Newbie questions :)

[cavemanno1]

Hi guys!

3 weeks ago my '70 Cuda has had a few burned wires under the dash! Since then I have been trying to find someone to come out to fix it but no luck.
I'm in Hungary where our Cuda is the ONLY one in the whole country and we have maybe 15 classic mopars here.
I have tried every singe garages but they don't want to spend time laying under the dash of an old car when they can just plug their laptop in a car and fix it for more money!
So I have no choice but try to tackle it myself which seems daunting! I have never ever spliced a wire together in my life on a car.Done sockets at home but never done any car electric!

My plan is to pull the gauge cluster to see how far the wired got burned, change the wires by splicing them with butt connectors and trying to find a pinched wire or a bare wire that got sorted!
Clean the wire connectors at the bulkhead connectors and put some dielectric grease in them! Hopefully the will fix her.
The problem is I can't even put her in the garage because of its awkward position and tiny size!

Once I pulled the gauge cluster will see if the ammeter has been bypassed or not and if not will do it!
I know I need 10 gauge wire for the ammeter bypass but don't know the size for the dash harness!

I'll get the entire dash harness swapped out by a Mopar garage in Austria which is about 150 miles from me.But first I will have to wait for the harness to get here and the shop to have some free time for the Cuda. So I have to mend the car whatever now!

Could anyone tell me the wire gauge I'll be needed for the dash harness and any tips?Bare in my mind I have no idea what I'm looking at when seeing a wiring diagram!

Thank you!

[anlauto]

Spen the money and order all new wiring from YearOne 

[cavemanno1]

I have done that already but I want to get the Cuda driveable again!
The Mopar shop that would do the swap is busy all summer and we want to drive the Cuda!

[anlauto]

If you have all new wiring from YearOne it's pretty simple to replace, you can likely do it yourself. (with help from this website of course)

If you've already had issues with wires melting and you want to do a "quick fix" , the next thing burning to the ground will be your entire car 

[Chryco Psycho]

I have time & I have never been to Hungary !!

[Dakota]

   I found multiple burn marks from bad wires under my dash, plus the bulkhead connector was melted from over-heating.   While I understand the desire to drive your car now, if you're concerned about your wiring the best choice for the long run is the replace.   I'm fairly certain my car would end up one of those flaming examples Alan is warning you about if I had kept the old wiring harnesses.   The replacement harnesses from Year One are excellent quality and match the original equipment exactly. 

[headejm]

  I wouldn't replace the harness until you found out what was causing the wires to burn. Wiring doesn't just wear out and burn. More than likely the wire(s) that burnt were shorted out by a failed component. Identify the the burnt wires and use the wiring diagrams on this site or the Chrysler service manual to identify what component(s) the wires are attached to. Fix those components, then install new wiring. If the rest of the harness looks good, just replace the burnt wire(s). Use a multimeter to track the wires end-to-end. Not difficult, just time consuming. I would rather repair the wiring than replace it depending on the severity of the damage. I used 16 GA wire for most of my repairs/modifications. Some of the power wires are bigger but 16 GA can take care of most of your issues.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

Look at your bulkhead connector you may find some surprises there. ezt megteheted magad   

[HP2]

The skinny pink wire in the picture looks like the brake light switch wire, but it also runs up the column into the hazard flasher, if I recall correctly. You can start by chasing the wire to verify  it has not been pinched or shorted out by something to generate the damaging heat.

[headejm]

The third wire from the right has the insulation melted off of it. On my harness the third wire is blue with a white stripe. Wire number J2A-16DBL* titled Ignition 2.

That wire ties into three other circuits:

1. Pin 23 on the bulkhead connector
2. Key-in buzzer
3. Emergency brake warning light

[cavemanno1]

Thanks guys!
I'm about to tackle it so fingers crossed I won't burn it down!

[cavemanno1]

Now what do I do?

[anlauto]

If you already have the new wiring, just put it in...why mess with this 50 year old corroded garbage ?

[cavemanno1]

I don't have it yet!
It's on its way but God knows when it gets here!
It could be next week or next month!
You just never know here because our postal service is let's just say unreliable!
I must get my car off the street!!!

[anlauto]

Oh, sorry I misunderstood