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I'm in the middle of restoring a 1991 TVR S3, and need to replace the headlights. The old PVC wire needs to be stripped quite far back, and because I would prefer to use modern connectors (the headlight loom needs to be detachable because the headlights are attached to the bonnet) I'd like to butt splice thin wall onto the old PVC wiring, and then run the thin wall into the connectors.

Is this sensible? I would use heat shrink butt splice connectors to connect the old 14/0.3 (8.5 amp) PVC cable to thin wall 16/0.2 (11 amp), and 28/0.3 PVC (17.5 amp) to 28/0.3 thin wall (25 amp).

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  • I don't see how the cladding change would be any issue. So long as you maintain current capability and the wire size is compatible with your butt connector, go for it.
    – agentp
    Oct 10, 2017 at 15:01
  • :thumbs_up: (Slack has a lot to answer for).
    – tomjeatt
    Oct 10, 2017 at 16:32

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Your plan sounds fine to me, the butt splice connector is a good choice and the cable is slightly thicker than the one you are replacing, just make sure that the wire is secured so that there's no pressure on it that could pull the ends out. It might also be worth the small extra effort of putting extra heat shrink on both ends as well.

The one consideration I'd have is why you are stripping the wire back. If you are doing it just to install a modular connector then go for it, if it's because the wire cladding has degraded then you should consider replacing the wiring entirely so you don't run into problems later.

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  • Thank you - cladding's not too bad for the most part, but the ends of the wires have been exposed for a long time, and based on the wiring connected to the old lamps I'm expecting to find the copper's oxidised a few inches back. My main consideration is the connectors so hopefully the wire will be in good enough shape for that!
    – tomjeatt
    Oct 10, 2017 at 16:29
  • Hope so @tomjeatt, otherwise it's a big pain.
    – GdD
    Oct 11, 2017 at 9:52

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