1969 Dodge Charger wiring issues, no brake lights, bezel lights, flasher, dome

[rikubot]

I appreciate it!

I haven't had the opportunity to help anyone yet, but when that day comes, I'm gonna be pumped!

Thanks for the link, unfortunately, I have the 3-speed wiper. I fear I may have spliced it into the harness wrong. Either way, it needs all new wiring. Have you dealt with re-wiring them things yet?

[Dino]

I have rewired quite a bit which is not too hard to do with a few wiring diagrams and the smart people on this board that always bail me out.   

Did you look for a link similar to the one I posted for 3 speed wipers?  If none are available I'm sure someone here can tell you what wire does what what function.

[rikubot]

I haven't had time to do very much car stuff because of work and the weather got real nasty and I'm a driveway warrior .

I did order a TIC TOC TACH though! Bad news is I think it got dropped at the wrong house. The tracking number says "left on porch" and you bet your sweet radials I was waiting for it. No sign of happiness round these parts  . It's not like I've been waiting for one since I was 15! haha hopefully USPS pulls through but I'm pretty worried about it.

[rikubot]

Gettin her done!

[Dino]

Major improvement!   

Are you redoing the gauge faces as well?  Cheap and easy with Performance Car Graphic decals.   

[rikubot]

Thanks Dino! Yeah I was planning on it. I'm not gonna lie, though, I'm pretty scared to try to get the speedo needle off. I read in a forum that if you don't clamp down on something, some plastic bushing breaks and you're left forking out cash for a whole new speedo. Yes! I'm glad you endorse that site because that's who I was going with. Have you done yours?

[Dino]

Yes I have, here's my resto thread:  http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,86736.0.html

Let me set your mind at ease about the needle.  If you simply grab the needle by the base and pull it off, you do indeed risk breaking the bushing in the back and you would be sunk.  However, there's a large metal wheel on the back of the needle's axle.  What you do is grab that wheel and hold it while you pull the needle by the base.  In effect you're holding the axle and bushing in place so you can pull the needle off.  When you reinstall the needle you hold the wheel again and push the needle back on.  Very simple.  I've done it a dozen times.  When you have the speedometer in your hand also grab that wheel and move it in and out.  You can lock the needle in place.  When you do you'll hear and feel it click.  I had locked mine by accident and when I went on a test drive with my new gauges, the speedometer didn't budge.  I had to take it back out and pull the wheel to release it.  Doh!

You can alo leave the small gauge needles in place and slide the decal behind it, just be careful with those needles as they are very fragile.  It helps to rig up something to bolt the gauge to o you can use both hand maneuvering the decal. 

I say go for it, your cluster will look brand new and the leds while really show them off.   

[rikubot]

Dino, do you know where I could find that little tab that bolts to the back of the tach, then slips into a tab on the harness? I got my needle popped off and faces ordered and I'm working on repainted my bezels now. That paint is a bear to get off. Multiple coats of rustoleum! The thread you linked me to is an inspiration haha. I'm just gonna do silver for the chrome stuff. I just hit it with a paint marker and it looks halfway decent. My cluster bezel is pretty beat up anyway.

[Dino]

I'm not sure what that tab is.  Do you have a picture of where it's supposed to go?

Use the yellow easy off oven cleaner can and wrap the bezels in plastic so no air gets to it.  Then just leave it alone for a day.  It took multiple cycles to get all the paint off mine as well.

The Rustoleum spray cans with the chrome cap give a nice shiny metal look so you can try that as well.  It's not chrome by any means but it has more shine than silver to be sure.  I just repainted my a/c hard line and horn relay with it.   

[rikubot]

First off, I can only see 2 square feet of your car and it's the nicest thing I've ever seen. And that relay looks great! Is there anywhere I can look at more pictures of your car?

Thanks for the advice, keeping the chemical from air seems to REALLY help. I've got about 98% off of the cluster bezel, 60% off the radio, and just started the glovebox.

I found a couple pictures of the tab online, it's kind of like the clock tab but looks like it has a pin on it and is a bigger diameter hole:

[Dino]

I have no clue where to find that tab.   

