Electrical woes!!!

I just cut and pasted a note and some photos from my friend who has the air conditioned shop (darn near a necessity in Texas in the summer)

"The previous owner of Bob’s car had a problem with the AMP wire running through the plug. A common problem with our old rides. They did the pass through thing with the AMP wire but didn’t bother to fix any of the other wires. They also didn’t bother to reuse the wiring plug. They just stuck the male wires into the bulkhead connector with out the plug.

"Most of the wires had been cut about 2 inches back and then spliced used wires on. A lot of the male terminals had corroded badly and were almost eaten away. This could have been a tragic loss of a great car.

"If you’re going to do the pass through thing with the AMP wire, I think it’s better to take it out of the plug and put it through a separate hole in the firewall. But then also clean or replace the remaining terminals. It’s not hard to get the terminals out of the connector plugs or the bulkhead connector.

"Once the wires get corrosion on them it creates a high resistance and the connection starts to heat up and melts the plastic connector and the insulation on the wire. There was also a problem with water getting into the connectors. Chrysler’s solution was to pack the connectors full of grease.

'There are also a host of butt connectors all over the wiring harness in Bob’s car. And they didn’t use heat shrink, they used tape. I think Bob’s choice of a new harness is the correct one.

'If your wiring isn’t this bad you can fix it with new wiring connectors (plugs), bulkhead connector and new terminals. The male and female terminals are available from NAPA using part numbers 725147 and 725145.

"The bulkhead connector for the early models that has 2 connectors isn’t available new (I couldn’t find one). The later one with 3 connectors is available from places like “Charger Specialties”, Mitchell, Restor Rick’s” ebay, “Year One” and “Classic Industries”. They also have the wiring connectors (plugs).

"Make sure you get the correct plug with the correct key for the connector you’re working on. All 3 plugs have different keys (left, middle & right)

"Also shop around, the prices vary from good to ridiculous."

I couldn't have said it any better myself!