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I absolutely hate wiring a car.

70ChargerRT

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FBBO Gold Member
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Whoever said wiring a car is easy , especially with aftermarket accessories can come and help me out. I know all stock plug and plays aren’t that bad. The wiring part I get but I guess my OCD slows me down trying to make everything look as neat as possible. The dual Electric fans, Vintage Air, Dakota Digital Gauges, Sniper Efi, Big stereo with amp, reverse lockout for the T-56, getting the A-01 hooked back up, extra grounds. I mean I could keep going. I’ll probably end up burning my car to the ground before it’s over with lol
 
Wiring can be challenging and you can learn as you go which can make the challenge serve another purpose. The alternative is trying to find a shop that’s got any kind of true knowledge or experience and that’s not easy.
 
Are you concerned with everything appearing stock or are you ok modifying as needed to make things a little easier? In my case with my Charger this wasn’t a problem. I have made several wire harnesses and added 2 additional fuse panels along with efi including a different year tank with internal pump and fuel lines etc.

Currently I have the gauges removed and as weather permits I am installing the dash insert with Autometer gauges which means another harness to blend in with the original dash wiring. I have never liked wiring and this car has been a fantastic teaching tool.

I will help you out with any questions or concerns you have but I am not an “expert” and have learned everything from digging in and learning as I go. Clean power and clean ground are your best friends.

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I charge by the hour and I don’t work very fast.

:lol:
 
Makes me think of Obi Wan talking to Yoda in "The Empire Strikes Back" when Luke shows up. "He Will Learn Patience".
 
For me it’s just the OCD kicking in trying to make everything look good and not like spaghetti. I understand most of the wiring. All of this after market stuff has its own harness and you really need to wire it all at the same time because of the routing and some of it you can run in the same loom and make it look it better but you carefully need to read the instructions especially looking for what wires not to run together incase of RFi interference. The Vintage Air has its own harness, you tie it in to the Electric Fans, then you tie all that in to the sniper, then some wires from the sniper go to the Dakota Gauges but before that you have wire the Dakota Gauges Up. The Reverse Lockout ties in to the Dakota Gauges. Then I bought an Interface Module so the Sniper can share info with the Dakota Gauges. Then you have to splice in to your factory harness for some stuff on the Dakota Gauges and the reverse on the T-56. Still haven’t started on the stereo system or installing the EFi tank and wires. Got most of the wiring done under the hood. Cleaning some stuff up. In the process of adding extra grounds and finishing up under the dash. Still working on the Ao1 and a few more wires under the dash.
 
Sucks big time. Took me all winter to rewire my entire car! Worked on it on a Monday and or Tuesday then took rest of the week getting a game plan for next time. Looking at both schematics, the original and the new that came with Ron Francis kit! Go slow and one system at a time. You’ll get it!

This is what I started with!
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Sucks big time. Took me all winter to rewire my entire car! Worked on it on a Monday and or Tuesday then took rest of the week getting a game plan for next time. Looking at both schematics, the original and the new that came with Ron Francis kit! Go slow and one system at a time. You’ll get it!

This is what I started with!
View attachment 1413967
I bought a complete new M&H Harness for my 70. AAW advertises a Harness for 68-70 Chargers but the 70 Harness is a completely different beast than the 68-69. I called AAW about the 70 when they first advertised that new Harness and they were completely clueless that the 70 was different than the other models but they still advertise it as 68-70. I’m running a 130 amp alternator and running a 4 gauge wire from the alt post straight to the battery to help circulate the load off of the charging system wires.
 
Good prints.
Make prints.
Follow prints.
Prints, prints, prints, prints.
Take it one wire at at time.
ID wires front and rear.
You ain't seen nothing till you rewire a heavy plane.
I've corned the market on OCD and ADD.
 
Good prints.
Make prints.
Follow prints.
Prints, prints, prints, prints.
Take it one wire at at time.
ID wires front and rear.
You ain't seen nothing till you rewire a heavy plane.
I've corned the market on OCD and ADD.
Yeah my 1st cousins husband was making of fun of me. He wires planes and I think helicopters for Boeing. Maybe the F-22 and Apaches. Can’t remember what he said but he said my wiring was Childs play lol
 