I'll probably start a new thread about the work I started this summer, but there's several pictures of my ride on this site.  Look for " new wheels are on" started by me.  It'll show a few good shots of the car.  You'll also find some pics of the recent engine bay transformation in paint and body among others.

[rikubot]

I did a search for said forum, and it turned up nada. I don't like the interface of this site! I always have troubles with searches and uploading images.

Unrelated, I have a PCG decal question:

What decal do I put on my temp gauge? 170 or 241? The paperwork seems to have conflicting instructions. On one it says that the affected cars got new gauges, and that the correct decal is 241. It also says it doesn't need recalibrated. My cluster case came out of a '68, so I'm not sure if they're telling me to update the decal, or stick with the old style? I'm sure I'm complicating things and confusing myself. Anyway, thanks in advance.

- Mike

[Dino]

The search on this site sucks.   

Here's the thread when I bought my wheels;  http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,101768.0.html

Here's some of the current work:  http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,120098.0/all.html

I've been working on the grille lately and have some non-car projects going so these pics show how the car sits at the moment.  I'll get some more pics up soon.  I'm also working on the engine which is just about ready for a cam swap and a repaint.  The K member and lower control arms have been beefed up and those along with the upper control arms have been e-coated.  Pics near the end of this thread:  http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,119789.0/all.html 

First two pics show the car early August when I started the work.

For the temp decal use te one that has the temp arc centered instead of offset.

[Dino]

.

[rikubot]

Thanks a ton for going through all the trouble with that post. Your car looks great, and your handiwork is highly impressive. I'm going to do my best to mimic you as I go along with mine. It might not be as good but at least I can say it was me haha. That engine bay came out great, and the wheel choice is perfect. I've only seen the small thumbnail of your ride on the left. Crazy that's only been since August. Great work all around.

Thank you sir, I was able to get my decals applied and it looks worlds better. Just waiting on paint and the engine side harness for the tach and as soon as it warms up a little I'll be slappin' it back in there, hopefully with no problems. I went with the SEM Trim Black you spoke of, and since my bezel is pretty beat up, I'm just gonna paint marker the details. How did you spray your bezels? I've only painted bike parts as of yet so I'm hoping it goes well and doesn't require any more Easy-Off haha.

Again thanks for going through the trouble of finding my those links, and letting me know the correct temp decal 

[Dino]

My pleasure and thanks for the compliments!   

The bezels are ABS so there's two ways of prepping them.  Either you use SEM Sand Free or you use an adhesion promoter.  I went with the latter.  The Sand Free will soften up the plastic so the paint really sticks to it.  This is all very nice but if the can produces droplets, it may make them visible later on.  Duplicolor adhesion promoter is cheap, readily available, and works really well.

Clean the bezels with Dawn dish soap and warm water.  Not hot, hot can warp the bezels.

Clean it until it's as clean as it can be and dry it thoroughly with paper towels.  I suggest wearing nitrile or latex gloves once you've cleaned them so you're not leaving prints on the plastic.  Give the bezels two dust coats of promoter 2-5 minutes apart.  Wait another few minutes and give it a light coat of trim black.  If no artifacts show up you've done your prep well and you can shoot a wet coat a few minutes later.  Shoot a second wet coat about 10 minutes later, depending on temp and humidity.  That's it!

Since the wide recesses around the gauges are chrome, you may want to try painting them with Rustoleum Metallic.  It' much brighter and shinier than silver.  Yuo can also shot the area with gloss black first to give it a deeper chrome lok.  You can do black followed by the chrome metallic right away as if it was the same paint.  Rustoleum 2K would be prefect for it.  You would do the prep the same, shoot the chrome (with optional black) first, ignoring the overspray on the rest of the bezel and let it dry for a day or so.  Then you can mask the chrome, give the rest a coat of adhesion promoter and follow it up with trim black.  Just food for thought.

The trick on doing the white lettering by the way is going slow and using thin coats.  I probaly did each letter 4-5 times to make them bright white without drowning out the lettering.  If you flinch and hit the black, shoot some black in the can cap and touch up with a fine brush.  Trim black can be touched up and you'll never see it, it's the best paint ever to come out of a rattle can.

