1973 Duster Fuse block mounting

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jarrett stockwell

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Hey, new member here, and new to A-body Mopars in general....have to confess I'm a hardcore Pontiac guy. I have a 1973 Duster in my garage at the moment that belongs to a friend. The backstory is he got it as an abandoned project; it's one of the nicest project cars I've seen, straight as an arrow & not a speck of rust. BUT....someone else stripped it down. One of the things they did was to pull the fuse block out - it was taped to the e-brake handle, along with a coiled up harness that i think must go to the rear of the car. I've got 2 questions:

How / where is it supposed to be mounted?
Does the rear lamp harness run thru the track thing that is next to the door opening?

If anyone has pictures that would be great...I should note that even tho the fuse block is not installed, it is still hooked up. I can't test much as far as lights, etc. because the car is so stripped; the car starts, stops & the guages appear to work, so thats a start...
 
The fuse block is mounted to the underside of the dash. Look on the bottom of the frame around the
middle for evidence of a screw that mounted the block. If you are talking about the thin metal piece that is spot
welded to the inner rocker panel, yes, that is where the wiring harness to rear goes. That channel is covered
by carpet or rubber floor mat.
 
jarrett stockwell said:
Hey, new member here, and new to A-body Mopars in general....have to confess I'm a hardcore Pontiac guy. I have a 1973 Duster in my garage at the moment that belongs to a friend. The backstory is he got it as an abandoned project; it's one of the nicest project cars I've seen, straight as an arrow & not a speck of rust. BUT....someone else stripped it down. One of the things they did was to pull the fuse block out - it was taped to the e-brake handle, along with a coiled up harness that i think must go to the rear of the car. I've got 2 questions:

How / where is it supposed to be mounted?
Does the rear lamp harness run thru the track thing that is next to the door opening?

If anyone has pictures that would be great...I should note that even tho the fuse block is not installed, it is still hooked up. I can't test much as far as lights, etc. because the car is so stripped; the car starts, stops & the guages appear to work, so thats a start...
Click to expand...
While waiting for one of the guys to find some pictures, you might want to check the mymopar.com site. The reference section has downloadable service manuals for some Plymouths and I saw the 73 dodge manuals are there. The Dodge Dart is the same platform so you can find a lot of info for reference. I think the wiring diagrams are also there for trouble shooting the circuits.
 
Greetings to Edmonchuck:

Further to post #2, here are a few pictures:

The fuse block is mounted just outboard of the Ebrake handle.

20190127_161523.jpg


Another shot looking at it from the top:
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The rear harness runs down behind the Drivers' side kick and into the tunnel along the rocker:

100_5384.JPG

Out of the tunnel and into the trunk space:
100_5379.JPG
 
When you get to putting it all back together, be sure to look into the ammeter bypass, it may just save your car from a fire!
 
Ammeter bypass???

I will search that....

I would like to pull the guage cluster, there are no screws holding it in place anyway. Do I need to drop the sttering column a little to wrestle it out?
 
You don't need to drop the steering wheel to get the cluster out. Definitely have to pull the shift lever out of the way. Be careful as theres connections to it from the loom behind it as well as the speedo cable. Which can be a challenge to get unhooked. Providing any of its hooked up still.
 
Lowering the column may not be absolutely necessary but it sure makes inst' panel removal easier. Two studs at outer end and one of those should have 2 nuts on it, ( second nut to attach a little ground jumper wire ), then the 3rd fastener is a bolt into a caged nut about 10 inches down on right side. Be careful to not cross thread that on going back together. I used my air ratchet there once and did just that. Ruined my day, lesson learned.
One downside of lowering the column in a column shift example is loosing the neutral safety adjustment. Not sure how this happens but it does sometimes. Get it all back together and it wont start in park ( usually will start in neutral though ). Adjust point in linkage to correct this is under the car.
Either way you'll need to cover the column with shop towels so inst' panel doesn't scar it.
 
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