my next project.. oh how i love wiring

[Texas charger 73]

so my next project is the rewire and convert my 73 charger standard dash to a rallye dash... this should be a blast to do.....i despise wiring, but this is something i really want done..

 

[MelroseMopar]

I installed a complete harness into my 69 and ungraded from Stock Rallye to a Dakota Digital system its not fun BUT i found the key element is time!! Take your time and label, mark, take pictures of everything! and when it gets frustrating just walk away.. it will be there waiting when you get back.

 

[Texas charger 73]

I installed a complete harness into my 69 and ungraded from Stock Rallye to a Dakota Digital system its not fun BUT i found the key element is time!! Take your time and label, mark, take pictures of everything! and when it gets frustrating just walk away.. it will be there waiting when you get back.

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See im gonna pull my whole dash and work over it through the winter... the dash comes out of my 73 pretty easy... i want an American Autowire Harness, but dont have the extra $909 so ill be rebuilding the 72 Harness i have laying on the shelf.

 

[Jeff Erwin]

I just rewired my entire car (71 Charger) with the American Autowire harness. Took me about 70 hours of actual work, so plan accordingly. The harness is very well documented and marked, but there are a bizillion connectors to be crimped. I also took the time to solder every connector because I just don't trust crimps.

The dash harness is amazing as it connects to the under-dash harness with two connectors, not the 563 separate wires and bulbs the factory harness required. This means you can wire the new harness on your bench and check every connection there instead of on your back with you feet in the air as is currently require.

What you should consider though is the bulkhead connection. The American Autowire harness comes with a new and excellent fuse box and a new bulkhead connector that does not mate with the original factory connector. I decided, based on that mostly, to go ahead and rewire the entire car. Good decision on my part.

Follow their instructions completely. Lots of connections from the original wires and colors to the new harness that need to be double and triple checked (and soldered). When I was brave enough to reconnect the battery (after running down a couple of direct shorts) I was amazed that all of the lights, turn signals etc worked!

I am just now starting to wrap things up. Everything works, well, except the engine won't fire. Turns over, just no spark. Working on that now.

 

[Don Frelier]

I just rewired my entire car (71 Charger) with the American Autowire harness. Took me about 70 hours of actual work, so plan accordingly. The harness is very well documented and marked, but there are a bizillion connectors to be crimped. I also took the time to solder every connector because I just don't trust crimps.

The dash harness is amazing as it connects to the under-dash harness with two connectors, not the 563 separate wires and bulbs the factory harness required. This means you can wire the new harness on your bench and check every connection there instead of on your back with you feet in the air as is currently require.

What you should consider though is the bulkhead connection. The American Autowire harness comes with a new and excellent fuse box and a new bulkhead connector that does not mate with the original factory connector. I decided, based on that mostly, to go ahead and rewire the entire car. Good decision on my part.

Follow their instructions completely. Lots of connections from the original wires and colors to the new harness that need to be double and triple checked (and soldered). When I was brave enough to reconnect the battery (after running down a couple of direct shorts) I was amazed that all of the lights, turn signals etc worked!

I am just now starting to wrap things up. Everything works, well, except the engine won't fire. Turns over, just no spark. Working on that now.

It's your car, but if it were mine I would try and keep a 1971 suberbee 440 6 pack as original as possible.
Aside from the alternator charge wire I've never had a significant issue with any wiring or bulkhead connections on a Mopar.
But I do live in the North so my stuff doesn't see the extreme heat like many do farther south.

 

[Texas charger 73]

I just rewired my entire car (71 Charger) with the American Autowire harness. Took me about 70 hours of actual work, so plan accordingly. The harness is very well documented and marked, but there are a bizillion connectors to be crimped. I also took the time to solder every connector because I just don't trust crimps.

The dash harness is amazing as it connects to the under-dash harness with two connectors, not the 563 separate wires and bulbs the factory harness required. This means you can wire the new harness on your bench and check every connection there instead of on your back with you feet in the air as is currently require.

What you should consider though is the bulkhead connection. The American Autowire harness comes with a new and excellent fuse box and a new bulkhead connector that does not mate with the original factory connector. I decided, based on that mostly, to go ahead and rewire the entire car. Good decision on my part.

Follow their instructions completely. Lots of connections from the original wires and colors to the new harness that need to be double and triple checked (and soldered). When I was brave enough to reconnect the battery (after running down a couple of direct shorts) I was amazed that all of the lights, turn signals etc worked!

I am just now starting to wrap things up. Everything works, well, except the engine won't fire. Turns over, just no spark. Working on that now.

So yesterday i recieved my American Autowire Harness... AS it didnt come with Crimp tools for the connectors are there Crimp tool a MUST HAVE? also i see that it changes to a single wire alternator.. does that by pass the amp gauge as well or is it still hooked up with just a stronger wire and fusible link? i might need some help here and there and pick your brain

 

[Jeff Erwin]

It's your car, but if it were mine I would try and keep a 1971 suberbee 440 6 pack as original as possible.
Aside from the alternator charge wire I've never had a significant issue with any wiring or bulkhead connections on a Mopar.
But I do live in the North so my stuff doesn't see the extreme heat like many do farther south.

Fully agree, until I somehow created a direct short behind the dash and melted the wiring harness into a goopy mess. I had the choice of trying to find another original harness with who-knows-what issues it would bring or just bite the bullet and upgrade the whole thing. Tough position to be in, but overall it's a better car with the new wiring.

I had to replace the original valve covers when one cracked, same issue. One of the prior owners installed a very nice set of headers, no way I want to take those out. Keeping it all original and stock is tough.

