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- Dec 31, 2020
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- Ontario, Canada
I have been helping my friend, Randy, with a 1962 Dart Max Wedge clone he bought last fall. We had to replace a fuel pump and remove a fuel pressure regulator. At the same time, we replumbed the fuel lines to more closely resemble a stock setup. We pushed the car out of the garage to prime the fuel system up to check for leaks. I unplugged the coil wire and asked my friend to spin the engine over with the starter. As I was looking for leaks at the fuel pump, I noticed a wisp of smoke from the alternator charge wire. I yelled at Randy to stop cranking and looked up to see smoke and flames at the terminal block. We were able to quickly remove the battery cable, but the damage was already done.
The previous owner had wired fusible links into the 12 ga. red and black charge wires at the terminal block. Under the dash, the wires had been removed the ammeter gauge, bolted together, and taped over. The 1962 terminal block has an better design of routing the charge wires through the firewall than the 1964 and up Packard connectors. These wires are screwed to buss bars that pass through the terminal block on 1962 and 1963 B-bodies. On further investigation, the harness under the dash was burned to a crisp, and the fusible links had done their job by melting and preserving the wiring in the engine compartment. Since we had only removed and replaced the alternator while building the new fuel lines, we were pretty sure that we had done nothing electrically to provoke this fire. Randy took his alternator and voltage regulator to an electrical shop where they checked out fine. We can only think that somehow the harness chafed a bare spot in the insulation and grounded somewhere under the dash. The fellow that sold the car had been driving it to shows and my friend had driven it for a few weeks after he bought it. He counts his blessings that it happened in his laneway, rather than out on the road, where the car could have been lost completely.
We were able to buy another harness from FBBO member w.Hudson (thanks Wade), since no one reproduces this harness. We got the car fired up last Friday and my friend is much happier now. To do it again, I think I would remove the dash, since the windshield does not need to come out.
The previous owner had wired fusible links into the 12 ga. red and black charge wires at the terminal block. Under the dash, the wires had been removed the ammeter gauge, bolted together, and taped over. The 1962 terminal block has an better design of routing the charge wires through the firewall than the 1964 and up Packard connectors. These wires are screwed to buss bars that pass through the terminal block on 1962 and 1963 B-bodies. On further investigation, the harness under the dash was burned to a crisp, and the fusible links had done their job by melting and preserving the wiring in the engine compartment. Since we had only removed and replaced the alternator while building the new fuel lines, we were pretty sure that we had done nothing electrically to provoke this fire. Randy took his alternator and voltage regulator to an electrical shop where they checked out fine. We can only think that somehow the harness chafed a bare spot in the insulation and grounded somewhere under the dash. The fellow that sold the car had been driving it to shows and my friend had driven it for a few weeks after he bought it. He counts his blessings that it happened in his laneway, rather than out on the road, where the car could have been lost completely.
We were able to buy another harness from FBBO member w.Hudson (thanks Wade), since no one reproduces this harness. We got the car fired up last Friday and my friend is much happier now. To do it again, I think I would remove the dash, since the windshield does not need to come out.
