Anyone in San Diego interested in taking a look?

[DreadPirateRob]

Hey guys! I've got a 73 Charger, and I've built a 440 for it, installed it and drove it exactly 3 times before the head gasket blew. I replaced the gasket and now I'm having electrical issues with it.

Theres a guy who I've been paying to work on it, however we frequently run into days where it seems nothing gets done and I still end up having to pay him. I'm quite frustrated with that, and I'm hoping one of you locals with more knowledge than I is willing to come take a look to help diagnose what's stopping it from cranking over. The guy who's been working on it thinks it's the ignition because we're not getting twelve volts to it in secondary. I've told him with the dual ballast resistor setup, the secondary ignition is full bore while cranking to get spark going and drops to 4-5v afterwards, but he was insistent that I'm not correct.

I'm tired of buying distributors and ECUs, lol.

Thanks!

 

[Sinitro]

Biggest electrical issues with our old mopars are the bulkhead connectors, they get oxidized making poor, weak connections. Take them apart kleen the contacts, coat with dielectric grease and reinstall...

Just my $0.02...

 

[pnora]

Wires at the steering column connector are known for burning up.

 

[ckessel]

Have you checked in with the SD Mopar club? There are a couple of sharp dudes affiliated with them. Todd Peterson, Aaron Bourdage and Bob Martello come to mind. If not one of them, they may know of one who could help you out.

 

[terrywalker]

I agree with the bulkhead connections and the steering column plug/wiring. I'm kind of old school. I turn the key on. When I couldn't get a car to crank over, I used a jumper cable from the battery + to the starter cable at starter relay to crank it. If I wasn't getting spark, I put a wire with alligator clips on the end directly from the battery + post to the coil + post and see if it fires and runs. That answers a lot of questions for me. Then, I go from there. As an after thought, I added a few photos of the problems I found on the bulkhead connection box on a 72 Challenger I'm currently working on. If I had not corrected the problem I could have had a dash fire in my shop if I had energized it. Not good. The last photo is of the column electrical plug with a burned spot.
Terry W.

 

[ckessel]

Saturday evening was the usual time to hangout at the Dianne Plaza off of Clairmont Mesa Blvd by the Jack In The Box just west of the 805. Back when I still lived in NE county, 96-18, that was the usual hangout for some of the club members. If you're in that area, check it out. You may find someone there to help you out.