Sad day for the Roadrunner…

[69RunnerMike]

Dude, so sorry this happened to you. It looks very salvageable and I hope you go that route. That was always my greatest fear. Mine is all torn apart right now, but I already have all new harnesses for when I put the car back together. I will take Paul73's advice and put a battery kill switch on too. If you decide to rebuild, list the parts you need. If I can help, I will.

 

[Billccm]

Suspicious is the ammeter and bulkhead connectors. Short to ground usually opens a fuse or fusible link. I've seen ammeter connectors get white hot and just at the threshold of smoldering. A resistance to gnd got really hot for a long time and started the fire.

 

[Speedbird]

I happen to be going though one of these very cars. And it's the bulkhead feed that seems to give the most hot wire problems for what ever reason.
This might be a good time to inform that there seem to be two firewall connectors available.
You don't want this one.

You want this one from one of our mopar specialty vendors.
Also note there are several types of 56 connectors available.
The plated is a "GM" style.

I AM adding fuses to the relay mod.
Prints not finalized

A simplified breakdown of the stop/turn/flasher showing amp meter.
(To be used in trouble shooting)

 

[Charles Cook]

That is sad. Would you like to sell the the new front end parts you just installed

Way to soon dude

 

[terrywalker]

I avoided an electrical disaster with the 72 Challenger I'm working on. I found a terminal melted on the bulkhead connector. I further investigated and found the red and black leads that power the big load had melted together had melted a green accessory load. I'm doing the ammeter bypass and have installed a voltage meter instead. I now disconnect the batteries on my old Mopars when not in use. A battery cutoff switch would be easier. You can see the overheated bulkhead connetion box in first photo and I replaced it.
Terry W.

 

[Speedbird]

Boeing used to build a passenger plane that was boiler plate.
It could fly upside down. One did and landed to tell about it.
But that's another story.

I think any postmortem would remain a riddle wrapped in mystery inside of an enig-gine compartment.
Reminds me of when we had a JT8D engine that fell off a 727 in 1990.
The engine landed in a cow pasture in Florida.
No fatalities.
So it wasn't that big of a deal........ in the grand scheme of things.
There was of lots of speculation and buzz when we first heard about it.
We had this power plant engineer that chain smoked outside the hanger.
Before the engine showed up I asked him what happened.
To which he said "Everything is BS until I see it."

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

I happen to be going though one of these very cars. And it's the bulkhead feed that seems to give the most hot wire problems for what ever reason.
This might be a good time to inform that there seem to be two firewall connectors available.
You don't want this one.
View attachment 1668762View attachment 1668766

You want this one from one of our mopar specialty vendors.
Also note there are several types of 56 connectors available.
The plated is a "GM" style.
View attachment 1668764


View attachment 1668769

View attachment 1668771
I AM adding fuses to the relay mod.
Prints not finalized

View attachment 1668778
View attachment 1668767
View attachment 1668775
A simplified breakdown of the stop/turn/flasher showing amp meter.
(To be used in trouble shooting)

View attachment 1668765

Hope you or mods make this a sticky along with the Mopar bulk head

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

That is sad. Would you like to sell the the new front end parts you just installed

Hey please give him a break and some time

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

I avoided an electrical disaster with the 72 Challenger I'm working on. I found a terminal melted on the bulkhead connector. I further investigated and found the red and black leads that power the big load had melted together had melted a green accessory load. I'm doing the ammeter bypass and have installed a voltage meter instead. I now disconnect the batteries on my old Mopars when not in use. A battery cutoff switch would be easier. You can see the overheated bulkhead connetion box in first photo and I replaced it.
Terry W.

View attachment 1668903

View attachment 1668904

View attachment 1668905

Great catch

 

[Paul73]

That is sad. Would you like to sell the the new front end parts you just installed

No, I’m going to rebuild the car.

 

[Butch Harley]

Still running stock harness YIKES

 

[Cranky]

No, I’m going to rebuild the car.

Glad to hear that!! And please report anyone that asks for parts in any forums except for the Classified Section. We battle this a lot and well, it's a hassle and we appreciate all the help we can get. I also feel what JDAVIS asked was in bad taste......

 

[Billccm]

Any updates to this situation? Hope you are receiving support from the insurance coverage.

 

[Paul73]

Any updates to this situation? Hope you are receiving support from the insurance coverage.

Yes. They gave me 75% of what I had it insured for so I got to keep the title to the car which I was really happy about. I took out the engine and what was left of the interior, dash, air box, etc.. I sanded down the engine bay to bare metal and hit it with some primer. Next will be wire wheeling what I can of the roof and inner structure and painting it and putting in some dynamat. I got a good start and it’s going better than I thought.

 

[davek]

Who was your insurance company? Glad your keeping it and I wish you the best of luck. And I hope this was the first thing you bought for the car. I have this on my Bee.

 

[Paul73]

Who was your insurance company? Glad your keeping it and I wish you the best of luck. And I hope this was the first thing you bought for the car. I have this on my Bee. View attachment 1681375

I’m with Erie insurance. Going to switch to Grundy because they’re easier to work with and they are actually cheaper. Also on that note, my insurance company did send out a fire inspector and they could not determine what caused it.

I’ve got that switch on my build list.

 

[F4R/T]

Glad to see your well on your way of putting it back together! Inner fenders look nice after cleaning up! Way to go glad to see it get saved!

 

[threewood]

Doesn't look too bad. The wiring is going to be the hardest to fix. Keep an eye out here for guys parting cars out for parts.

 

[71RRHI]

I'm glad to see your fixing it. I bet, it will be better than it ever was once your done.

 

[Russ Hood]

Hate that happened to you. It may be crazy but I completely rewired my whole car and I keep the battery cable off when it's sitting the garage.