Headlamp wiring routing

[TomB]

Morning,

Im in the middle of tidying the wiring up at the front of my 1996 car. Ive found the headlamp loom to be right mess, with multiple joins in cables and loose spade connectors.

Ive bought new looms and would like to route the cables down the headlamp brackets to tidy the outside of the car like the newer cars do.  Ive trial fitted the wires for headlamps and indicators and they do fit down the brackets when fed down ones at a time.  My question is should these go down the brackets individually, or are they wrapped first?  Where the cables exit the bracket from a small hole underneath to pass to the indicators and up into the headlamp, are they wrapped here, or just the bare cables?  

Does any one have any close up pictures of the final assembly?  

Thanks 
Tom 

[Jonathan Kay]

1. Do you need to disconnect connectors that are already on the new bits? There's lots in the archives on how to do that.
2. Do you have an Assembly Guide, or at least Section 15? If not please send me a Private Mail with your email address.

Jonathan

[TomB]

Hi JK, 

No mine predates connector plugs! its all spade/ bullet connectors.  Im planning on passing the bulleted wires down the stays, then fitting new opposite connectors to the loom.  However, it has just occurred to be I could fit a small econoseal or similar connector instead of bullets. Pros and cons of either approach?  

Ive got the assembly guide, not sure Ill need it though.  

Cheers
Tom 

[JNC]

It's possible to make a nice neat job with bullets  ! I used to solder them on , plus it keeps you car true to the year build. 

[TomB]

Plugs attract because I could remove the headlamp/bracket/indicators as a unit without having to unwrap the loom.  However, the most common reason Ive had to strip them apart is to replace a cracked indicator cone, which would be a PITA with plugs as the headlamp/bracket/indicators would need separating.  So I think Ive just reached a conclusion! Bullets and live with the inconvenience of occasionally having to unwrap the loom.  

 

 

[AntonyH]

On my car, where the wires run between the headlamp bowl exit and the bracket tube, under the indicator mount, the wires aren't / weren't wrapped as such, but were contained in a flexible plastic tube (a bit like a heat-shrink tube but not heat-shrink). This tube has a slit cut into it to let the indicator wires to come out to the flasher.

I don't have a picture to hand but that could be arranged if necessary.

While you're about it, you could replace your indicator cones with carbon ones at not much expense, meaning a reduced likelihood of having to replace a cracked one in future.

https://www.lotus7.club/blogs/front-lights-refresh

Less that double the cost of plastic ones from Caterham, so if they have double the lifespan (probably more than), they're a bargain... man maths!

[JNC]

@TomB:  why do you have to unwrap the loom ? with bullets ? The connector block is insulated and the bullets push in like a plug !!. so you can separate the head lights exactly the same .

[ChrisC]

If you want to push the boat out, (like I did with my new build) you can get Y shaped heat shrink to split the wires from the head light and indicator.   The finish looks fantastic, but at a cost. 

[TomB]

Anthony - interesting link.  Did the black wire sheath fit through the headlamp bracket with the wires, or do you have unwrapped wires going through the bracket? 

[AntonyH]

Within the bracket, the wires are loose. The sheath goes up into the headlight bowl but not really down the bracket tube any; it's purely to keep the wires together and vaguely protected from flying debris.

With extra length or maybe heat shrink, I imagine you could encase them throughout the bracket tube, but there's not a huge amount of space down there already, plus a 90 degree bend of course, so getting the whole lot fed through would be even more of a PITA.