Thanks, specialist!!

if you need help on wiring, or fuse/relay installation look for jeg. i saw pics of his mini engine bay, it's so organized, you'll see all wires tied up and relays lined up properly.  Email him and tell him that i sent you to him, he'll wholeheartedly help you for sure.

Probably the best bang for the buck when restoring any classic car, the amount of hours of frustration from crap corroded/oxidized connections to previous owner wiring bodges it saves is worth every penny imo.

I 2nd Doug's recommendation about the wire color. The wiring harness on my Mini had different color wires installed by a previous owner which were spliced inside the harness. It made it very difficult to trace wiring problems. I had intermittent wiper function until I figured out the wipers were connected to the voltage stabilizer!  I finally solved the wiring problems by replacing the whole harness. No more problems....

Don

+1 to unwrapping and inspecting. If the problem wire got hot enough to melt its insulation, it almost surely melted those touching it for most of its length.

Thanks Doug this is very helpful information !

The "brown" wires are always "hot".  Only one goes to the ignition switch and is a supply wire.

As stated by Minimans, you will have to unwrap the damaged loom to ascertain the extent of the damage.  When you do that, look for the cause of the short.

In general, the "small" wires can be replaced with 16 AWG automotive wire.  The larger wires require larger conductors.  If you are in a rush, the largest you may find at the parts store is 10 or 12 AWG ... however, you are likely to only find black or red... not brown.

I encourage you to use the correct color coded wire for your repair.  The correct color codes in various gauges are available from Britishwiring.com  Using the right colors now will make troubleshooting future problems a LOT easier.  They should also be able to supply you harness tape.  Harness tape does not have adhesive on it and will give you much better looking results than sticky electrical tape.

This is my main worry. i dont want to replace 1 or 2 wires and find out more are damaged.

You will have to unwrap the whole loom from the starter solenoid or alternator (depending on which you have Alternator or generator) all the way to switch, even if it's only shorted on the one wire the secondary damage will come back to haunt you later if you don't check the other wires in the loom. Generally speaking the damage usually stops at the point of the short as the current dissipates to ground and the fuse blows. But in the case of the brown/blue wire it's not fused so the heat may have built up enough to damage other wires in the wrap.
That's why I hate the practice of just running a new wire alongside the loom as a replacement. If you don't check you don't know!

Malsal this could also be a plausible thoery because there wasn't a rubber grommet under the dash where the wires ran up behind the binnicle. I have a ton of multi colored 18 and 16 gauge wire in my collection. I have to go out and buy some heavy gauge wire to run from the Alternator. After i test everything and make sure its all in good condition and install rubber grommets whereever i see fit, i'm going to try and tackle this job. My only concern at the moment is figuring out what gauge to use for the various components. If there is a cheat cheat out there on the internet, i would love to have it. Worse option, if that doesn't happen, is going to be figuring out what wattage the components run at and doing the math individually and figuring out amperage draw. Then fitting the proper size gauge wire with the amperage draw/Length.

Look along the length of it and see where it may have touched bare metal and worn through the insulation then grounded out.

The wire that burned up was the thickest wire coming from the ingition switch. It wasnt the white /red wire. i beleive it was brown and blue wire not sure exact color because it was pretty bad. Any info is extremely helpfull! thanks

The white/red wire from the switch to the solenoid is only "hot" when the key is turned to the start position.  Therefore, if it stayed hot as you drove, your starter should have been turning the whole time you were driving. I assume that did not happen or you would have mentioned it.

Can you give a few more details about this failure?  Was the white/red wire burned or melted from end to end or just inside the harness?

Thanks for the response,  I am waiting for my new multimeter to come in the mail. I'm going to test the ignition switch, which i beleive is the issue, and the starter solenoid. I would like to buy a brand new wire harness, but unfortunately that isnt in the budget at the moment. 

Wires do not simply torch themselves, there is always a reason for that sort of failure and you need to correct that issue first.

Next, a wiring harness is a wear item and like the switches or the bulbs, sending units, pumps and motors eventually it will have outlived its service life. A new harness can be bought that will fit any mini exactly, and it is easy to remove and replace. Talk to our hosts, your regular mini parts supplier or Autosparks.co.uk and get the correct harness for your car, and fix the switch/solenoid problem.

My wire that runs from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid decided to torch itself last weekend right after i pulled out of my garage . It melted a few wires in the process so I'm going to make a new wire harness and install it with a couple inline fuses so this doesnt happen again . Does anyone know where I can find information on what gauge wire to use for the various components . ? Any information would be greatly appreciated .