Factory ammeter

67Dart273 said
Actually in some cases it is BOTH the ammeter and bulkhead connector. The whole circuit is simply not heavy enough for heavy current applications. I melted the ammeter mounting bosses somewhat in my 70RR cluster way back in the mid 70's before Al Gore invented the internet. AND the same car suffered damage to the bulkhead connector terminals.

Even in 70?-72, some of the large sea barges used external shut ammeters which eliminated the problem. "Ma" knew the problem was there, as the cars with optional 65A alternators used modified harnesses to combat the problem. This is known loosely as "fleet police taxi" wiring. Look up in the 70--72-ish shop manuals, look up the optional 65A alternator wiring for the B bodies.

After I got out of the Navy (74) I saw a few Dodge ammeters melted from snow plow hoists, winches, or big driving lights. Looked EXACTLY like the photo in the MAD article, read it here:

Catalog

View attachment 1715603598

Bingo! It's the higher amp alternators that fry the terminals. The original alternators were 35A, and the remans put out 55A minimum. So unless you are running your original alternator your terminals are probably overworked. I know someone who replaced his alternator with a reman, and a short time later the starter began to intermittently engage while driving down the street. The bulkhead housing had melted around the charging terminal, allowing the charging terminal to intermittently contact the "start" wire terminal. I have rewired 4 67-68 barracudas and found that every one had the bulkhead connectors slightly melted at the charging terminals.