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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - Very upset with Moss Wiring Harness.

Pardon my rant. I am a bit frustrated.

You all know how anal I am about trying to build a correct early TD.

Well, today I learned that the wiring harness I ordered from Moss is not factory correct for the early TD. Moss sells one wiring harness for cars without turn signals, a dash mounted dip switch, and below 18882 ID.

Today I find that the wiring color for the horns on this harness is not correct for the early TD. The early TD had Purple, and Purple/Black wires to the horn. The Moss harness has Brown/Green, and Brown/Black wires. Correct for the later TD.

They also added in an additional large brown wire in this harness that comes up to the voltage regulator. This is correct for a TD with the 5 pin regulator and the seperate fuse block, but not for the TD with the 9 pin regulator.

I know the TD had a number of wiring changes during production, but I just do not understand why we cannot get ones correct for each change.
Bruce Cunha

Bruce, you probably can.. just not from Moss at Moss prices. Have you checked with other wire harness suppliers?
Regards, Tom
tm peterson

You can, as we had to in teh 1980's, buy the correct coloured wires, cut to length and then have them braided by companies building the looms to give the correct finish.
Ian Bowers

I know nothing about TD wiring, but in the TC world there are errors in the factory wiring charts, and many harnesses have been made to match them. Perhaps this is one of those cases?
Steve Simmons

Moss had and may still have issues with wiring harnesses. When restoring TD/c -8151 I purchased a cloth wire harness with turn signal wiring embedded from Moss. Turn signals being the only deviation from originality on dads car. I buy my restoration parts needs far in advance of the their use so I can take advantage of discounts and shipping and so I’m not delayed I. The restoration process. When I was ready to wire the car I had simply removed the harness from the bag and laid it out on my living room rug to inspect it. I found errors primarily the DB 10 box was was for the engine compartment instead of under the tool box where it belongs. When I called Moss they refused to take it as a return because the bag had been opened. I argued with them that the bag required opening so that the coiled harness could be inspected. Even when I told them the product packaging had been mis-marked. I was able to sell the harness to another restorer but at a discounted loss.

In the second instance, I bought the replacement harness from British Wiring thinking they were the manufacturer. The package paperwork again was correct for what I had ordered but, the wiring harness was for a late TD with the fire wall mounted dimmer switch Clearly not correct for my dads car. Unfortunately , and just like Bruce, I had already installed the harness into the chassis and didn’t realize this error until the very end of the installation. At that point I’d had enough I made the necessary changes to make the harness work. It’s not correct but it works Not the result I wanted when also doing a meticulous restoration. The frustration of getting to the point of nearly completing the wiring in chassis and then finding errors is enough to cause an aneurism. Bruce, I feel your pain.

I think Bruce, LaVerne and myself had all bought harnesses around the same timeframe for our various projects.
W A Chasser

Have you looked at Rhode Island Wiring?

http://www.riwire.com

They list a version for serial 0251 to 8346.
I believe everything is custom, so if you talk to them they can modify to your liking.

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

RIW used to be one of the best. Not sure now but ...
Christopher Couper

The Moss harness is reported to be an Autosparks of the UK harness.

Autosparks reportedly makes their looms by hand. Here is a Wheeler Dealer You Tube on that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lm67PbeVz8

They say they have the diagrams for 6000 cars. They say on their web site that they do "Authentic Reproductions"

So if they make them by hand, how hard is it to make the correct harness for each harness change the TD had?

Even Moss says in their wiring instructions that the harness is not correct.

" On very early TDs with 9-post regulators
eliminate the ‘33’ wire from the starter switch to the fuse block. All other wiring is identical."

As for using other companies, Yes, If I were to do it again, I would have sent this harness back and looked at other companies.

Here is my fix. I will eliminate the 33 brown wire as Moss suggests. For the issue of the color. I ordered woven purple and black and purple wire. When I get it, I will strip the cloth outer covering off and replace it at both ends of the horn and voltage regulator. This will make it look correct, and also avoid any issues in identifying it in the future.
Bruce Cunha

I would recommend RI Wiring especially if you really want an authentic looking wiring harness. They install the vinyl protective wrap that most other harnesses omit. Tech support was fantastic. They even found the small id tag on my original harness that knowledgeable people on these forums never even seen before.

Frank

TF1414


Frank Cronin

Frank: Bruce was working on getting us some of those tags made locally.
Christopher Couper

I made an attempt at the getting the tags made at a local trophy shop. They could only engrave the letters and they do not look right.

I was able to find die's that are the correct font size.

I have the brass, so now I just need to find the time to stamp them out.
Bruce Cunha

Remind me where on the original loom that little tag is found? Was there a "usual" location, or could it be hiding anywhere?
Lovely nit of fetail, Frank.
John.
J P Hall

John you would find that on the fuel pump ground wire near the terminal end.


L E D LaVerne

Thanks Laverne - I must remember not to try & type on my little tiny phone after a wee break in the middle of the night. A nit of fetail ?- ye gods.
John.
J P Hall

John

On my TF the brass tag was on the main harness on the carburetor side of the car just forward of the air filters. On the bonnet side panel there is a P clip near the front air cleaners where the end of the main harness is secured. At this location is where you tie in your lights and fog lights. This is where mine was.

Thanks

Frank
TF1414
Frank Cronin

This thread was discussed between 05/02/2023 and 08/02/2023

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.