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MG MGB Technical - Painless harness

I just purchased a Painless 10102 wiring harness. I have been told this is a good harness that will work real well on my 79 MGB. Does anyone have experience install this and maybe some instructions and diagrams.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have looked through the archives and it is mentions a few times but no actual instructions or step by step.

I will be taking a lot of Pics during the installation to share with all when it’s done.

Than you
Bob
bsf Fowler

Bob,

The Painless harness instructions are not very user friendly for an MGB application. For a street rod, which they were designed for, the instructions are pretty good, as they assume you are using a GM light switch, and a GM steering column with built in turn signal and hazard switches. About 98% of the street rods do use these switches, but it's very rare for an MGB to have them. Painless makes a good product, and they have sold over 100,000 of them to date, but they did not have MGBs in mind when they designed them.

For example, the instructions for wiring the headlight switch show a picture of it with the wire connections identified pictorially. If you're not using a GM switch, the instructions say "If you do not have a GM headlight switch, you should trace out the wires of your existing harness and connect the wires according to table 11.2". Not much help there! Table 11.2 is not a lot of help either. The instructions for wiring the turn signal switch is even worse.

If it's any help, I have sent you by e-mail a diagram of the fuse panel wiring for a Painless 10202 wiring harness that I traced out. It won't be the same as yours, but it will show what you'll need to do to figure out how to interface it to your MGB. You'll probably need to enlist the help of a friend who's knowledgable about wiring (unless you are) to help you with it.

Basically, the Painless harness is not much different than the original MGB harness, in that you have one circuit that's hot all the time (equivalent to the brown&purple circuit in the MGB), one that's hot only when the key is one (equivalent to the white&green), and one that's hot when the key is in the accessory position (equivalent to the white/green or white/purple). The major difference is that you have many more wires and fuses to work with.

The first thing you need to do is draw a schematic for your car and the Painless harness. Once you've gotten that worked out, the rest should be pretty easy. I have also sent you by e-mail a copy of the wiring diagram that comes with the wiring kits I sell to use as a guide.

Most of the major harness manufacturers - Painless, Ron Francis, American Auto wire, EZ Wire, etc - advertise as if a semi-literate chimpanzee could do the job in one afternoon, but it isn't so. Not even if you're an expert. Plan on spending a LOT of time on this - even if you ARE an expert.

You're in for a lot of work, or a lot of fun, depending on how you look at it. Good luck!
Dan Masters

Thanks Dan. I recived you email and it should help a lot.

Bob
bsf Fowler

I seem to remember someone on another message group calling it Painful Wiring. RN Lapow(spelling) used a Painless wiring kit in his MGB and sent me some photos about two years ago, but I haven't seen a post from RN in several months. Clifton
Clifton Gordon

NOTHING on used on the MG is Painless
Bruce Cunha

Anyone have experience of this company's harness?
http://www.itsasnapwireandcable.com/products.htm
Various people sell them on eBay for about $140
Regards
Tony
Tony Bates

Tony,

I have no personal experience with this company, but from what I've seen on their web site and in their magazine ads, they are pretty much the same as Painless, just packaged differently. In fact, of the companies that I do have experience with (Painless, Ron Francis, EZ Wire, American Auto Wire), they all are pretty much the same except for packaging and the type of wire they use. They all have the same three basic circuits, two flashers, and one relay. A few have two relays.

The only company that I know of that's significantly different, and that has a product specifically designed for an MGB or a Triumph, is Advance Auto-Wire. http://www.advanceautowire.com

Yes, I do have a financial interest in them, as that's my company.
Dan Masters

Nice. Also just my way of thinking. Relays are the bee's knees (just gotta rob $300-odd from the other project funds now)!

Go ahead, toot yer own horn.

Mike!
mike!

Dan makes a fantastice wiring harness custom built to the needs of your MG at a price that is very competitive with the Painless harness or other makers. I have one of his harnesses for my MGB/GT V8 conversion. Contact Dan Masters off list at danmas@aol.com for details. (No, I'm not on Dan's payroll!) :-)

rick
rick ingram

Well Dan I wish I would have known about you before I purchased this harness form painless. Can you email me price list for a complete wiring harness for a 79 MGB and any other details for me to consider. If I like your harness and I can return the painless I may decide to go with yours instead.

