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Which Wiring Colours?
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 5:10 pm    Post subject: Which Wiring Colours? Reply with quote

I'm trying to find a wiring colour standard to decypher the wiring harness in our 1951 Lanchester LD10.

For those that may not be in the know on this car, it came to use with only some of its original wiring, and a lot of modified wiring done to a completely unique colour standard.

We bought and are in the process of fitting a new wiring harness which is colour matched to the original harness. However, the only wiring diagram I can find for the car is done to a different colour standard and is slightly different to the harness we have in the car.

Additionally, the new wiring harness supplier's listed wiring colour standard is dramatically different to the colours used on the harness supplied.

I assume there is a standard colour chart for this car.

For reference, this is the only colour standard chart I've been able to find (across multiple sites) and it is incorrect for our harness: https://www.autosparks.co.uk/bscc
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MVPeters



Joined: 28 Aug 2008
Posts: 822
Location: Northern MA, USA

PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd take this up with the supplier of the harness you are actually working with.
I'd expect them to have used either an original Lanchester scheme or BS-AU7.
The purpose of a lot of the wires will be obvious from the length & positioning, so by a process of elimination, it shouldn't be too hard to work out most of it.
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Mike - MVPeters at comcast.net
2002 MINI Cooper 'S'
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 7:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The loom is a 'like for like' replacement, and comparing it to the original wiring that was left in the car that does appear to be the case.

I don't have a guide for the original Lanchester scheme and when I asked about this issue previously, the supplier advised using the guide on their website, which is BS-AU7 but doesn't match the loom.

The purpose of most of the wires is clear from length and position, but not all. I have a yellow with a brown trace, for example, that terminates in a ring connector near the coil but, so far as I can tell from the wiring diagram and the colour code, it's not for the coil. I'm not sure what it's for, I don't know what yellow with a brown trace should be and the guide suggests it's for Overdrive, which the car doesn't have.

All I need is a colour key so I know what each wire colour is supposed to be for. Once I have that, what's left will make sense. As it is I have a selection of similar wires going to similar locations that have very different functions. I also have no reference to work from due to a wiring attempt by a previous owner who used whatever colours they felt like and didn't follow the original routes.

There must be a standard colour code for Lanchesters of this period, I just don't know what it is or what words to use to find it.
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I found a picture of the main issue.



The clump that has bare wire ends goes into the voltage regulator but as you can see the colours there are not the same as BS-AU7. They are the same as the original harness (where it survived so that I could compare), but this particular area was rewired in random colours when we got the car so there's nothing to compare to.

Colours I need to identify here are:
Black (probably earth)
Purple with black trace
Pale grey
White
White with black trace
Yellow
Yellow with black trace
Green with black trace

The wires underneath the braiding have plain white insulation rather than coloured, so that doesn't help me.

The wiring diagram I have has the following colours for this area:
Brown with blue trace
Brown with white trace
Black
Yellow with green trace
Yellow
Green
White

Neither of these colour schemes line up with anything on BS-AU7 colours.
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MVPeters



Joined: 28 Aug 2008
Posts: 822
Location: Northern MA, USA

PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I presume you have this which has the 1947 colour codes on the diagrams a few pages down:

https://www.dloc.org.uk/ld10
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2002 MINI Cooper 'S'
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 10:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had seen that diagram before and couldn't figure out until tonight how to get a more legible version of it, the one I had was compressed and impossible to decypher.

I've managed to get a screenshot of it as big as it can go on my monitor, and played with the levels. I can see about 90% of the numbers on the diagram now and should be able to work out the rest through process of elimination and patience.

I'll run it through my art software and make up a new diagram to work from. I can see that the front lights, horns, and rear lights all use the same colours as my new harness and I'm sure with some time studying this I'll get the rest. This diagram also includes some of the items the other diagram I had doesn't, like the oil sender, so that helps.

I'll get back to you on this one with a new diagram when I've completed it.
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 1:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think after seveal hours work I've finally got it and the good news is it seems to be a usable wiring diagram. It certainly seems to be the correct colours so that's going to make things a lot easier.

This is the image I started with.


The important thing on this diagram is that the colours I can see the code for do match what's on the new wiring harness and I could see enough different colours that I was moderately confident this would give me a better starting point.

After all of the above work, I also went through and retraced every wire, all of the outlines for the icons, and all of the numbers. I started with the numbers that were easy and left the harder ones to help eliminate problems. I also referenced my now vast photo and video archive on the wiring job and that helped me see what colours were where in the car which, in turn, helped me figure out the most likely candidates for the bits of the diagram I just couldn't read at all. Eventually, I ended up with something immensely more legible than I started with.


After I'd done all that I went through again with colour and made myself a colour wiring diagram showing everything at a quick glance. This copy I kept at full size and a PNG file. Suddenly a whole lot of the wiring in the car made sense. I'm not as far off track as I feared I was. Here's a JPG file which is much smaller to illustrate the point.


This takes a lot of the guesswork I was having to do out. It's fundamentally the correct diagram for the car, all of the elements it should have are there. The items that are different are the passlight and the inspection lamp sockets that our car doesn't have, and the wiring for the rear lights is slightly different and looks more like you'd expect for the older style unit on the back of a Briggs car. However, because of the snap connectors marked for the rear lights, the wiring that differs there is only different from that point back and that's already wired up since I had original wiring to compare to there.

Hopefully this will get me past the current stumbling block since now I stand a far better chance of getting everything connected again. Looking through the videos and photos it at least seems like I have all the colours accounted for now.
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This definitely helped get past the worst of the job. Feel like I'm on the home straight now.
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