LHD to RHD Wiring conversion

[qkingston]

So as part of the planning ahead, I had decided that I would likely get a new wiring loom when I do the RHD conversion, the original US car loom has been bodged in a couple of areas and is very stiff and brittle, I reckon a number of future snags could be avoided with a replacement. Obviously a RHD loom would be required (Autosparks?) with the alternator addition, but I note that the RHD loom is designed to run down the LHS of the car, opposite side to the LHD version, so the body penetrations, cable tabs etc will be on the wrong side. Is that correct? I haven't seen mention of that in the RHD conversion posts I've read to date, and a couple of RHD cars seem to have the loom (plus fuse box/control box still on the RHS.....

[keith1948]

One way of telling whether a TR4A was originally LHD (for USA market) or RHD is to look at which side of the car the loom runs. Mine was originally a LHD California car and the (original) loom is on the right even though it is now RHD. A friend of mine has an original UK RHD and the loom is on the left. The correct side for a RHD car is on the left but as I say mine is still on the right.

Keith

[swanny]

I have a 1967 tr250, original apart from conversion to right hand drive, loom runs down left hand side,nothing on right?

[Nigel A]

I thought that from TR5/250 onwards loom ran down Left hand side prior to this on TR4/4a it was on right hand side

 

Cheers

 

Nigel

[RogerH]

My Original 1962 TR4 and 67 TR4A both had the loom on the righthand (off side) of the car.

 

The autosparks RHD loom fitted well(ish)

 

If you get a loom for an alternator there will be no wiring for an ampmeter - unless you ask for it.

 

Roger

[rcreweread]

Just to add my pennyworth, my 62 TR4 was originally a LHD export to Germany and returned to UK and converted ( very basically) to RHD sometime before I purchased it in 1980 - I don't think the loom was changed in this process and when I did a full rebuild on the car in 2012, I replaced the loom like for like, and it passes down the RH ( offside for RHD) side.

 

I also have access to 3 very original UK RHD 4As , two from 1965 and one from 1966, all of which never appear to have been messed with - all three of these cars have the loom going down the RH side, so my experience would tend to negate Keith's comment that the correct side for a RHD car is down the LH side.

 

Hope this helps add to the confusion!

 

Cheers

Rich

[qkingston]

OK so I had a chat with Autosparks technical department who checked their design drawings and the UK RHD loom runs down the RHS, so it would appear that both UK and US versions are on the same side. Incidentally, the advice seems to be not to fit an ammeter with an alternator, what do people put in it's place?

The Autosparks advice for a replacement loom is:

 

"Wiring for an alternator instead of the original dynamo uses heavier wiring. As a rule any ammeter wiring is also removed as an ammeter does not give a true reading with an alternator. Many ammeters do not have a large enough scale to use with a modern alternator and the added resistance of having an ammeter in circuit may damage the regulator of a modern ACR alternator"

 

David

[Lebro]

I have kept my ammeter with no problems. Running a (look alike) Lucas 18ACR.

 

Bob.