Wiring harness repair how too.

[adriver]

I thought I would start a thread to show how I’m repairing a wiring harness.
It’s a B body, but the principles would be the same.
A salvaged A body wringing harness provided “donor” buss bars.
The tool is made from a piece of stainless welding rod.

The buss bars are steel for spring strength to hold a fuse.
But they have some type of plating which still allows soldering.
Although not as good as brass and copper.
The fuse block had a spare hole, so I added a blade type fuse holder there for future additions.
The weak spot in this period Chrysler electrical system that all the power has to go through one blade connector on the firewall to reach the amp meter.
So that one blade connector had melted its hole in the firewall disconnect.
Actually, it was the return wire.
I had two unused holes in the firewall connector.
By splitting the circuit at the firewall disconnect (see red and black wires) it divides the current between two blade connectors.
I used a crimp sleeve and solder both on these wire.
(Total of 4)
I have done the same thing at the buss bar connection by utilizing two blade connectors instead of just the original one because of the blade design, which doesn’t have a lot of contact area.
The red wire on the buss bar is for wires that are hot all the time like taillight. It is off the battery.
The black one on the buss bar is only hot when the key is on.
Normally connections are crimped for easy of assembly during manufacture.
A crimped connection provides mechanical strength and resistance to vibration.
However these become corroded.
When an electrical connection is called upon to provide current past it’s ability due to corrosion or insufficient size it heats up.
The heat causes more resistance and the process cascades.
Some connections cannot be saved,
On those I separate the wiring from the crimp and just solder them.
I’ll post pictures of how I reuse a connector later.
Ideally, it should have both a crimp and solder.
So those that cannot be saved, it is a compromise.
On some which still appear good. I clean and add solder to ensure a good connection.
I’ll be posting pictures of the engine connectors too.

Fuses, terminals, wiring, burned, crimp.

 

[adriver]

More to follow.
The stainless brush does a fair job of removing corrosion.
It's all narley and gets into the area.
Impossible any other way I can figure.
Scrap some with the tool for solder to ensure a good connection.
Better than it was.
JB weld for to hold the black connector in the damaged hole.
Don't over do it.

 

[67Dart273]

I'm very sorry to inform you..................................

You are NOT gonna want to hear this, but....

When those contacts are heated up as some of those have been, they lose their "spring" and temper, as well as destroying the plating surface, especially in the case of the fuse contacts. The reasons that the bulkhead connectors become damaged is not the wire connections to the terminals, but rather the terminals were never truly designed for the current that they must carry.

In other words, not a good plan after all that work.

You can buy replacement terminals for the bulkhead connectors, but I know of no source for the fuse clips.

 

[Rice Nuker]

Great info. You could soda or sand blast the connectors lightly to clean inside them. I have a little 1lb blaster from harbor freight or eastwood, it is handy for small soda/sand cleanings.

 

[adriver]

I'm very sorry to inform you..................................

You are NOT gonna want to hear this, but....

When those contacts are heated up as some of those have been, they lose their "spring" and temper, as well as destroying the plating surface, especially in the case of the fuse contacts. The reasons that the bulkhead connectors become damaged is not the wire connections to the terminals, but rather the terminals were never truly designed for the current that they must carry.

In other words, not a good plan after all that work.

You can buy replacement terminals for the bulkhead connectors, but I know of no source for the fuse clips.

Yep,
The equipment I work on at work uses what I call cheap “automotive” blade connectors on the vital relays.
It gives us some difficulties, but that’s job security. Wiggle and reseat them.

One of my objectives was to keep the car as close to the original wiring diagram as possible.

Did you notice that I’ve split the load at the firewall disconnect?
That’s what we know is an issue.
On one of my cars I just hard wired it though the plug at that connection.
Nice to know that those can be bought.
What’s the source? So the next time they will have a fresh crimp.

Now about the spring steel fuse holders. This car’s buss bars were actually rusty and I replaced them.
You can see the good ones in the picture.
If there is no source a junkyard fuse block could be spliced in.
Maybe that would be just as good if not easier and better.
The junkyard buss bars I used as replacements were in good shape.
No trouble there.
I did solder the load side wires.
Not too bad, maybe.

YIKES.
I just went down stairs and tested to see about putting fuses in the block.
I had closed the holders up a little bit while I had them out.
I don't think spring tension is going be a problem.

 

[adriver]

Great info. You could soda or sand blast the connectors lightly to clean inside them. I have a little 1lb blaster from harbor freight or eastwood, it is handy for small soda/sand cleanings.

I'll go check this small thing out.

 

[67Dart273]

...............Did you notice that I’ve split the load at the firewall disconnect?...............

I did this morning, LOL. That certainly will help.

I didn't repair mine, I used an aftermarket harness and simply ran wires right through the connector. I believe Packard - Delphi makes replacement terminals.

Redfish or Pishta on here should know.

................the spring steel fuse holders. This car’s buss bars were actually rusty and I replaced them.........You can see the good ones in the picture..

And that will help as well. One thing guys need to be careful off is certain aftermarket fuse holders/ panels. Some of them out there rivet the clip and bottom connector together THROUGH the plastic. This means that the slightest bit of heat will melt the plastic and loosen the connection!!!


I believe the ones below are made that way. The ones I'm thinking of have the clip as one piece, the part that forms the (in this case screw) terminal a second piece, and the rivet holds the two pieces together against the base. Older bakelight ones weren't too bad, but after going to cheap thermoplastic, the "heat was on"

 

[RedFish]

Not only can the OEM type terminals for the bulkhead connection be bought at NAPA but... ebay vendors now offer them tinned which improves solder adhesion and prevents corrosion.

 

[Rocky_JS]

most of the ones Mopar used then are Packard 56 connectors (google it). They can be bought at most real part stores.
They can be found in the weather pac connector catalog, for the parts guy who doesn't know what a Packard connector is.

Nice to know that those can be bought.
What’s the source? So the next time they will have a fresh crimp.

 

[Gryzynx]

Word of caution about soldering the crimps. While this will improve the reliability of current carrying capacity, the solder will wick up the stranded wire past the secondary crimp, which is designed to be a strain relief. Not likely a problem at a fuseblock or bulkhead, but if this is done in an area where flex or vibration is present, the wire becomes much more likely to break.

 

[64ragtop]

67, if one was "blessed" with some of those gold plated (???) fuse clips, it seems that they would fit into the old style MOPAR fuse blocks.
Maybe those ebay vendors have similar clips??

ATB

BC