Thanks
Bob
bsf Fowler

OK I just checked and I can return the Painless harness. SO I am VERY interested in your harness Dan. I have been looking at your web site and it looks good. And it seems like a better idea to order a harness made for a MGB rather than a generic harness. And the price is about the same as Painless only about $50 more. If it is made for the MGB the extra $50 would be worth it.

Does anyone else have experience working with Dan and his harness? How is his technical support?

If I do decide to get this harness form Dan I will post on here how my experience with it is.

Thanks
Bob
bsf Fowler

Bob,

The cost for a complete kit is $345, delivered to your door. Bob Danielson is posting his progress installing one of my harnesses in a TR6 on the web at: http://tr6.danielsonfamily.org/Dans%20Wiring%20Harness.htm

I recommend downloading the instruction manual for your car from my website and see if it suits your needs (click on the "instruction manuals" button).

It is my intention to provide excellent tech support. I try to return e-mail questions the same day they're received, but as I'm the only one here, I sometimes take a day or so if the questions require a detailed response.
Dan Masters

Bob
I have bought one of Dan's harnesses for my 79 MGB V8 coversion and am in the process of doing the job now --I can recommend that Dan is very helpful and a great guy to support his product --so have no fears
Gil
Gil Price

Thanks Gil after reading over the instructions and diagram to install his harness on my 79 MGB I have decided to go with Dan. I compared his instructions to the ones I receive form Painless and Dan’s are fare superior

Thanks
Bob
bsf Fowler

I'm considering getting one of dan's harnesses myself for my next mgb project since I've uh well sold my mgb to a fellow club member complete with a very custom items I've made for her. I got another 72 b now that I'll be restoring and customizing for myself this time and keeping to my vixen theme.
btw the other b looked almost perfect when i finished redoing the body work and such for her. Couldn't even tell she had half her front in bashed upto the an inch from the engine block at all. I'll be doing the next vixen with money I'll be earning doing body work and paint jobs for other car owners and a few very custom built items I'll be selling by the end of the year with luck.

The FI systems are still working well from what the others have told me though they want more power out of them now... and one to work with a SC set-up... buggar...
CJD Dark

Dan,
It appears from the picture on your website that the harness may not come with the bullet and other type connectors on the wire ends...is this true or am I mistaken?
Frank

Frank,

The fuse/relay/flasher panel comes pre-assembled and pre-wired. The other ends of the wires are not terminated, but all the terminals and connectors needed are supplied, including the British bullet/sleeve connectors that came with the cars from the factory.

This is standard practice for aftermarket wiring kits, as each individual owner has his or her own idea as to where to mount the panel and how to route the wires. If the wires were pre-terminated, they could wind up being too short, or, if excessive lengths were supplied to cover any installation, large amounts of wire could need to be coiled up and hidden out of site. Painless, Ron Francis, EZ-Wire, etc, all ship their products the same way. The only harnesses that come with all wires pre-terminated are the OEM replacements.

By leaving the final terminations up to the owner, and by supplying plenty of wire length, my harness will accomodate just about any mounting/wiring scheme. For example, the panel is pre-wired with two lengths of wire for each headlight beam, one each 16' long and one each 12' long (28' of blue/red and 28' of blue/white). Unless you should mount the panel in the trunk, this will be more than adequate for any installation. It might even be enough for a trunk installation. After the harness is installed, you will have a lot of wire left over.
Dan Masters

Dan,
Any plans for midget-specific kits? I assume that the MGB kit could probably be used with slight modification.

Tad
R.M. Rivenbark

Tad,

The kits are pretty much universal. The only difference between one model and another is in the wiring and hardware required to complete the installation. The panel itself comes in two configurations - one with a starter relay and one with an overdrive relay. The other six relays and the remainder of the panel wiring is the same for both configurations.

If you would send me a wiring diagram for your Midget, I could put together a kit specific for your car. This is something I plan to do in the future anyway.
Dan Masters

Is there a stock main wiring harness source for a 1977 MG Midget? I just purchased my first LBC, a 1977 Midget. A previous owner cut each wire on the main harness then spliced it with a crimp-on connector. Needless to say, I have circuit continuity issues. Apparently no stock main harnesses are available from sources such MOSS or Vicotria British for 1977 and later Federal (as opposed to California) cars with serial numbers between 188001 through 200000. While I prefer a "plug & play harness", I would consider a custom harness that requires fit-out. I have the proper MG factory wiring scheme for this car (1977 MG Midget Workshop Manual.
Mike Scocos

This thread was discussed between 10/01/2005 and 20/01/2005

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