Kiajon Posted June 18, 2020 Report Share Posted June 18, 2020 First of all a big thank you for all the advice/guidance so far. I’ve been slowly getting my Spitfire 1500 back on the road after a 14 year lay up and it’s been testing/interesting/fun/frustrating/surprising. Well today she went to my friendly local garage for her first MOT in all that time and she..... failed! The surprise was how little was wrong! A top ball joint gator had split (new ball joints ordered), the headlights need Re-aligning (more on that in a minute!), the rear brakes were binding a little and the horn didn’t work. So nothing too difficult! I hope! The horn not working annoyed me cos it was working before. On the way home in the glorious summer weather I noticed the Rev counter illumination wasn’t working. Could the two be linked? All the other lights are fine so it’s not the fuse. Any thoughts? The headlights are still the old sealed units. I’d like to upgrade them to something that actually lights up the road better than the 1 candle power of the current ones. Is it just plug and play? I’ve seen a number of upgrade options on fleabay and other proper classic car part sites with new lights and is it H4 halogens. Do they make much difference? Are LEDs better? (I know they need less power to run) Should I put relays in? Has anyone used one of the wiring loom relay kits? Thanks again. I’m so looking forward to getting old car road legal although with the weather as it is I’m wondering whether to trade her in for a boat?!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qu1ckn1ck Posted June 19, 2020 Report Share Posted June 19, 2020 Good luck with getting the Spitfire ready for the re-test ! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted June 19, 2020 Report Share Posted June 19, 2020 some Led are very bright but have no light penetration like 30mph is as fast as you can see so do lots of homework before you jump. H4 and halogens is avery common well tried option before all that check the voltage at the lamps the old wiring and poor earths can drop the pointed end down to 10v so you can get a very cheap and easy fix relay kit off ebay this gives a new direct feed and it will revitalise your glow worms as a first stop upgrade before you ig in the wallet , you may be surprised at the improvement do this first Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted June 19, 2020 Report Share Posted June 19, 2020 As Pete says, headlight relays may improve your lighting a lot - even though they really shouldn't - because the kit provides a new-fresh-wire feed in place of the badly corroded fifty-year-old wire. It also avoids feeding all the headlight current through the column dip-switch, which isn't a very good switch. Worth doing as a first off. If the sealed-beam lights are still too dim for your liking, then H4 halogens are an easy conversion. LEDs can be more trouble than they're worth. The horn problem is likely a bad contact on the slip ring but there's also the relay to check and the horns themselves can get flaky. I doubt it's connected with the failed instrument bulb at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiajon Posted June 19, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2020 Thanks for the advice gentlemen. I read about the relay loom kits on one of the other streams on here but hadn’t considered them improving the bulbs I’ve got. I presume we’re talking about something like the attached image? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted June 19, 2020 Report Share Posted June 19, 2020 thats the one , it also prolongs the life of the weedy light switches , but a jump from 10ish to 14.5volts makes a world of improvement its cheap does the job try it before you dive into replacements can be a 2nd phase upgrade pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted June 19, 2020 Report Share Posted June 19, 2020 One hint I think it was Coming ve gave was to weather proof the connectors afterwards, they do corrode easily. try to put all the bits in the driest spots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiajon Posted June 24, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2020 Right. Trying to sort out my horn issue. It looks obvious! I have an unconnected purple wire. Where should I stick it?(Please keep your responses polite!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 24, 2020 Report Share Posted June 24, 2020 Purple is horn, if I remember correctly (it is on Heralds anyway); you'll have to identify the other end of it, or the terminal it's meant to connect to, and that's where it goes. Sorry, I know that sounds simplistic, but I'd like to think that if you inspect the end of the horn stalk at the column it'll be obvious enough. Hopefully! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted June 24, 2020 Report Share Posted June 24, 2020 It goes to the broken terminal on the right hand switch, with nothing left to connect to. Those switches are supplied with the upper part of the harness attached to them, there should never be a loose wire in there, so it's either got cut or tugged off. Repair is likely to be tricky. