Wiring, or Muck & Bullets

Regular readers will note that this post was originally published a few days ago. It's been moved to it's own page since it is growing...

Moved by a discussion on cable ties on the AOMCC forum (how many rivets in a BR Standard Class 5?),  I started to look closely at the wiring harness.

It is a curious thing indeed. Whilst it has been modified, there are many original cables left in it. These are rubber covered, used 14 plated 0.030" strands (that's 1.0 mm2) and use small coloured bands at each end to determine the cable colour - insulation is always black. The diameter is equivalent to a modern 2mm2 or 3mm2 standard PVC cable (not thinwall), which I may use when rebuilding.

I've discovered that you can buy single cored HO7 (rubber covered, oil resistant) cable, but getting it in the right size and the right colour is a problem. Since it is specified for trailing mains cable, for frequent handling it tends to be in 3 core brown/blue/green & yellow for single phase mains supply.

We shall persevere with the help of Mr. Google. I might ask this chap http://www.vintagemotorspares.com/ who looks he has some useful stuff and is local to boot. Or the 318TQ cable here might do it too.

Connections are made with conventional bullets, with the rubber covered single & double snap connectors. My bullets are solder type as shown in the picture, not crimped:

The real curious thing is the sleeving. There is a short (maybe 1 foot) length passing from the front under-tank area to the headlamp; another, smaller diameter from the headlamp to the dip switch; a bare single strand is provided for the horn push. It appears that from under the tank the wires passing to the regulator/coil battery are uncovered. There is a small (1 inch) length of rubber sleeving tying together the wires that start and finish in this area (dynamo to regulator for example) - and that is it! no more sleeving. I suspect that the wire to the rear light was a single strand, since in 1951 there would have been no stop switch. My harness is pretty mangled in this area.

It must have appeared a bit of a dog's breakfast, with all that loose cable!

There is a wealth of information on the AOMCC forum about cable fastening, HERE. However, here is a picture of my rear mudguard:

Now I know that most normal people will glimpse that picture and instantly lose interest, and those that pause for thought will then wonder why we bother with this obsession of ours, but for those of you that want to know how Ariel retained the cable to the rear lamp inside the rear mudguard, well, here is the picture you have been searching for all those years.

There are about five of these little tags welded around the LHS (horn/battery side) of the rear mudguard, and the cable slots behind them. You bend them a little bit to retain the cable.

Note that my mudguard is of the one-piece variety, that pivots around the forward bolts (the ones that pass through the seat lug).