Rewire 67 Coronet - Help

[Dartman72]

Hi fellow B body fans,
I need your help in selecting a new wire harness for my 67 Coronet convertible. I had the hood open and the car idling when I noticed smoke from the bulk head connection area. I turned it off and pulled the connectors and my engine harness to discover the bulk head & harness connector is toast. I would have never thought they could be that bad and I'm very lucky they didn't melt down on me when I was out and about. Someone previous to me had patched the connection and wrapped with black tape and that patch finally failed with melted - wires falling out the plastic connectors & bulk head. No way to save the original so I need to replace and I know its pricey but I'm willing to spend the money. My car is stock, but is complicated by the fact that it is a convertible with A/C and I've also installed electronic ignition and an electric fuel pump (no problem to modify another harness to accept). As I contemplate the project the easiest thing for me for me to do is to replace what I have with a stock system. I would consider a good used harness (it would need A/C) or NOS if available but I'm not seeing that as a real option. That said, I wouldn't mind upgrading to newer system and fuses. I've been exploring and looked at Painless and American Wire and my concern with these is that neither support the Ammeter and they provide only a 1 wire alternator hook up ( I've got 2) . I'm looking to replace it all - headlight to taillight. What I would like: 1 System that uses the bulk head connection - like stock, 2 A system that supports all factory gauges (including Amp meter) 3 A system that supports 2 wire stock Alt. 4 A system with multiple harnesses versus everything running into the fuse block. I know there has to be a number of you out there who have done this and I'd like to hear from you!

 

[davek]

YearOne M&H harness plug and play expensive but worth it. Sorry that happened to you.

 

[Joel Talka]

Hi fellow B body fans,
I need your help in selecting a new wire harness for my 67 Coronet convertible. I had the hood open and the car idling when I noticed smoke from the bulk head connection area. I turned it off and pulled the connectors and my engine harness to discover the bulk head & harness connector is toast. I would have never thought they could be that bad and I'm very lucky they didn't melt down on me when I was out and about. Someone previous to me had patched the connection and wrapped with black tape and that patch finally failed with melted - wires falling out the plastic connectors & bulk head. No way to save the original so I need to replace and I know its pricey but I'm willing to spend the money. My car is stock, but is complicated by the fact that it is a convertible with A/C and I've also installed electronic ignition and an electric fuel pump (no problem to modify another harness to accept). As I contemplate the project the easiest thing for me for me to do is to replace what I have with a stock system. I would consider a good used harness (it would need A/C) or NOS if available but I'm not seeing that as a real option. That said, I wouldn't mind upgrading to newer system and fuses. I've been exploring and looked at Painless and American Wire and my concern with these is that neither support the Ammeter and they provide only a 1 wire alternator hook up ( I've got 2) . I'm looking to replace it all - headlight to taillight. What I would like: 1 System that uses the bulk head connection - like stock, 2 A system that supports all factory gauges (including Amp meter) 3 A system that supports 2 wire stock Alt. 4 A system with multiple harnesses versus everything running into the fuse block. I know there has to be a number of you out there who have done this and I'd like to hear from you!

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Hi, I did not have the same problem as you have described but my wiring harness(es) were a bloody mess. Whoever had the car before me spliced into everything so it was virtually impossible to trace. I bit the bullet and bought all new repop wiring harnesses, from Year One as I recall. Yes, was pricey but the install was easy and everything works as it should. I'm also running and MSD setup plus a vacuum pump and I have zero modifications to the new harnesses.. Happy to share more if you like, I should have the paperwork, etc. in my file.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Wow thats a toasty one alright, good thing you were standing right there watching when it started to self destruct your car!

 

[Dartman72]

Hey everyone thanks for the input. I was very lucky that I caught my issue before it destroyed my wiring. See pictures. Instead of rewiring the car I got a new bulkhead connector ($75) and engine harness ends ($28). I found my parts on eBay but if you do a search there are a lot of folks that carry them. I also had to repair 2 wire terminals with new fittings – also found on eBay and elsewhere. Take pictures before you start! Working under the dash I painstakingly went in and released each wire terminal with a small screwdriver, cleaned it off, made sure the locking tab was up and inserted it into the new block. I did this one at a time to make sure each wire went into the correct spot on the new block. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to screw this up. I did the same thing with the harness ends but used small needle nose pliers to reach in and close the terminal to release the tab and push it out. Be careful as the harness end fittings look similar they do have a specific sequence and orientation on the bulkhead connector. Overall, it took me about 3 ½ hours to swap wires and by far the bulkhead connector under the dash was the most difficult. The fix worked great and kept me from having to rip the car apart to rewire. If I was dismantling the car to paint or restore, I would certainly go with all new wiring but for now this gets me back on the road!

 

[65CopCar]

What I do (including in my 67 Coronet 500) I remove the connector drill out the bulkhead and run a wire straight through. Most can't tell the difference and it solves the problem. Only thing is you need to cut the wires if you want to remove the connector. This is for both the charging and battery wires. That bulkhead if a weak ling for the power wires especially if you add more load to the car.