Electricity is nooooo hobby !!!

[tpodwdog]

hi again....faithful and loyal mopar enthusiasts !

i just want to take a moment and tell you about doing your own under dash electrical work.

today i spent 9 hours on the Belvy II..... 4 of those hours i was contorted in positions i havent been since i was a young man in my YOUT. you may ask yourself..." what in gods name could he have been doing under the dash of a 66 Belvedere II for 4 whole hours".....the answer is simple.... I WAS FIXXING F**K UPS AND GETTING RID OF POTENTIAL FIRE HAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZARDS !!!!!!!:headbang: never in my life have i seen such butchery....live wires dangling...just waiting for the right amount of "G" forces to ground out on a nice shiny piece of metal.....causing a blown fuse or worse.... A FIRE !

i had wires wrapped around brake pedals.... emergency brake pedal....live wires tucked ever so nicely out of sight.........bare wires.. wires tapped off of other wires going to the fuel pump...and the radio gauge lights tapped off of god knows what,,,, little blue wire nuts joining wires...and the wire nuts kept falling off.. ( thats my fave right there ),i could go on and on.( me and the test light were extremely intimate today )...so i just want to take a moment to tell you..... IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOURE DOING,,,,,THEN DONT DO IT ....AND IF YOU INSIST ON DOING IT YOURSELF......DO IT RIGHT !!!. hire someone,,,or get someone to do it for you,,,and do a neat nice tidy job. i headed off about 6 potential fire hazards in those 4 hours and fixxed them ALL PROPERLY using the correct connectors and terminals.,...last thing i want is one of my beloved mopars going up in flames , and im sure you dont want that either !

**THIS HAS BEEN A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT**.... and thanx for listennin'

 

[dfarmercse]

When i did my underdash harness, i lay the old out on the floor and tried to make sense of 43 years of hacking. I am not sure how everything worked. Glad i installed a new one.

Dave F

 

[roadrunnerman]

back in the early 80's i had a 74 RR.one night going home from work i had a fire under my dash.Must've got some bare wires touching.Ended up having to rewire the whole under dash from the bulkhead.I know what you went thru.

 

[YY1]

My 70 Super Bee had several under dash fires.
Was part of the car's "personality".

She wan't pretty, but she'd do the kessel run in under 16 parsecs!
(hear me baby?...hold togther)

 

[bigredbird]

tpodwdog, I'm pretty sure I heard you cussing from here. :angryfire: And you were saying the same things I said when I had to do the same chore with my own inherited wiring nightmare. Can't say I was surprised by it since the same previous owner(s) had "patched" the floor with three traffic signs and some Liquid Nails!

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

I'm dreading some of the things I still have to fix at least I have them safe'd off

 

[MarPar]

I'm dreading some of the things I still have to fix at least I have them safe'd off

X2!!! still have that ammeter to safe off though...

 

[Moparsmitty]

My best advice is to put a battery switch on your negative battery cable and use it. Unless you have completely rewired your entire car, then at least some or all of the wiring in your car is 40 to 50+ years old. The original wiring in these cars was designed to last maybe 20 years. A switch is cheap insurance. I hate to see any of our old classics go up in smoke for lack of a $10 battery switch. Might slow down a car thief too. The dumb ones anyway.

 

[MarPar]

My best advice is to put a battery switch on your negative battery cable and use it. Unless you have completely rewired your entire car, then at least some or all of the wiring in your car is 40 to 50+ years old. The original wiring in these cars was designed to last maybe 20 years. A switch is cheap insurance. I hate to see any of our old classics go up in smoke for lack of a $10 battery switch. Might slow down a car thief too. The dumb ones anyway.

what kind of switch you talking bout Smitty?

 

[Meep-Meep]

Wiring disasters can be both funny and sad at the same time and you have to suspect most of these "wiring jobs" were done by cranksters. Glad you took the time to deal with it.

 

[Ron 73]

Your right!

hi again....faithful and loyal mopar enthusiasts !

i just want to take a moment and tell you about doing your own under dash electrical work.

today i spent 9 hours on the Belvy II..... 4 of those hours i was contorted in positions i havent been since i was a young man in my YOUT. you may ask yourself..." what in gods name could he have been doing under the dash of a 66 Belvedere II for 4 whole hours".....the answer is simple.... I WAS FIXXING F**K UPS AND GETTING RID OF POTENTIAL FIRE HAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZARDS !!!!!!!:headbang: never in my life have i seen such butchery....live wires dangling...just waiting for the right amount of "G" forces to ground out on a nice shiny piece of metal.....causing a blown fuse or worse.... A FIRE !

i had wires wrapped around brake pedals.... emergency brake pedal....live wires tucked ever so nicely out of sight.........bare wires.. wires tapped off of other wires going to the fuel pump...and the radio gauge lights tapped off of god knows what,,,, little blue wire nuts joining wires...and the wire nuts kept falling off.. ( thats my fave right there ),i could go on and on.( me and the test light were extremely intimate today )...so i just want to take a moment to tell you..... IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOURE DOING,,,,,THEN DONT DO IT ....AND IF YOU INSIST ON DOING IT YOURSELF......DO IT RIGHT !!!. hire someone,,,or get someone to do it for you,,,and do a neat nice tidy job. i headed off about 6 potential fire hazards in those 4 hours and fixxed them ALL PROPERLY using the correct connectors and terminals.,...last thing i want is one of my beloved mopars going up in flames , and im sure you dont want that either !

**THIS HAS BEEN A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT**.... and thanx for listennin'

I feel for you, Last winter what started off with just putting in white over lay gauges and LED lights, I had sooo many things like you describe it was unreal.. Im glad now that i decided to do it all or who knows, and i totally agree with what you said above " IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOURE DOING,,,,,THEN DONT DO IT .."... Good post!

 

[Moparsmitty]

what kind of switch you talking bout Smitty?

I don't have a picture of one handy, but they are a pretty common switch that installs on the negative battery post and have a small plastic knob that unscrews to isolate the battery from the rest of the car. NAPA sells them as part #NW785116. You can see it at their site.

 

[MarPar]

I don't have a picture of one handy, but they are a pretty common switch that installs on the negative battery post and have a small plastic knob that unscrews to isolate the battery from the rest of the car. NAPA sells them as part #NW785116. You can see it at their site.

got it, thanks Smitty.

so it's like a breaker switch in effect??

 

[Moparsmitty]

got it, thanks Smitty.

so it's like a breaker switch in effect??

Yes. Installed on the negative battery cable. When it is opened up(turned counter-clockwise) there is no place on the car where the positive voltage can arc to ground. Much easier than removing the battery cable.