 

[Jeff Erwin]

So yesterday i recieved my American Autowire Harness... AS it didnt come with Crimp tools for the connectors are there Crimp tool a MUST HAVE? also i see that it changes to a single wire alternator.. does that by pass the amp gauge as well or is it still hooked up with just a stronger wire and fusible link? i might need some help here and there and pick your brain

I would invest in the crimp tools American Autowire offers, it's really tough to make a good crimp otherwise. AND, I would highly recommend soldering every connector as well, pain in the butt but well worth it.

You will convert to a single-wire alternator and it does eliminate the ammeter from the system. I don't like non-functioning dash components to at some point I will wire the ammeter back in by splitting the charging circuit and running two heavy wires back to the ammeter. I already switched to headlight relays so there isn't really that much current flowing through the ammetrer now.

 

[Texas charger 73]

I would invest in the crimp tools American Autowire offers, it's really tough to make a good crimp otherwise. AND, I would highly recommend soldering every connector as well, pain in the butt but well worth it.

You will convert to a single-wire alternator and it does eliminate the ammeter from the system. I don't like non-functioning dash components to at some point I will wire the ammeter back in by splitting the charging circuit and running two heavy wires back to the ammeter. I already switched to headlight relays so there isn't really that much current flowing through the ammetrer now.

Well, Looks like i will wait till after Christmas to rewire.. took all my money for the wiring.. dont have the extra for the crimp tools at moment

 

[Jeff Erwin]

Well, Looks like i will wait till after Christmas to rewire.. took all my money for the wiring.. dont have the extra for the crimp tools at moment

They provide some extra connectors to practice on, maybe you are better at it than I am. Try doing some crimps with a strong needle-nose plier, see what they look like. If you commit to soldering, the crimp quality is less important.

 

[hunt2elk]

I think the crimp is really important. I would not rely on needle nose pliers for that job. Klein makes a very well respected crimper that is not that expensive. This is the one I use the most. I solder as well after the crimp.
https://www.amazon.com/Non-Insulate...1_2?keywords=klein+1006&qid=1636655209&sr=8-2

 

[BigFlo]

I work for a connector manufacturer. Please don’t use pliers to make a crimp. The correct crimp tool with good quality components actually compresses and fuses the individual strands of wire inside of the crimp and is air tight. If you achieve this with your crimps, nothing will ever come loose. Soldering isn’t necessary and since the crimp is air tight, solder won’t flow between wires and terminal. Soldering won’t hurt unless you apply too much to prevent the terminal from going into the connector housing or if you melt the wire insulation. If you want to solder after crimping, the ideal scenario is to adjust the crimp to be looser (we’re talking thousandths of an inch) and then solder - this enables the solder to flow between the strands of wire and the crimp. Adjusting the hand crimp tool is probably not possible though.

 

[70chall440]

I have been looking at harnesses for my 71 Charger, while the American Auto wire is decent, I think I am leaning towards a Kwik wire harness which is what I put into my Cuda. I customize all my harnesses but rearranging some of the circuits and wiring them into the factory BH fitting. I like the ability to connect/disconnect the various harnesses in the engine compartment, having the dash harness independent of the other harnesses, etc. Since none of the aftermarket harnesses use the BH fitting I will have to make all that work so it doesn't really matter which harness I use so long as it is good quality. I also relocate the fuse box to some place more convenient than under the dash, usually in the glove box.

I also crimp and solder all my connections. I have the proper crimp tools but as stated I want to make sure there is no issues in my connections.

 

[What’s up dock]

I like the Painless products, American Autowire, and the jegs wiring kits. I'm currently working on a challenger for a friend, and it came with a Keep It Clean wiring harness. I'm not a fan of that one.
Which ever one you choose, plan out every circuit need of your car, not just the harness. You'll think you are done running wires through the firewall, get everything into looms, and then realize you need to run wires for the reverse switch on the trans.(example) Same goes for items like wipers. That's not a 1 or 2 wire circuit. Most of these kits are based on GM stuff, so you'll find the wiper wire in the dash harness, and not the engine forward harness. Things like that.
Buy lots of various size shrink tube, and wire loom.

 

[beanhead]

Could be worse!
It's atrocious how some of the plants I go into treat their panels.

 

[Jeff Erwin]

Could be worse!
It's atrocious how some of the plants I go into treat their panels.
View attachment 1193638

That's what the backside of my dash looked like after I melted it...

 

[Jeff Erwin]

I work for a connector manufacturer. Please don’t use pliers to make a crimp. The correct crimp tool with good quality components actually compresses and fuses the individual strands of wire inside of the crimp and is air tight. If you achieve this with your crimps, nothing will ever come loose. Soldering isn’t necessary and since the crimp is air tight, solder won’t flow between wires and terminal. Soldering won’t hurt unless you apply too much to prevent the terminal from going into the connector housing or if you melt the wire insulation. If you want to solder after crimping, the ideal scenario is to adjust the crimp to be looser (we’re talking thousandths of an inch) and then solder - this enables the solder to flow between the strands of wire and the crimp. Adjusting the hand crimp tool is probably not possible though.

Do you have a specific crimper that you would recommend?

 

[70chall440]

Do you have a specific crimper that you would recommend?

In my experience no one crimper does it all or does it all well, I personally have like 4 different crimper that sometimes are used in combination to get a good crimp or one I like.

 

[JG71B]

In my experience no one crimper does it all or does it all well, I personally have like 4 different crimper that sometimes are used in combination to get a good crimp or one I like.

I did all the ends on both sides of my bulkhead along with a few random ends and this set ($30ish at Home Depot) worked pretty well for me.

 

[70chall440]

Yeah I have a set of those as well and it does work well for some terminals.