38 replies to this topic

[Carlzilla]

apologies dan for my misleading idiocy , i just double checked and the correct colour is indeed pink/white

for some reason i had it in my head that it was light brown and had faded to white

but, the coil should have pink/white on one side (positive) and black/white on the other (negative)

(have also edited my posts to show correct colouring, so as i dont get told off again )

and also as dan has said, if it is the same wiring as my car, the tacho wiring should be behind the dash somewhere as i have a 3clock dash and was factory fitted, so have a look before you route any unnessary wiring

Edited by Carlzilla, 26 March 2010 - 01:08 PM.

[bunch1980]

Thanks very much all and to Carzilla for revising his posts, I would of course checked before connectiing anything up!

Yeah im hoping there is wires behind dash already been told there should be i just need to get car out in day light to see lol as its in garage and last nite to
dark even with lights on, need an inspection lamp!

So if i have wiring there it will be safe to add the TIM rev counter there?

[bunch1980]

Carlzilla, please read the large warning about giving advice which is at the top of every technical page. The advice you are giving here is very much incorrect and could potentially be quite expensive. There is no brown wiring to the coil and never should be. There is however wiring near the coil that is brown/red on later cars which is the cranking signal and if you were to hook a tacho up to that it would be destroyed when you crank the engine. If you've found a brown wire feeding the coil in any wiring diagram for a Mini, you've read it wrong.

Ballasted cars have two wires feeding the coil. One is pink/white and fairly thick, the other is white/yellow and much thinner. Neither is a faded brown.

Bunch1980, as you have stated that you have the Lucas electronic ignition you might have trouble making the Tim gauge work. You do have a ballast coil but the ballast is not supplied on the positive side by the wiring, it's controlled by the electronics. The coil supply should be from a single white wire from the loom. There will be another wire connected there which is powering the distributor electronics. The negative terminal will have white/black wiring. The coil cap is marked + and - to help you identify the terminals too.

Your car should already be wired for a tacho, the wiring should be present behind the dash. If there are 2 white/black wires connected to the coil negative, one is for a tacho and the other end of it runs to the dash.

Thanks there were a lot of wires coming from coil so hopefully as you say these are hidden behind the 2 clocks i have now!

[Carlzilla]

bunch, feel free to slap me if you're going to the show at malvern, ill be on the splinters mini club stand if i make it there

and if the wiring that the manual for the tim guage specifies is EXACTLY the same as what is installed for a factory fit tacho, then i should presume so

[bunch1980]

If it's factory fitted electronic ignition it has its own coil specification - GCL143. It should be an easy fit read up on RVI & RVC.

As far as i know it is forget the name of it now but its lucas 64d or something i think, whats RVI & RVC??

[bunch1980]

bunch, feel free to slap me if you're going to the show at malvern, ill be on the splinters mini club stand if i make it there

and if the wiring that the manual for the tim guage specifies is EXACTLY the same as what is installed for a factory fit tacho, then i should presume so

lol i wouldnt do that, not sure where malvern is im in Bristol.

there is 4 wires i think, green for coil i think, then red,black and white for illumenation!

[Ethel]

http://www.super7.dk/instruments.html

[Carlzilla]

from what is in the haynes manual, you should have light green/orange and a white/black there for the tach, the white/black is from the coil negative, the light green/orange is the live feed which is picked up off the wiper motor (silly i know)

and im sure that a red/green is fed onto the the clocks for illumination, but, if in doubt, take a feed off the red cabling on the back of the lighting switch, same as which i had to do for illumation for my clock (comes on with sidelights)

EDIT: im certain from removing my clocks to tidy up my loom, that the green/orange has a female bullet connector on it, and the white/black has a female (lucar) spade connector on it

Edited by Carlzilla, 26 March 2010 - 01:32 PM.

[bunch1980]

from what is in the haynes manual, you should have light green/orange and a white/black there for the tach, the white/black is from the coil negative, the light green/orange is the live feed which is picked up off the wiper motor (silly i know)

and im sure that a red/green is fed onto the the clocks for illumination, but, if in doubt, take a feed off the red cabling on the back of the lighting switch, same as which i had to do for illumation for my clock (comes on with sidelights)

EDIT: im certain from removing my clocks to tidy up my loom, that the green/orange has a female bullet connector on it, and the white/black has a female (lucar) spade connector on it

Will try and look tonight or more likely tommorow when its light lol!

[bunch1980]

http://www.super7.dk/instruments.html

Sorry link is not working for me not sure if its me browser or link!

[dklawson]

As far as i know it is forget the name of it now but its lucas 64d or something i think, whats RVI & RVC??

Follow Dan's advice on the wiring and wire colors.

You said you have a TIM gauge to install so references to RVI vs RVC do not apply to your needs. However, as a succinct explanation, RVI and RVC are two types of Smiths tachometers. The RVI tachs are an older design which senses current pulses and they are generally not compatible with electronic ignitions. The RVC type is a later design and senses voltage pulses using a single wire connection to coil (-). The RVC type works with most electronic ignitions and is very similar functionally to your TIM unit.

[bunch1980]

As far as i know it is forget the name of it now but its lucas 64d or something i think, whats RVI & RVC??

Follow Dan's advice on the wiring and wire colors.

You said you have a TIM gauge to install so references to RVI vs RVC do not apply to your needs. However, as a succinct explanation, RVI and RVC are two types of Smiths tachometers. The RVI tachs are an older design which senses current pulses and they are generally not compatible with electronic ignitions. The RVC type is a later design and senses voltage pulses using a single wire connection to coil (-). The RVC type works with most electronic ignitions and is very similar functionally to your TIM unit.

Thanks I will do

Ahh i see yeah this a new TIM 80mm pod type gauge from mini spares and Simon from min spares said it would work to so sure hope it does!
being in the pod means it wont look to out of place either i hope!

[bunch1980]

yay i found the wires behind clocks for rev counter, but tim instructions say if i got ballast resistor then to use a normal + 12v feed from iginition i guess any acc wires as long as on once turned!

tried to look behind the switches but couldnt figure out how to get it all off lol!

[Ethel]

Think I see the issue now...

Your gauge should have at least 2 wires one for power and one to sense the coil firing. Because ballasted ignition reduces the voltage the instructions are just saying you should power the gauge from a separate 12v not off the coil.

Connect the sensor wire to the -ve side of the coil and tap the power off one of the white wires behind the dash.

[bunch1980]

Think I see the issue now...

Your gauge should have at least 2 wires one for power and one to sense the coil firing. Because ballasted ignition reduces the voltage the instructions are just saying you should power the gauge from a separate 12v not off the coil.

Connect the sensor wire to the -ve side of the coil and tap the power off one of the white wires behind the dash.

Thanks yeah i see more how it works now, will any white wire work? i was going to use one off the fuse box in same place i plan to take off for stereo, does the guage need to be on switched + or permannent +?