69 Notch Barracuda - Rebirth
I began by stockpiling electrical diagrams. I found the diagrams in my manual to be fine, but research brought me to Ebay where I purchased an awesome laminated 11x17” color diagram. I also downloaded a pdf/CAD version where you can turn various circuits off/on on your PC. This was super cool, but not really useful, since the 11x17” can be placed on my fender while working.
I quickly found that the person who originally pulled the 318 engine, lord knows how long ago, did an incredible job NOT cutting a single wire. ALL of the original component wire connections were perfectly intact and dangling Willy Nilly throughout the engine compartment (thank you!). I was also working with the handicap of dreaded “all grey wires.” A previous owner painted the engine compartment grey... WIRES AND ALL.
As I began tracing the power flow from the battery to the bulkhead... I realized that the “J” terminal at the bulkhead connector was critical for power getting to the interior switches. As I pulled/pried the 3 bulkhead connectors away from the firewall, I, of course, broke one of the brittle tabs (not unexpected). I then noticed that the “J” male end of the engine compartment connector completely fell out of the plastic connector. Basically, all I did was open the “tooth” on the main power wire male connector, and clipped it back into the connector. I then ran a little wire wheel from my Dremel down into the connector to clean all the male ends, while being careful not to damage to old foam insulator. I would have liked to clean down inside every female end of the firewall connector, but I figured I could stop here and see where I was at. I also saw that those bulkhead connectors were like $90 each. So I JB Welded the plastic tabs and let them sit unplugged while I went back to the starter relay, which is the first component that gets power from the battery. Keep in mind... I didn’t even know what that “thing” was when I first looked at it... so that should give any newcomer reading this some comfort.
I began by stockpiling electrical diagrams. I found the diagrams in my manual to be fine, but research brought me to Ebay where I purchased an awesome laminated 11x17” color diagram. I also downloaded a pdf/CAD version where you can turn various circuits off/on on your PC. This was super cool, but not really useful, since the 11x17” can be placed on my fender while working.
I quickly found that the person who originally pulled the 318 engine, lord knows how long ago, did an incredible job NOT cutting a single wire. ALL of the original component wire connections were perfectly intact and dangling Willy Nilly throughout the engine compartment (thank you!). I was also working with the handicap of dreaded “all grey wires.” A previous owner painted the engine compartment grey... WIRES AND ALL.
As I began tracing the power flow from the battery to the bulkhead... I realized that the “J” terminal at the bulkhead connector was critical for power getting to the interior switches. As I pulled/pried the 3 bulkhead connectors away from the firewall, I, of course, broke one of the brittle tabs (not unexpected). I then noticed that the “J” male end of the engine compartment connector completely fell out of the plastic connector. Basically, all I did was open the “tooth” on the main power wire male connector, and clipped it back into the connector. I then ran a little wire wheel from my Dremel down into the connector to clean all the male ends, while being careful not to damage to old foam insulator. I would have liked to clean down inside every female end of the firewall connector, but I figured I could stop here and see where I was at. I also saw that those bulkhead connectors were like $90 each. So I JB Welded the plastic tabs and let them sit unplugged while I went back to the starter relay, which is the first component that gets power from the battery. Keep in mind... I didn’t even know what that “thing” was when I first looked at it... so that should give any newcomer reading this some comfort.