I have the wiring under the dash done. The wiring on the engine side is connected to the bulkhead too. Today I mounted the voltage regulator, the spark box and ballast resistor. I have the engine side harness pretty well sorted and ready to run.
I put a battery in and connected to the big lug on the starter relay.
I get headlights low and high beam, taillights too. The turn signals are not connected.
The dash lights don't light up though.
The bulbs looked good. The wire plug for the panel dimmer had some ugly on the terminals. Can that be enough to stop the dash lights from working? The high beam light comes on.
The steering column fitment was a real pisser.
I got this column with the car and since it is painted Burnt Orange like the rest of the interior, I figured it was original. The problem is, it came with no mounting bracket....the one that wraps under the column and attaches to threaded studs as part of the dash frame. I had a few A-Body columns and parts so I bolted one of those on.
With the coupler on the steering box, the shifter collar was too close to the dash. With the shifter collar in the right spot, the coupler was too short and the column support bracket was too far forward. I measured my Red car and found that this column was short by about 2 1/2 inches. It became evident that this column may have been compressed during the collision that killed the car in 1995. There is an inner and outer shaft as part of the safety design....It allows the column to shorten during am impact to reduce the risk of a human shish-K- Bob! This one just needed to be brought back to the original length.
I used a pipe wrench and a hammer and extended the column out to the proper length. Next up, the column support bracket needed to be modified to fit. I cut the slots and welded them about 1 1/4" closer to the firewall. This allowed the column to sit in the stock position.
The center panel that sits below the radio was missing from this car when I got it. A guy from the 1970 Charger Registry site came through for me with this panel:
I need to clean it and paint it to match. It has two holes below the wiper switch but I'm just grateful to have found something.
I still need an ashtray. I do have a glove box door but I need the liner. Are they all cardboard? A 2 piece plastic one would be a lot more durable.