[Brock Lee]

That tab should be easy to find. To get you by, just crimp a O ring style connector to a short wire with a male spade connector on the other end.

These things are typically used for grounding and they make a bunch of different varieties. Often with multiple spades coming off. Your best bet it to go to an electronics supply joint and ask. Online places that have them may not list a clear illustration and may have minimum orders to deal with.

[rikubot]

I'm glad I asked, Dino. I was just going to clean, spray, and hope for the best. Again thanks for all the advice, I'll probably get that promoter and paint on the way home from work.

@Brock,

What I ended up doing was steal the tab off the back of my old clock and drill it out. It's not perfect, but it stays on pretty tight. I must have used all my O-ring connectors, but it worked out in the end.

-Mike

[Dino]

For future reference, you'll pay on average $16 per can of SEM paint in the stores and around $10 here:  http://www.repaintsupply.com/cart.php

If you need a few like I do now for my grille and steering column then it pays off to order from these guys.  $9.50 for trim black is hard to beat.

[rikubot]

Thanks for the link. I'm excited to use this stuff. I ended up paying 15 something on eBay. I figured there was a better place but I jumped the gun. Is the Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter a wal-mart sorta purchase or should I just head to a car parts shop? It's cold here too so I'm either gonna shoot it in the basement or just wait. Tell ya what though, I'm really excited to have that tac setup in my car. And with the new faces and fresh paint on the bezels it should look pretty cool. My job has me working Saturdays now but hopefully Sunday I can mess with some wires and get it all ready to slap in. Do you drop your column when you pull out your gauges?

[Dino]

Auto parts store.  I think all of them carry it, got mine at O'Reilly.  It's Duplicolor CP199.  You can google it and see who has it close to you.  I wouldn't be surprised to find it at Walmart.

On a 69 you have to drop the column to get the cluster out and make sure you remove the radio plate first or it's breaking time!  Releasing the cluster from the dash may be enough but I remove the 4 bolts at the firewall as well and drop the whole thing, it makes life so much easier, especially when reinstalling the cluster.

Don't paint if it's too cold or te paint won't cure.  A small heater or some extra lights to warm it up may work.  Have your pieces ready to paint warm up inside the house and put the paint can in hot water for 10 minutes.  That'll help a lot and will make the paint flow so much better.  Once it's painted you need to keep it warm for a while, the longer the better. 

Post pics when you're done!   

[myk]

Damn Dirk, that's fine work.  When are you going to start restoring cars professionally?

[Dino]

About 24 years ago.   

I restored cars from '91 to '07.   

[rikubot]

The infinite wisdom! I appreciate man, this forum is all I got, and it's enough! *fist bump*

Got the promoter on the way home at O'Reilly's. The guy there had me looking at some other brand/can for 20.99! I said "let me look around a bit" and found the right stuff. At my O'reilly's, it's hit or miss. If the hot Mexican chick helps, you're golden. If the tall southern man offers to help, just look for yourself haha. They didn't have the Rustoleum stuff but they had other Duplicolor chrome-ish stuff. I just went with the primer, though. I don't want to stray from the path.

I'll definitely post pics when its all ready to put it back in. Then this question comes to mind: What next??? Haha I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Edit: New fuel sender is the answer! lol

[Dino]

Same story with my O'Reilly's here...except we don't have a hot Mexican chick but a luke warm blonde.   

Yeah stick with the plan, the Rustoleum Metallic is a good quality paint, it's cheap, and it looks nice.  Again it's not chrome but it beats plain silver.  The Duplicolor promoter is one of those paints that's better than it's supposed to be.  No need for any of the more expensive paints.  I've used this on bare metal and the adhesion was excellent.

There's always something else to do on these old beast so careful what you wish for.   

New fuel sender huh?  I hope you're buying one that's calibrated correctly.  I bought my new one becaue I wanted to upgrade to one wit a return line, but all the new senders back then had the wrong resistors on them.  Thanks to a tip from Charger-Bodie, I scavenged the resistor from my old unit and welded it in place of the new one.  Do you currently have a sender?