Rewiring my Mini

[kat-master]

I plan on rewiring my Mini this winter and was planning on using an aftermarket kit such as one from EZ Wire. 

If anyone has done this or rewired their car using a stock wiring harness, are there any tips or tricks that you might pass along?

I was planning on pulling the old harness first,  it is really messed up. The layout and pull the new wires using the samcome with the routes and the diagrams that  come with the kit.  Its going to be fun to get behind the dash panel because its a plastic Inno panel.  I I tried to pull it once and didn't get very far.

Also I want to replace the Inno ammeter with a voltage gauge.

Thanks for the help

[94touring]

Welcome to the forum.  I look forward to seeing how you go about it, I plan on taking my pulled harness and going through it also.

[joltfreak]

Here is a link to a wiring colour code table that my help:
http://joltfreak.tripod.com/id17.html

[MPlayle]

I replaced the entire wiring harness on my Mk-I recently as part of its refurbishment.  I went with a new factory replacement harness purchased from Mini Spares in the UK.

Use portions of the old harness to pull the new, especially the rear section as it goes up the C-pillar and across between the headliner and roof and back down the A-pillar, then through the firewall to join the front harness.  I taped the front end of the new rear harness to the back end of the old and pulled it front the boot to the front of the car.  Being a Mk-I, it was easy to remove the headliner for drawing the harness up the C-pillar into the inside gutter of the roofline and then feeding it down the A-pillar.

In the front, on the back of the instrument and on the back of the switches, my old harness was a real "rat's nest" of patches and splices.  Fortunately, there were enough bits of the original wires on the switches and gauges to confirm the new harness connections.  Again, I started from the inside (back of switches and gauges and worked forward.  I fed the interior end of the new front harness through the firewall and sorted its connections, made the join to the rear harness and then worked around to the light connections under the front slam-panel.

Most important is to take your time and be patient.  Get the correct wiring diagram for your specific car.  (Innos are considerably different from the standard, especially the ones with the 6-gauge pod.)  Verify each connection's color coding and routing by comparing the original and the wiring diagram.  Do this at least twice before removing old connections and replacing with the new.  If anything seems added "after-market" (such as my tachometer), make detailed notes of its wires and connections and attempt to label the wires before disconnecting.

Best of luck.

[kat-master]

Thanks for the welcome and the good advice for rewiring.

I will keep you all posted on how things go.

Happy Thanksgiving
Don

[Mudhen]

Hey Kat-Master - did you end up doing this?

Really curious if you used the EZ Wire harness or not...

Thx,

Pat