Triumph 3ta/5ta rewire from scratch

[n.bye]

Hello, i am in need of some serious help to re wire my 1960 3TA. i bought the bike through auction 3 years ago. When i got it home i found the wiring was a complete mess, as it included household wires and all the rubbish expected. also only 3 wire were connected to anything and two of those were for the horn. i have bought 2 harnesses that perported to be for the 3ta, and i am now trying to get some information as to where all the cables go.
i would be really grateful if anybody could supply pictures of any connections or a colour diagram of the wiring. yours in need. Nick Bye

[mini-me]

google is your freind here,  input ' Triumph 3ta wiring diagram', dozens come up, too many for me to sort through.

[n.bye]

Thanks for that,but as you say there are thousands to choose from and all the ones i have looked at do not resemble the harness colours i have. Nick.
some of the diagrams are not even for the 3TA, one i looked at was for a BSA, Not a 3TA.

[Rex]

http://classicglory.co.uk/triumphc/

These are not BSA, so take your pic.

[mini-me]

A lot of these replacement harnesses do not conform to Lucas colours. Also the makers try to make them suit as many different bike years as possible to maximise profit. So you might well have surplus circuits as well as one that might suit different switch gear
A 5TA one will also suit your bike.

Did you not get a wiring diagram with the new one? I'd go back to where you bought it from for that,should have come with it.

It seems you are to go on a steep learning curve here, wiring is not really as as scary as you'd think, when I need a wiring harness I make my own, buggered if I'll pay the prices asked.

How about you take a good clear photo of the harness laid out flat on a good  flat surface with all its ends laid out and I'll see if I can suss where it all goes?

[n.bye]

thank you for the two replies, i will have a go at the first one as i can see most of the colours on the diagram. If not i would like to take up mini me's offer and send a picture of the harness. Thanks to both. cheers. Nick. Coventry.

[n.bye]

  I would like to thank mini me for the advice, absolutely brilliant. Once i found that i did have extra cables, it was easier to sort the others. It seems even the Lucas harness is not correct, the harness does not go where it should, but i have overcome that. Again a big thanks to Rex as well for the actual diagram that was very useful. Cheers Nick

[Rex]

Nice to get some feedback. Too many times someone (not just on here) wants help or info, gets it, and never comes back to say if it was successful or not.
I have to say, bought wiring looms should make life easier, but the last one I bought for a C range BSA ( a combination of cheap and my laziness!) was too short in the main body of the loom. For the sake of three inches or so on the middle part of the loom the whole job was made harder.
Back to a DIY loom  for the Enfield, hopefully in the next month or so.

[iansoady]

I always think the work involved in making the loom from scratch is repaid many times by not having to sort out errors in one somebody else has bodged made

[mini-me]

Yes thanks for the update,glad to have been of help.

Nothing more satisfying in this hobby than to come out on top of  a problem you thought hard to solve.

I make all my own wiring harnesses when I need one, and from habit I always stick to old Lucas colour codes.

The best bit of advice I ever received was to think of each length of wire as a water pipe, ie if it goes in at one end, and does not come out of then there is a blockage or a leak [ no contact or a short circuit].

I would add you can't have enough earth points,, wherever possible I run all earths back to a common point and that powder coating does not make a good contact for earths.

I prefer solder to crimp joints, because I am an oldfart, but I don't seem to have the trouble others do with solder joints, because I learnt how to solder properly 55yrs ago.

Each to his own.