AWG and splicing questions

[Dino]

I have some questions regarding non stock parts on my 69.  I have installed a 70 and up voltage regulator and a denso dual field 90 amp alternator.  I also did the necessary wire upgrades and bypassed the ammeter completely.

If I'm not mistaken, the 1970 and up voltage regulator pigtail I bought has 18 awg leads, one blue and one green.  Green goes straight to the dual field alternator.  Since the lead is only 18 awg, can I assume the wire I run from the lead to the alt can be 18 as well or do I need something bigger?

The remaining blue lead needs to be spliced in with 4 others. 
-One blue 16 awg that comes from the N terminal on the middle bulkhead connector.
-One 14 awg brown that comes from the Q terminal on the middle bulkhead connector.
-One blue coming from the other field output on the alternator.
-One blue coming from the coil.

The 16 awg blue wire at the bulkhead connector will be replaced so I can beef that one up to 14 if needed.

What gauge should the other wires be and what is the best way to splice these?  If I can find a proper size butt connector then I can have both wires coming from the bulkhead connector go in one end and the other three in the other end.  Will that work?

[myk]

When I was running a similar 'alt mod as yours I tried to keep the wire gauge exact or close together all-around.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but part of the electrical system we're talking about won't be severely affected by mismatched wire gauges anyway.  I don't recall having to splice four wires together (most I had was 3 into 1 I think), but when I did have multiple splices I soldered them together and shoved them into a "bullet/canister" style connector that I could screw together to see if I liked how it worked.  Once satisfied, I used a large enough butt connector, crimped them together and sealed it all with heat-shrink stuff.  I had always planned to buy the "naked" butt connectors from Mad Electrical, but the standard connectors worked fine...

[b5blue]

I'd need to compare a 69 harness to my 70 FSM harness schematic, if ya can find a link to one I'll try to help sort it out Dino. 

[Dino]

Thanks guys.  There's diagram's here to compare but I adjusted one to look like what I need.  The reason I have 5 wires is because I installed a later style regulator and dual field alternator.  I know where the wires need to go, I just don't know what gauge they need to be and how to splice them.  I think a butt connector and dual wall adhesive heat shrink will do the job, but it never hurts to ask.

http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=27

[Pete in NH]

Hi Dino,

The wiring for the isolated field regulator and alternator looks right and 16 gauge wire should be fine to handle the field current. I'm not sure about what you are showing with pins Q and N of the bulkhead connector tied together. I think the brown wire on pin Q is the ballast resistor bypass. I'm not sure what ignition system you will be using but you're not showing a ballast resistor. I think back feeding 12 volts on that brown wire may cause the starter relay to be on all the time.You might want to look into that.

[Dino]

Hi Dino,

The wiring for the isolated field regulator and alternator looks right and 16 gauge wire should be fine to handle the field current. I'm not sure about what you are showing with pins Q and N of the bulkhead connector tied together. I think the brown wire on pin Q is the ballast resistor bypass. I'm not sure what ignition system you will be using but you're not showing a ballast resistor. I think back feeding 12 volts on that brown wire may cause the starter relay to be on all the time.You might want to look into that.

Hi Pete,

I totally forgot to mention that part!  I am now running the Firecore Ready To Run system which has the ecu built into the distributor and eliminates the need for a ballast resistor.  I was told that I needed to splice the brown, which comes from the ignition switch, to the blue so I have full 12v to the coil.  Is this not right?

[Pete in NH]

I just looked at the 69 wiring diagrams I have and I'm not sure about that brown wire. It is shown as going into the ignition switch as does the yellow wire from the starter relay. The ignition switch may keep those two isolated. I just don't know what's inside the ignition switch to be sure. The question I raised about the brown wire was just  a thought I had as I looked at your wiring diagram. I don't want to cause you to worry needlessly. Maybe check back with the Firecore people, if that's what they are saying I would imagine they've checked it out.

[Nacho-RT74]

the Blue line splice on cars original equipped with elect ign and regulator are simply spliced together with lead and usually wrapped with cloth tape, although can be found also with blue electrical tape.

about gauges... you can run what diagram shows without problem. Wires reaching the ballast are usually 14, and the rest are 16.

[b5blue]

  Spot "Q" on bulkhead is part of the start/run to the coil. What ignition system do you have? (You need to know the "load".) The splice I'd use would be a barrel big enough to encase all of the 4 wires on one end and I'd fold over the conductor on the other single wire back on itself twisted to max out surface area to the barrel on the other side. Crimp the barrel on both ends and solder both sides. Clean with alcohol really well to remove the flux residue and seal with several coats of Liquid Tape before wrapping with self annealing rubber tape. 
  If this sounds like overkill it's meant to cuz that's how I roll!  If your adding load to the blue wire you need to know how much and from where, putting a bigger wire on just the engine side of the harness will just move any overheating into the connectors and harness inside the car.

