At 05:57 AM 1/5/06, Michael Sloan wrote:
>"I definitely like the older stuff. .... it is not rocket science. .... And the British stuff has the electrics by Lucas (the Prince of Darkness)."

This takes a little getting used to. The greatest problem is with in-line bullet connectors in the wiring harness, as they tend to corrode. Prescribed maintenance used to be periodic cleaning of the female connectors with a small round wire brush, similar to a small bore rifle cleaning brush. But the female connectors are cheap enough to toss out and replace with new ones. Start by replacing all the female connectors with new ones, chemically clean the male bullets, and put them back together with a touch of silicone grease inside to prevent future corrosion. This applies to all of the bullet connectors in the engine compartment, and at all of the front, rear, and corner lamps.

For the bullet connectors in the harness immediately behind the right rear wheel, cut off all the bullets and solder the wires and cover with shrink tubing, or join with crimp connectors. Bind it all up with tape, and tie wrap the harness to the frame so it can't move. This is a HUGE improvement for long term reliability (as long as it's not for concours). The only reason there are connectors at that location is to allow the rear harness to be installed in the body before the body is placed on the frame (in original factory production). Those junctions never need to be separated in the real world, until one day when teh body may need to be removed for future restoration work.

The rest of the wire terminals on the MGA 1500 are screw posts, which never fail. Later production 1600 cars used push on connectors on the generator and distributor. By MK-II production time the voltage regulator also had Lucar connectors, which can be a problem. Good to use the earlier regulator with screw terminals (if it's not for concours show). The low current terminal on the distributor is generally not a problem. Keep an eye on the larger high current output terminal on the generator. If you have to use a replacement ignition switch with push on terminals, install a barrier strip to carry the high current going to the lighting switch so it doesn't go through the ignition switch input terminal.

Once you get the bullet connectors licked, and stick to screw terminals for the rest of the wiring, the Lucas stuff is generally reliable.