68 Charger electrical rebuild - Have you done it before?

[khan68]

Gent's

Recently bought my 68 Charger R/T 440 and im planning to spend the winter re-doing as much electrical work as possible
after some findings. Along the road my plan is to upgrade the system to prevent bulkhead connectors seeing to much load.
Im planning to buy as much ready to use harnesses from M&H through yearone, they are pricey but my impression is that they are of good quality.
Will list all parts planned related to the remake with link to product.
All other suggestions are welcome(I am not sponsored or affiliated with any brands mentioned in post).

Have you done it before and how did you do it?

1. Alternator, powermaster #7019 65/95amp peak. USD: 195
2. M&H harness through yearone.com
HU213B - Forward light harness..... USD: 229
HU187X - Engine harness 440......... USD: 166
L38446 - Wiper motor harness......... USD: 55
HU269B - Under dash harness.......... USD: 800
L38447 - A/C harness dash side....... USD: 68
L38449 - A/C harness eng. side........ USD: 31
RL38 - Rear light harness................. USD: 200
L38434 - Neutral safety switch ........ USD: 13
TAC68BB - Tach harness .................. USD: 68

Other parts / jobs to be sourced/done
- Fan motor
- Fan level switch (blown)
- Dimmer switch (contact melted)
- Relay/fuse box engine side.
- Upgrade grounding on alt/engine
- Run paralell cable from alternator to bulkhead
- Relay kit for headlights/ H4 connectors
- Window wiper fluid motor
- Troubleshoot electric cooling fan(not cooling when car idling) - wrong type?

I will put all heavy loads connected to the alternator side through a secondary fuse/relay compartment in the engine bay.
This will not affect the ammeter and the car should be safer as well(no heat through bulkhead connections)
Found a great video of how the electrical system works on these cars and that the ammeter is not to blame whenever heat occurs
Big thank you to the person that made it: Link to video click here (wish the previous owner knew about this...)

Anyway, pictures and updates will follow.
Please comment if you have any suggestions, much appricated.

K

 

[davek]

I have replaced all the harnesses in my 70 Bee. M&H plug and play No problems.

 

[khan68]

I have replaced all the harnesses in my 70 Bee. M&H plug and play No problems.

Thanks for the feedback, did you do any changes to the original setup?

 

[72RoadrunnerGTX]

Found a great video of how the electrical system works on these cars and that the ammeter is not to blame whenever heat occurs
Big thank you to the person that made it: Link to video click here (wish the previous owner knew about this...)

You’re welcome. As long as you rework the charge/load path wiring in the M&H reproductions, you should be able to accomplish what you want. Have modified M&H and original harnesses and many times.

If you found the video elsewhere, it is linked here as well in a couple of threads, one being pinned above in this electrical section. There are some additional videos on that YouTube channel covering related Chrysler specific electrical topics that may be of interest.

 

[khan68]

You’re welcome. As long as you rework the charge/load path wiring in the M&H reproductions, you should be able to accomplish what you want. Have modified M&H and original harnesses and many times.

If you found the video elsewhere, it is linked here as well in a couple of threads, one being pinned above in this electrical section. There are some additional videos on that YouTube channel covering related Chrysler specific electrical topics that may be of interest.

Thank you for the great video, i'm new to the forum and found it on youtube. Will check out the other ones as well
My plan is to only use the harness as a source of signalpower to the relay box,from there the loads will go back to the item through grommet in wall.
Will i need to change anything on the harnesses from M&H then exept what i explained?

Do you think the 65/95 alternator is sufficiant for electric fan, stereo, ac etc?

The alt# 7019 is a direct fit with 2 wires, it controls charging as the external voltage regulator is connected to the battery for monitoring the load?
If voltage drops on the battery the alternator would increase charging, is this how this system works?
Changing to a 1 wire alternator opens some more options for higher amp, is there any big cons to this?

How did you arranged the heavy loads in you car? Any pictures?

Thanks

 

[khan68]

Pictures for reference

 

[khan68]

Pictures for reference 2

 

[khan68]

Picture referance 3

 

[AR67GTX]

You can price shop M&H harnesses at Classic Industries as they also sell them. And if you are adverse to Classic and Year One you can check with Mega Parts too as I believe they also sell M&H harnesses. But check with them first as I only ordered one portion of a harness from them which was an M&H.

 

[khan68]

You can price shop M&H harnesses at Classic Industries as they also sell them. And if you are adverse to Classic and Year One you can check with Mega Parts too as I believe they also sell M&H harnesses. But check with them first as I only ordered one portion of a harness from them which was an M&H.

Thanks for the info, will check it out

 

[72RoadrunnerGTX]

Do you think the 65/95 alternator is sufficiant for electric fan, stereo, ac etc?

I prefer the Tuff Stuff 130amp alt myself. Dual isolated field, with the external ’70 and later regulator. Technically, the alternator output is regulated using the reference voltage on the ignition 1 circuit (key run) in the engine harness, not directly connected to the battery as original. Some later applications used a “field relay”, triggered by ignition 1, basically did use a direct battery voltage reference.

 

[khan68]

I prefer the Tuff Stuff 130amp alt myself. Dual isolated field, with the external ’70 and later regulator. Technically, the alternator output is regulated using the reference voltage on the ignition 1 circuit (key run) in the engine harness, not directly connected to the battery as original. Some later applications used a “field relay”, triggered by ignition 1, basically did use a direct battery voltage reference.

Thanks, will check it out.

 

[70ChargerRT]

I prefer the Tuff Stuff 130amp alt myself. Dual isolated field, with the external ’70 and later regulator. Technically, the alternator output is regulated using the reference voltage on the ignition 1 circuit (key run) in the engine harness, not directly connected to the battery as original. Some later applications used a “field relay”, triggered by ignition 1, basically did use a direct battery voltage reference.

The only problem with the tuff stuff 130 is that it don’t have enough idling amps if he plans on loading it down with a ton of accessories and they also recommend using their own voltage regulator with it. I didn’t want to use it but I had to step up to a 160 powermaster, it has 100 idling amps.

 

[72RoadrunnerGTX]

Other than the mentioned cooling fans, I don’t see a lot of heavy loads planned or a need for 100 amps at idle in the OP’s description. The Tuff Stuff 130 is as high a capacity as you can get with an aftermarket stock appearing/direct fit alternator. As for the regulator, keyword is recommend, I’ve run them successfully for many years with various regulators, including the Transpo adjustable reg. Likely runs a higher than stock field current that some cheap or stock original regulators may not be able handle.