Vespa Restoration Advice Page – Wiring Loom

While the scooter is being painted there are five jobs that you can (and should) be doing:

1. Clean the wiring loom with degreaser and inspect it: Usually, after all these years the outer sheath will become brittle and have bits broken off it.

2. Fixing the sheath: Don’t ignore this, as the sheath prevents the inner wires from being damaged!

To fix this, I slip a piece of heat shrink tube over the area that is stuffed. Heat shrink tube is available from Dick Smith type shops and electrician suppliers and comes in lots of pretty colours except grey.

3. If you need to join a broken wire, don’t twist them together and wrap electrical tape around it! You should solder the two ends and slip some heat shrink over the joint.

4. Electrical tape is good for an emergency but petrol and oil will dissolve the sticky stuff.

5. To soften the wiring loom for reinstallation, I liberally spray it with Armorall (Although don’t use this stuff on your seat!) then stick it in a dark green plastic bag and leave it in the sun for the day.

This leaves it nice and pliable for bending.

4 Comments

  1. Mal January 29, 2011
  2. John @ wire loom January 28, 2009
  3. Dave M April 21, 2008
  4. steve September 26, 2007

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