1973 LWB Series III project photos

what's working and what's not working Mate - electric wise? If it looks in good nick and everything works , I'd leave it as it is. I had several issues with mine when I first got it - the brake lights had been put onto a tag on the fuse box so they weren't doing anything , no horn (earth) no reverse lights (live wire flapping about in the engine compartment, no switch) , front r/h indicator not working (earth) etc etc. Don't chop anything out until you know what it is , just bend it over and put some tape over it - Get a wiring diagram and learn what colour wires go where* - I managed it and I'm an idjot - much easier to work out what's what when you know the colours.


* they may have been messed about with of course, suspect anything that looks ex- mains ! Plus I always take the live strap off the battery just in case.
cheers,
D

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Originally Posted by Dark61

what's working and what's not working Mate - electric wise? If it looks in good nick and everything works , I'd leave it as it is.

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Despite passing roadworthy, there's a few (small) problems

- Horn doesn't work, should be an easy fix though I suspect
- Reverse lamps don't work, not 100% sure if it has a switch or not, not looked too much into it
- License plate lamp doesn't work. Cables had actually corroded and stripped & shorted themselves. This is mostly what made me think rewiring may be a good idea, as I suspect a lot of the cable could be corroded like this..
- Mess of wires for a bodged radio install, not a huge problem to remove.
- Mess of live wires under seat where battery used to be, not a massive problem either
- A load of dead end wires, again quite easy..

Perhaps I should just leave it as is.. remove the radio and clean it up (wanted to add an aux. dash where it is..

I also wanted to add some driving lights/spots (already added, just been wiring up), so I'll loom those up to the aux. dash.

Perhaps I should just leave the rest as is then. It is actually relatively tidy for the excess cables that have been added, and maybe just re-wire areas as I need. I want to get some new side lamps/indicators, so may re-wire those when I get round to that..

Not too dissimilar to mine apart from the radio and under seat stuff. I'd take a look at anything obvious. Check the earth to the horn - mine was bad. If earth and live OK could be just that the horn needs a tap with a small mallet. Someone had taken the reverse switch off the back of the main gear stick on mine - but left the original live feed live and dangling. But get a cheap multimeter and stick it on the reverse light wire at the back and stick it in reverse to check for current. I'm assuming you have checked the bulbs. Suspect any wires that have been cable tied as these can fray especially when they have been tied to metal. Do one thing at a time and the list will go down quicker than you think.
cheers,
D

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Originally Posted by easyjo

Small update for this weekend, decided to paint grill... and avoiding the total rewire that I really need to do.

What are people's thoughts on getting a pre-made harness vs a DIY job? Seems a SIII harness can be had for $6-700, which seems a lot..

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Hello EasyJo,

To possibly put the cost of a new loom perspective; go down to an auto electric and by a metre of auto-wire. Then buy a multiple spade connector. Measure the length of each wire in a loom and add up the connections.

$700 could be cheap and a lot less hassle because hopefully all the wires are in the right place.

Kind Regards
Lionel

Ended up pulling out a lot of defunct wiring (it was a camper in it's past life, at some stage).

Any thoughts on what this is (at the top):

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...016/05/794.jpg

3 connections:
- Top black cable goes to old (leisure/seconday?) battery location under seat, not connected to anything
- Bottom black/brown cable goes to dash, which I haven't followed 100% yet
- 3rd goes to alternator

Really not something I recognise..

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Originally Posted by Lionelgee

To possibly put the cost of a new loom perspective; go down to an auto electric and by a metre of auto-wire.

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I'd suggest not going to an auto elec because they are buying it in and marking it up. Find a supplier of wiring & connectors and buy direct.
Locally I've found a Narva agent that will sell to the public at Trade Price, handy for globes, connectors, wiring etc. etc.

A selection of connectors, wiring in the correct colours & loom tape would be OK for repairs/tidying up but I think making a complete harness from scratch would be a labour of love......

I've seen several complaints on the forum that harnesses people have purchased are not always 'exactly' the same as the original plus yours has been changed to a Holden motor so you need to factor in that you might have to modify it.
Buying from the UK Vehicle Lookup is often cheaper than local purchase.
There are several harness sections so you could just buy which parts you feel you need.

Main harness GBP211
Engine harness GBP31
Chassis (rear) harness GBP70
Brake fail harness GBP11
Two Speed heater harness GBP8

Another option is the harness from a car that's being parted out, but it might be worse than yours......

Best of luck,

Colin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by easyjo

Ended up pulling out a lot of defunct wiring (it was a camper in it's past life, at some stage).



3 connections:
- Top black cable goes to old (leisure/seconday?) battery location under seat, not connected to anything
- Bottom black/brown cable goes to dash, which I haven't followed 100% yet
- 3rd goes to starter motor

Really not something I recognise..

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That looks interesting. Something that doesn't like being hot by the looks of all those vanes. Is it def the starter and not the alternator for the 3rd? If you disconnect the wire to the starter motor does the engine still turn over? Black wire I'm guessing would be the old battery earth - all I can find for brown/ black wire is "Horn to Horn Button" - but that's not it.
cheers,
D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dark61

That looks interesting. Something that doesn't like being hot by the looks of all those vanes. If you disconnect the wire to the starter motor does the engine still turn over? Black wire I'm guessing would be the old battery earth - all I can find for brown/ black wire is "Horn to Horn Button" - but that's not it.
cheers,
D

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Actually the black cable to the old battery is definitely +ve, as it did briefly touch the chassis and spark.. (won't make that mistake again). There's also an earth battery terminal in there too.

I'll give starting it a go without the starter motor connector.. My current thoughts are some form of relay/charging circuit for the old secondary battery, as I'm 90% sure it's not a starter solenoid.

Maybe its an old style battery isolator thing??

Cheers Rod

Sent from my GT-I9507 using AULRO mobile app

Well there you go - so much for the wiring colours chart ! If it had gone to the alternator I'd have guessed maybe a splitter to charge the second battery - but going to the starter has me confused.
I'm enjoying this thread - keep up the good work.
cheers,
D