I am ‘restoring’ my 62 Mark 2 3.8. It’s in the shop and bodywork and new paint will be complete by 2/24.
My next step is rewiring. I am also considering an updated fuse panel for safety, yes, but also to accommodate new features like iphone charger, power seats and over head cabin lights. Does anyone have a recommendation of a vendor for a good wiring harness with good instructions and a recommendation for a new fuse panel?
Also…is it cheaper to buy a re upholstery kit from someone like John Skinner or better to find a quality local shop and let them do it all?
Custom upholstery is not cheap. A local shop will need to basically start from scratch, measuring, etc. but you’ll likely get a better product. A reproduction supplier will have the correct patterns, colors, etc.
An USB C port, sure, but try not to ruin the car and future troubleshooting by ‘upgrading’ it to something worse with different wiring etc. - just make sure what’s worked fine for decades is in good shape.
In the UK we use autosparks for wiring harnesses, I believe rode island wiring is the “go to “ in the USA. You will not get installation instructions with a new loom.
The Mark 2 came with TWO fuses. That is, 2.0. And the lights, coil, fuel pumps and other stuff had no fuse whatsoever!
We use a fusible link from the battery cable-starter solenoid connection, so in the case of a dead short, at least something will blow, hopefully before the car ignites.
We have also installed a second Lucas two-fuse box below the original one (with an early car that has no horn relay, it fits neatly under the fuse box cover) to cover the white circuit (coil and fuel pump) and the lights (feed wire to the lighting switch, which is originally brown and unfused).
Relays for the head and fog lamps are also an excellent idea, saving your poor little expensive light switch from too many electrons. Those fit neatly behind the grille, near the top, and are quite invisible unless the grille is removed. A relay will also make the lights much brighter.
Remember that a Lucas 35A fuse has a 17A continuous current rating, while a 50A fuse has a 25A continuous rating. The 35, or 17 if you prefer to call it that, is fine for the white circuit, with the 50 for the lights. Less if you have light relays.
Best of luck! We love Lucas and reject the whole Prince of Darkness thing, especially on cars of the fifties and sixties, but a few design enhancements such as the ones we suggest above, changing plug-in ground wires for ring terminals and generally plugging things back in which have unplugged themselves, will make any British car much more reliable and safe.
Geoff Rogers
If done well, not ruining the car and not an „upgrade‘ that isn’t good!
The prince of darkness really only emerged in the 70s… the older products are mostly pretty good imo so I reject that too.
I have the same view. Until recently I was running original generators/alternators and starters in four “Lucas lit” English classics. One starter had to change with a manual transmission conversion. Two cars came to me in the last ten years with original - still working coils (c1972 and 1962). It’s not the components that let Lucas down it was perhaps the couplings. These are satisfactory in my experience with some maintenance, heck, mine are +40 years to +60 years old.
Here’s another vote for old Lucas products. When the clutch in my Mk2 lost all its fluid, the old Lucas starter motor managed a couple of hill starts without problems. I wonder if the modern high torque upgrades could do the same?
If you replace the harness running through the sills to the interior lights and back of the car, attach pull ties to all of the old cables before taking them out. Otherwise, you’ll be in for a major, near impossible fishing exercise. In fact, the old cable is generally good quantity and doesn’t need anything more than sleeving and new or cleaned connectors.
The old cable is definitely of good quality. It just becomes embrittled close the the engine. For my cars I was able to source correctly coloured lenghts of cable to repair these sections. A little solder on a twisted joint and a sympathetically coloured heat shrink sleeve made the repairs as good as gold.
That would be cheaper and I really only need to replace everything under the hood back to the dash panel. I may try autosparks in the UK as I’ve not had much luck finding what I need over here over here.
good!