[Dino]

Neil that was kinda what I had in mind, although I don't think soldering is necessarily the best thing to do, but we can debate over that until the cows come home!   

The ignition system is a Firecore RTR, I'll check with Ron and see if I can find out the load.

Very good point on the wire gauge, I just replaced the entire bulkhead connector, no need to burn that shiny new thing down just yet.   

[firefighter3931]

The Firecore RTR is very easy to wire up ; locate the brown and blue wires on the bulkhead and tie them together. Run that wire to the positive side of the coil. Then, just connect the Firecore RTR distributor as follows :

-red = coil positive
-orange = coil negative
-black = engine ground

Remove the ballist, ECU and ecu wiring....no longer needed 



Ron

[myk]

Neil that was kinda what I had in mind, although I don't think soldering is necessarily the best thing to do, but we can debate over that until the cows come home!   

The ignition system is a Firecore RTR, I'll check with Ron and see if I can find out the load.

Very good point on the wire gauge, I just replaced the entire bulkhead connector, no need to burn that shiny new thing down just yet.   

You did?  I forget-what did you replace the b-head connectors with?

[fy469rtse]

Dino , I'm glad you mentioned the bulk head connector,
That's my only problem with your upgrades, too much resistance there, you have by passed ammeter gauge , so now there's no need for charge draw power to loop through bulk head and then back out to battery,
Look up the threads on here, but in short I would run a heavy gauge wire fused of course from alternator back to battery post on starter relay,
You have already reduced power going through bulkhead by relaying headlights and by doing the Same to power windows reducing it even more, ya following me
Good job keep going good upgrades, just don't forget why you replaced bulkhead in the first place, source of many of these cars ills and why we all find these areas burnt and melted

[b5blue]

The cows came home and said solder makes for a 100% electrical contact connection that will not degrade in the harsh engine bay environment. They also said to try and not bang your head on the secondary hood latch........

[Dino]

Neil you crack me up.     I'll make sure to solder everything.   

Myk I bought a repro bh connector, same deal.  I couldn't really find anything better out there and since the high load has been removed, the plastic connector should work just fine.  Mine was not burnt anywhere but someone had already drilled through the connector in a few places and did a very poor job so instead of trying to fix it I just tossed it and got another.  One of the clamp connectors was starting to crack as well.  Luckily the previous owner covered the inside with dielectric grease as if he had to get rid of the stuff so the actual packard terminals were pretty damn clean!   

fy469rtse I have a lot more wiring going on than I let on.    

I have a 6 gauge cable going from the alternator to the starter relay.  Another 6 gauge cable continues from the starter relay and goes to an 80 amp ANL fuse mounted under the battery tray.  The positive battery cable is now a 2 gauge cable that has a short 6 gauge cable added to the terminal that runs to the other side of the ANL fuse.  On that end of the fuse, a 10 gauge wire splits of and feeds the self resetting 30 amp circuit breaker mounted on the cowl.  The other side of the breaker has two wires feeding the relays for the headlight mod.

I think that as long as I splice those 5 ignition wires properly and use the correct gauge, this car will be a whole lot safer on the electrical  level.

The red and black ammeter wires are also spliced by the way.  I would like to swap my ammeter for a volt meter but for the time being, I don't care if I leave it as is.  The ammeter needle always stays in the middle so at least it'll look like it works.   

[flyinlow]

Dino,

I spiced the blue and brown together for a MSD . It does not back feed the starter relay and try to crank the starter in run. Not sure why it doesn't. The starter relay dose have it own wire back to the switch. 

I would suggest any large conductors you add (like that #6 ) be double insulated with wire sheathing or convoluted tubing.  You can weld with a battery and #6 cables.   

Craig

[Dino]

Dino,

I spiced the blue and brown together for a MSD . It does not back feed the starter relay and try to crank the starter in run. Not sure why it doesn't. The starter relay dose have it own wire back to the switch. 

I would suggest any large conductors you add (like that #6 ) be double insulated with wire sheathing or convoluted tubing.  You can weld with a battery and #6 cables.   

Craig

I'm still unclear on how this constant/keyed 12v works but as long as it works I won't complain!   

I never thought about the bigger cables being a risk like that, thanks for the warning!  My plan at this time is laying out all the wiring and using a bit of cloth tape here and there just to keep it bundled.  Once I know how I want it I would likely get that classic braided loom from Painless Wiring.  You suggest I wrap the 6 gauge cables separate before I stick it in the loom with the stock wiring?  I suppose I can get the smallest loom just for the 6 gauge cables and then add that to the bigger loom with the rest.  Would that suffice?  Or I can simply stick all but the red 6 gauge cables in the loom.  That'll separate it as well.