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiajon Posted June 24, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2020 Ooh. Is the broken terminal visible on my photo? (Complete beginner here and to top that I'm a visual learner!) Is there anyway of popping the unit off to get better access to the back of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 24, 2020 Report Share Posted June 24, 2020 I've had to do a quick read on this one; they're attached to a large metal plate that the column goes through, so not easy to remove, and if the bumf is correct then RHD versions have been unavailable for years with only a lot of NOS LHD versions for sale - the idea being you just swap the metal plate over. I can't see the rear of the plate but I'm hoping there's a bullet terminal or the like that you can at least attach the wire to - hold a small mirror in behind and look for the other end of the purple cable or a pin that nothing goes to. You may, if there's enough spare cable, be able to strip part of that one and solder it to the terminal. A good auto-electrician will be able to repair it for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiajon Posted June 24, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2020 Hmm. Took the steering wheel.off and saw the plate. Heart sank! Looking for a small mirror to see what's on the back. This is going to be a challenge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted June 24, 2020 Report Share Posted June 24, 2020 Area they same as big saloon stalks? on them one is screwed to the other which is itself attached to column with a metal clamp. come apart easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiajon Posted June 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 13 hours ago, thescrapman said: Area they same as big saloon stalks? on them one is screwed to the other which is itself attached to column with a metal clamp. come apart easily. I’ll have a look later. Here’s hoping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 25, 2020 Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 Looks like one large plate and the sad thing is that whilst the other stalk is simply bolted to it, and may be removable on it's own, the horn push doesn't seem to have any bolts, unless it's just clipped on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiajon Posted June 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 Tried having a look with a mirror (and my phone camera) and I still can't see where this purple cable is supposed to go. So, while doing that I had a look at the steering wheel and the boss seems to be a horn push. What would I need to do/add/buy to make it work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 25, 2020 Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 The horn push is on the end of the stalk; that centre one is from a different model so a bit of a red herring. Look at where all of the other cables from that stalk go to; you'll see a terminal with nothing there, or the remains of a broken connector in a hole that seems to do nothing. That'll be the one. Any chance of a better photo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiajon Posted June 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 6 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said: The horn push is on the end of the stalk; that centre one is from a different model so a bit of a red herring. Look at where all of the other cables from that stalk go to; you'll see a terminal with nothing there, or the remains of a broken connector in a hole that seems to do nothing. That'll be the one. Any chance of a better photo? Bum! I was hoping it might be an option! I’ll try and get a better photo tomorrow (or a series of) and I’ll close the garage door to reduce the back light. The others I took today are similarly ambiguous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiajon Posted June 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 Other photos from tonight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 25, 2020 Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 Better. These ones I found took two tins of diet coke and one sore neck.... dozens of switches but none of the rear! You can see the purple wires, but not how they connect; they may be spade connectors, but they're going to be a nightmare to reach without taking the entire thing off. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRIUMPH-SPITFIRE-1500-RHD-INDICATOR-STEERING-COLUMN-STALK/324202988735?hash=item4b7c0104bf:g:kIQAAOSwpZVe6-rK I've found one on which the headlamp flash is broken but all else works, for 99p it might be worth a punt as you can probably make one from the two... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiajon Posted June 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 Cheers for that. I might buy it just to see how the damn cabling works! There’s not much slack on the wiring loom to lift the unit off! May need to spend some time inverted in the driver’s seat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorkshire_spam Posted June 27, 2020 Report Share Posted June 27, 2020 I had a root around in the garage and found my spare indicator stalk - turns out it's for my Dolomite, not my Spitfire Dolomite Type: 😞 So I took the cowl off the Spitfire and tried to get a photo of that... with limited success: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wimpus Posted July 1, 2020 Report Share Posted July 1, 2020 One wire of the horn will be running into the shaft of the horn push/stalk and the other one will be wedged between stalk and plastic where the stalk is pushed in.. On a wiper switch.. easy fix. On that switch for indicators/high beam/horn... nightmare 😣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiajon Posted July 2, 2020 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2020 I have a horn again! Having spent 99p on a partially working unit so I could see where the wire needs to go, then stealing the wife's make up mirror I managed to reattach the rogue cable! It probably isn't a permanent fix but if it gets me through the MOT it'll do! Thanks for all you help.....again! Now onto the front upper ball joints! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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