200tdi to 300tdi loom swap...

[Jamondo]

Right guys and girls, after more advice, this time with wiring looms. some of you will wonder why I've gone to so much trouble, and sometimes I wonder myself but hey ho it's done now.

My defender used to be a 200, and the previous owner/cowboy put a 300 in it and cut many many corners in the process. I rebuilt the engine because she was poorly, and then slowly I've converted it fully, using def r380, seat box, tunnel, props etc etc, but it's getting to the point now of going down the re-chassis and new bulkhead route. Obviously this means a full a strip down and rebuild but I'm wondering if it's worth converting the electrics all over to def 300 looms.

Is it fairly straight forward to swap to the later bulkhead main and chassis wiring or should I just repair and overhaul what I've got and stick with the bullet connectors? My existing fuse box is already a blade type. This also leaves me wondering if there's any massive differences in 200/300 bulkheads?

Thanks in advance

[Scotts90]

The 300tdi ROW looms would be the ideal upgrade...all the decent multi plugs the same as the td5 looms. Replacing the chassis loom through the box section (OE style) can be time consuming but most tend to run new looms on top of the chassis rail now. I did this when upgrading my 200 to td5 XS spec looms throughout. Mine originally had a glass fuse system.

If you're going down the rebuild route with the rest of the truck then it makes sense to replace the electrics too (or at least upgrade/refurbish)

[Jamondo]

As I suspected. Thanks Scott. So I take it there won't be any compatibility issues if I change all 3 then? Had a quick poke around on auto sparks site and they're bulkhead/main loom for 300 defender is nearly £600!!! Keep trawling the eBay pages I guess.

[Scotts90]

If you fit full 300tdi looms and have converted to full 300 spec then there shouldn't be any major issues as defender electrics are pretty basic, even if going to county or XS spec with all the toys.

If you are handy with a wiring diagram then you could go down the td5 loom route and make an engine specific one to suit. TD5 looms seem to appear quite often on eBay and it's a waiting game, the only looms I had to purchase new from LR were for the doors and tailgate for central locking and electric windows. You do become a bit of an anorak deciphering LR loom codes though....

[Jamondo]

Ha ha I know exactly what you mean. I am pretty handy with wires to be honest, slight occupational hazard of working on HGVs, but that said I won't be bothering with electrics in the doors. Just wanting to retain the heated rear window and wash/wipe. I'll keep eyes peeled as it's coming to the point of gathering the essentials. Heard some pretty bad reports about ashtree bulkheads lately so that's thrown a spanner in the works. May go down the cut and re-weld route and send for galv myself I think.

[oneandtwo]

The early 300tdi looms are easier to work with - they have the same plugs as pre 300tdi for the column stalk controls etc. Mid way through approx 96 they changed to the multi pin connectors for the column, added a fog light relay and various other extra bits

All 300tdi wiring looms have rear wash wipe function, even from truck cabs. On the early ones 94/95 the heated rear window part is an additional plug in loom and relay.