For me it’s just the OCD kicking in trying to make everything look good and not like spaghetti. I understand most of the wiring. All of this after market stuff has its own harness and you really need to wire it all at the same time because of the routing and some of it you can run in the same loom and make it look it better but you carefully need to read the instructions especially looking for what wires not to run together incase of RFi interference. The Vintage Air has its own harness, you tie it in to the Electric Fans, then you tie all that in to the sniper, then some wires from the sniper go to the Dakota Gauges but before that you have wire the Dakota Gauges Up. The Reverse Lockout ties in to the Dakota Gauges. Then I bought an Interface Module so the Sniper can share info with the Dakota Gauges. Then you have to splice in to your factory harness for some stuff on the Dakota Gauges and the reverse on the T-56. Still haven’t started on the stereo system or installing the EFi tank and wires. Got most of the wiring done under the hood. Cleaning some stuff up. In the process of adding extra grounds and finishing up under the dash. Still working on the Ao1 and a few more wires under the dash.
I am the same way. I did a Ron Francis kit and it was satisfying, but painful because of the OCD thing. Best piece of advice I can give is to skip terminating any wires until you have everything run and are sure all wires follow the path you want. I found several times that I had finished running something and then later had to move a number of wires to follow a different run as it made more sense. Some I was able to fix because I had enough slack to fix them but a few I was not. Slow and steady wins the race. You'll get there...
 
I think being OCD is going to benefit you on the wiring. There's nothing like seeing mounds of spaghetti strung halter skelter from front to back. Add in twist on household connectors and you have an award winning job. NOT! When I go to SEMA and other shows, I'm always on the hunt for how the wiring is done, routed, loomed, connected etc. Same with plumbing. I highly recommend you spend some bucks on tools for the job. Generic electrical pliers don't work for me. The one set from Snap On? I have get used for stripping and cutting of machine screws. I have a set from Pertronix that contain multiple dies which cover a wide range of connector types including plug wires. From there I have a pair of units from American Auto Wire that are specific to old car type of connectors, aka Packard 56. Used on GM, Mopes and many other domestic vehicles. I've found they do the best job of all of mine for that connector. They crimp without crushing the terminal. The Pertronix ones do so so but need the wings of the terminal pre rolled over to get the ball rolling. But they can still crush. I was looking at spending the dough for a Packard type some years ago made by Tyco. The are a tool, part and supply company for the manufactures. The one they make was almost $2K just for that type. I was not doing enough wiring to justify that so the AAW unit gets the nod. I also have one for Molex connectors. That one I need for the AEM ECU I have for the engine which was supplied by Indy when they built the engine.
Get ahold of a butane soldering iron. And for the refills, make sure they do not contain oil otherwise the torch gets plugged up. That works great for doing up to 14ga connections, unless its multiple wires in one connector. Bigger than 14 or multiple I use a commercial Weller gun, think it's a d650[ need to verify]. Use that for multiple wires or up to single 10ga. You don't want to sit there waiting for the connector/splice etc to heat up forever as it can jack up the wire and insulation. You want to get in, get out so you need fast/quick heat. Bigger than 10 is for the propane torch. Oxy/Acet gets used for battery cables. The solder I use is around .040 diameter. It melts at the same temp but since it's smaller it happens faster than with the bigger stuff.
 
Just checked the Weller gun. It is a D650 Industrial 300/200. I always use the 300 setting.
 
And add grounds. There were not enough of them even when the car was new. Battery to engine, engine to firewall, battery to core support. Running elec fans? Fan to battery. Light housings to body. Dash cluster to body. Etc etc. Clean off paint/rust at the connection. Use toothed washers on both sides of the connection so it digs in.
 
And add grounds. There were not enough of them even when the car was new. Battery to engine, engine to firewall, battery to core support. Running elec fans? Fan to battery. Light housings to body. Dash cluster to body. Etc etc. Clean off paint/rust at the connection. Use toothed washers on both sides of the connection so it digs in.
I’m definitely not a pro like you but I did soder everything I could. Made sure all crimps were good and used heat shrink sleeving on everything and diode electric grease on all connections, even grounds. This a 70 so the negative has a ground to the aluminum heads and then to the battery and rad support. Headlight harness has a ground on the rad support, ground passenger head to firewall. Ground engine block at motor mount to passenger side frame. Have a bus bar for negative and positive. Have Sniper, vintage air, to pos and Neg on battery post. Alt post and amp straight to hot post on battery and everything else including fans going to the buss bars. Maybe ground the sniper at the intake to the frame also. Still debating that.
 
I bought a complete new M&H Harness for my 70. AAW advertises a Harness for 68-70 Chargers but the 70 Harness is a completely different beast than the 68-69. I called AAW about the 70 when they first advertised that new Harness and they were completely clueless that the 70 was different than the other models but they still advertise it as 68-70. I’m running a 130 amp alternator and running a 4 gauge wire from the alt post straight to the battery to help circulate the load off of the charging system wires.
Ron Francis kit told me to use strictly their new schematic. Throw the old one out! But there was no way anyone could do that completely. I kept the steering column and all the wires to and from were different so old and new helped a ton figuring that out! Wiring old cars is a chore to say the least! Looking back, I had a blast putting the brain to use figuring the best, cleanest way to undue the mess I had!
 
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