnmowerman]

Hi Andrew and welcome to the forum.
I am with Roadrunner on this one - make your own. You can get all the bits here http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinestore/home/homepage.php

Jim

[muskrat]

G'day Andrew,
                   Just saw this on ebay 130482973840 contact seller and ask questions.
Cheers

[MG]

Hi Jim!

Great shop. loads of hard to find bits 'n' pieces. Thanks for posting, one to bookmark!

Cheers, Markus

[Stu55Flash]

I also make my own using VWP. I steer clear of the cheap blue, yellow and red type crimps now widely available. They are not shake proof. I use the old type bullets and solder them in. Also whilst your at it consider extra wiring for indicators run to the front and rear and also an extra chassis wire running from both the head light and rear number plate to the frame connection at the battery. They are easy to do at this stage but a lot of bother to do later. These provide additional reliability and cannot be seen inside the harness covering.

Stu

[BSA_54A10]

I also make my own ( and a lot of other peoples now days ).
If you are a stickler for originality then you can get all of the bits you need from the previously listed retailer.
To the original loom add the following.
1) Fuse between the wire from the rectifier to the ammeter.
2) Fuse between the wire from the battery to the ammeter.
3) Earth wire from the common earth to the headlamp shell
4) Earth wire from the common earth to the tail lamp.

You can use the preinsulated crimp terminals only if you remove the blue plastic and crimp them with an uninsulated terminal crimper which is a lot cheaper than buying the Lucas bullet crimper and actually dose a better job as they crimp on both the conductor & insulation.
This is if and only if you buy good quality terminals & not the ones that come in the 101 terminal packs with the pressed plate crimping tool.
Go to an electrical or auto electrical supply store and buy then in the trade packs ( 50 or 100 ).
Just about every thing that gets sold in blister packs in hardwear shops, car part shops or supermarkets are crap pure & simple rubbish.

[iansoady]

1) Fuse between the wire from the rectifier to the ammeter.

Rectifier? Ah, the elusive A10 alternator model......

Seriously, I also make all my own with the help of VWP. Two very useful tools are a decent wirestripper (I have a combined stripper / crimp tool - the crimp part is OK for the odd crimps I do) and a pair of bullet connector "pliers" - I can't remember where I got mine but the business and has flat arms with slots for the cables. The flat bits bear on the bullets to push them into the sleeves.

Making wiring harnesses is quite therapeutic and offers plenty of opportunities to curse the previous owner.

[BSA_54A10]

Alternator / dynamo it is all the same.
Hope you enjoyed the nits, apparently they are tastier fried in a little mustard oil. ;-) }
Two power feeds to the amp meter and both of them need a separate fuse.
Why ?
Because when the electrical system is generating it dose not need a + feed from the battery.
Thus fitting a single fuse to the + side of the battery protects the entire system when the motor is not running but protects nothing but the battery when the engine is running fast enough to activate the generating system.
Thus you need to have a fuse between the - feed from the generating system and the frame as all generating systems used by BSA earth out directly to the frame not the battery.

So for simplicity, fuse the 2 - wires going to the amp meter and you are covered for any electrical short or overload with the exception of a direct short between the battery - terminal and the frame as happens some times when you fit the wrong battery where the terminals can short onto the battery holder.
To cover the latter I fit a T shaped plug to the battery terminals  then there is no need to remove the battery leads ever until you change the battery so you can paint over the terminals with something like liquid electrical tape, thus preventing direct battery shorts.
This system also eliminates corrosion at the battery terminals for ever which makes for a much happier electrical system particularly if it happens to be a 6V electrical system

[Stu55Flash]

Trevor

Good tip to fuse the dynamo output - not considered this before. I have always put a fuse on the battery but not considered projecting the dynamo against short cct.

Stu

[brackenfel]

Hi Andrew,
There seem to be looms of very varying quality out there these days, I suspect the Indians and Chinese are getting in on the act!!

Like many here I also make my own. There are 3 choices, copy the original wiring diagram, copy what's already there or make what is actually required..
I tend to go for the third option whilst keeping an eye on the wring diagram. Original wiring looms were often made to suit more than one model and have redundant wires..
Buy decent quality cable and connectors. I go for brass bullet connectors but always solder them, shrink-wrap is freely available to tidy things up. Being a pedant I often run more earth wires than were originally included, especially one from the headlamp area direct to the main earthing point.. Even then you'll be surprised how few wires are actually needed!!


Hope this helps, good luck..

Adrian