Wiring questions

[nsmall]

I inherited this wiring situation and I'm not sure exactly what's going on.

I don't know if you've ever seen the situation but someone ran this red wire which comes from the alternator straight through the ignition connector and straight through the bulkhead connector into the red wire that's been cut.

Should I buy a new ignition wiring harness (not sure if that's the correct name)?

As for the bulkhead connector that has a hole drilled through it I'm trying to avoid buying an entire new wire harness so I'm hoping I can still use this one.  The red wire I was describing go straight through the bulkhead and connects to a red wire in the main harness described below.

I can provide more pictures or more information if you have any questions.

The last picture of the bulkhead connector with the hole in it is where the red wire runs through and I believe connected to the wire showing in the picture near the bulkhead connector.

Thanks in advance.

[nsmall]

Again I can provide more pictures.

On the same wiring harness that I have named the ignition wiring harness there's some burnt wires.

There's also a wire that I'll point to that I'm not sure where it goes so if you have any idea let me know.

[1 Wild R/T]

See if this looks familiar....

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml   

Lots of people suggest it as a great fix.... Personally I see it as a hack job.....

[1 Wild R/T]

BTW what year E body? Cause thats not a 70.. Maybe 73-74....  I believe the loose wire is for the brake pressure sensor...

[Cuda Cody]

I'm not much help as I normally run all new factory style wiring from Year One (M&H).  I don't like spliced or cut wires, but there's people that know more then me that do it all the time with success. 

[nsmall]

It's a 73 Cuda.

Yes 1wild rt, you may be correct.

I have a jump wire that runs from my alternator to my starter relay.

I'm still thinking I should get a new harness for this ignition wire set up??? as it's burnt in that one area pretty bad.  Not sure if my ammeter gauge messed everything up or something at one point.

Is there any way to tell if my a meter gauge has been converted over to a volt gauge based on these pictures?

[1 Wild R/T]

It's still hooked up like an Ammeter... All that was done is bypassing a few burned connections...  The connector at the ignition switch & the bulkhead being burnt are common.... Adding the charge bypass like you have is step one in solving the problem... Relays for head lights is step two.. Any other high current component being fed by a relay is also a good idea...  Converting to a Volt meter or adding an auxiliary volt meter & bypassing the ammeter is a good plan too...

New harnesses are nice, I'm to cheap & capable of fixing things so the only new harnesses I typically buy are always the engine harness & sometimes a headlight or tail light harness.... Dash harnesses are $$$ & generally after you strip away the prior master electricians repairs the harnesses are usually pretty good...

[quapman]

Yes, the mystery wire plugs onto the "tit"on the prop/combo valve just below the master cylinder.

I would recommend a thorough cleaning of all contacts before re-installing all that wiring. I start with bathroom cleaner (Scrubbing Bubbles!) and a garden hose. Once everything is dry, I use red Scotch-Brite on the male terminals. Dirty/bad connections are what causes arcing, heat & fire.

[Shane Kelley]

I'm not much help as I normally run all new factory style wiring from Year One (M&H).  I don't like spliced or cut wires, but there's people that know more then me that do it all the time with success.

Out of all the places to spend money on a build. I consider this one the most important. Mopar Dave @ Roseville can get any harness you need. Dave supplies me with wiring harnesses on all my builds.
Reasons to replace wiring
1-One of the biggest causes of fires. Right behind a fuel leak.
2-Piece of mind while driving your car. Break downs on the side of the road suck!
3-It just looks damn good with nice clean wiring.

[ViperMan]

/quote]

Truth!  When I rewired my old '73, it looked incredible when I was finished, and it just seemed to run better - fired up quicker, ran smoother...  I had discovered my alternator voltage-in wire changed gauges three times from the firewall, and one of the "splices" was done with a home-wiring twist-on cap...   

[dave73]

I'm not much help as I normally run all new factory style wiring from Year One (M&H).  I don't like spliced or cut wires, but there's people that know more then me that do it all the time with success.

Out of all the places to spend money on a build. I consider this one the most important. Mopar Dave @ Roseville can get any harness you need. Dave supplies me with wiring harnesses on all my builds.
Reasons to replace wiring
1-One of the biggest causes of fires. Right behind a fuel leak.
2-Piece of mind while driving your car. Break downs on the side of the road suck!
3-It just looks damn good with nice clean wiring.

I agree. My engine harness was hacked really bad when I got my car. Had all sorts of starting issues from some wacky alarm system that was installed at one time. Best thing I did when I built my engine bay was get a new M&H harness 

[Burdar]

Not sure if my ammeter gauge messed everything up or something at one point.

Your AMP gauge could be fine.  The cardboard insulation still looks new...not like it ever got hot back there.  The burned bulkhead connector was caused by high current flowing through a bad/corroded connection.  The battery is recharged through the bulkhead connector.  IF the battery was ever really low on its charge, that can easily happen.(high current flowing through a bad connection trying to recharge the battery)  I like the MadElectrical site EXCEPT for the drilling of the bulkhead connector and running the wire straight through.  Like Randy said, that part seems like a hack job.  IF you already have the alt bypass wire AND headlight relays, I don't really see the bulkhead being a problem any more.  It's always a good idea to pull those connections apart every once in awhile and clean them.

[nsmall]

@Burdar

Thanks for all this great information guys.

I'm probably not doing the headlight relays as I'm running out of money like 2 years ago

I have an electric fan that draws 18 amps so I was thinking of turning the ammeter gauge into a volt gauge which will cost me 250 bucks at Redline gauges which seems worth it based on all the reading I've done.  I don't know much about these cars but I do not need a fire.

Also planning to run a wire from the alternator to the starter relay to take a little load off.

Darren, you got me rethinking my ammeter situation as I think the last guy to own this car had work done on the gauges.....but based on the rest of the wiring on this car I don't trust anything at this point.  It would be nice to save 250 bucks.....even though at this point....does money really matter anymore

[nsmall]

And for the record I did buy 5 new harnesses from Year One.

And Darren I would love some help putting the wiring back together as I don't want to pay anyone anymore for stuff that I know I can do if I can just get a little coaching.


I don't know if it's a combination of me not knowing much or having a Cuda but it seems like I get overcharged for stuff that I wouldn't if I was driving my Civic.  I swear people say this guy can be billed an extra whatever if you have a nice car.

[Burdar]

Darren, you got me rethinking my ammeter situation as I think the last guy to own this car had work done on the gauges.....but based on the rest of the wiring on this car I don't trust anything at this point.  It would be nice to save 250 bucks.....even though at this point....does money really matter anymore

I wasn't trying to talk you into keeping the AMP gauge.  I think it's a good idea to replace it.  I was just pointing out that it didn't look like the AMP gauge was the cause of your melted connections.  The simple fact of having a discharged battery AND a marginal connection can cause your issue.

I kept my AMP gauge simply because it showed no signs of a problem and I wanted to keep the car as close to stock as possible.  I also don't have any non-factory accessories that will draw more current through the system.  Since my Dart is a custom build, I DID remove the AMP gauge and will be installing some sort of volt gauge in the system.