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MG TD TF 1500 - Hints for Harness replacement

I about to replace the main and dash harness in a 52 TD. Any hints from those of you who have gone through this? I read an older post indicating that grounds are not provided for the lights, did you add ground wires or use the frame?
How much time will this take? Any additional parts I should obtain?
Thanks for all advice and comments.
Jim Drisko
jdrisko@sonic.net
Jim Drisko

You can make up ground harness. Usually fastened to the knurled nuts that hold the gauges in place.

How much time it takes depends on how dirty your car is. You could do it in a couple of weekends.

You may need to buy some additional harness wraps or use zip ties if you don't care about originality.
Chris Couper

Jim,
The frist thing that makes it better is to label all wires on the harness before attempint to do any instalation. Use the diagram thats sutible for your car and harness. Then begin by laying it outfront to back then insert the rear portion through the fram to the back then bring to rest up to the firewall. Place the front portion down and through where you can reach it from under the car. Insert the under dash portion through the rubber grommet thenthe wires throough the hole and then insert the grommet. That takes a screw driver. This works for me/us since we have done 2 or 3
Hope this helps
Ellis
Ellis Carlton

Jim,
Here's another tip when rewiring your T-type.
Add two inline fuses to the harness. The only protected curcuits now are the horn, wipers, turn signals and stoplamps. On the back of the lighting switch, place a inline fuse between all the small Red wires and the "S" terminal. This fuse will protect all of your running lights. Next place another inline fuse between the "H" terminal and the solid Blue wire that runs to the dimmer switch. This fuse will protect your headlights. I've seen more than a few burned out T-Types and harnesses for the want a simple fuse.
About the cheapest insurance policy you'll ever find.
Ben Travato

Ben:

Any particular amperage to use for the in-line fuses? Since the main fuses are designed to handle more than just a few select electrical components, I would think a lower amperage fuse makes sense. Just don't how low an amperage to go.

Thanks

Jim
TF7022
Jim Rice

I wouldn't use anything less than 25 amp.
If you put on driving lights, fuse them too with their own fuse as well.
Ben Travato

Thanks for the info as I have removed every wire from my TD. I did lable every wire and now I am ready to install a new harness.

Cheers

DJ
DJ

I rewired my TD last year. It was easy but took some time. One thing I did was to take the wireing diagram to Office Max and have it blown up and then sealed in plastic. This made it much easier to read, and if it got dirty I could wipe it off.

I found the wiring very straight forward. Replace worn rubber gromets where the wires pass through the metal parts. I also bought some loom to put around the wire in places that could rub.

Everything was color coded. Take your time.

Tom
Tom Patoine

Thanks for all the great ideas! Got started yesterday, it will take some time. I was suprised with all the twisted together and black tape connections I have found. I have been pulling the old harness out one device at a time and then installing the new harness.
Jim Drisko
Jim Drisko

This thread was discussed between 11/02/2002 and 17/02/2002

MG TD TF 1500 index

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