Wiring troubleshoot, could use suggestions

[Lord Warlock]

I replaced the old fusible link wire,  today when I was trying to verify connections I noticed the thinner red wire from the positive terminal of the battery is unhooked, on the end of the wire is a O connector and looks like it should hook up to the same place the link wire hooks to, but i'm not sure, can anyone provide guidance so I don't hook something up backwards?  The wire diagram posted earlier didn't help much. 

Thanks,
Lord Warlock

[BLK 68 R/T]

IIRC there are 2 wires from the battery that hook onto the starter relay. One has a full o ring terminal on the end, that one hooks to the main starter relay stud, same place as the fusible link. The other is a u shaped terminal that is connected with the small screw and metal cover.

[Mopar Nut]

 

[Lord Warlock]

Excellent,  now, where is originally routed, over top of vacuum tank, or below it?  I'm guessing over top from looks of picture, does it run along the fender? guess its time to go look at it again, makes sense since I had that connector off. 

[Lord Warlock]

picture helped a lot, took a closer look at the red wire and it had shorted or burnt through in a couple spots, so I've removed it and will replace it instead of putting the original back in place.  I won't put bad wires back on.

[Lord Warlock]

went to autozone and picked up a kit to make battery wires, allowed me to route it away from the exhaust and tucked around the vacuum tank for the brakes, and all the way to the battery.  Doesn't look original but its the right color and length, so It should work.  We'll see when I hook up the battery. 

[b5blue]

Did you get a meter yet? I've a free one from a Harbor Freight coupon deal I can send if you PM your address?  (Actually have 3 meters now!  )

[Lord Warlock]

battery cable is ok, but when hooked up battery it shorted out the fusible link again.  Had the harness hooked up to horns and horn relay, and water temp connector.  I'm now pulling off the engine harness and going to re-tape the original harness as well as fix a couple of the bad wires that were heat cooked or spliced previously and see if I can use the old harness to start the car.  I will most likely order a new harness ...again...but old harness has the original fusible link wire in place still.  figure i'll hook it up again just to the necessary parts to get fire to the coil and alternator, but leave off the unnecessary connections until I get it to start and run, then can replace the harness and alternator if I have to. 

[b5blue]

As you go through wiring look closely at any crimps for connectors and tug on all connections to be sure they are tight. My new Evens engine harness had one poor crimp, the main blue wire bulkhead connector. Had I not caught that before running I'd had weak ignition feed voltage.
You mentioned an electric choke, I spliced off the ALT. output wire (large black wire) to a 15amp fuse and into 40amp relay activated by ignition RUN wire. That keeps choke power draw out of ignition feed.   

[Lord Warlock]

disconnected all choke connections just to be on the safe side.  Don't want to fry this harness also.  attached it to the bulkhead today and got it mostly positioned where it needs to be, took off the regulator last week, was going to replace it, but now deciding if I want to use a single wire alternator instead, just to simplify the wiring. or switch over to a firecore distributor. 

[b5blue]

  Consider that a one wire ALT. feeds just the battery then the battery feeds the car. Mopar has ALT. output feeding the car and the battery is just for starting.  So the wires that would recharge the battery now feed the car. (Cripples the ALT gauge as you'll need to join the wires on the back of the gauge.)
  I used a 120amp Denso ALT. and set of brackets from Mancini Racing on my 70 Charger to fix low output @ idle but 70 was first year for solid state 2 field voltage regulator. I thought I saw new ALT's available now with nice output that bolt in and work like factory intended? (Simple upgrade.)
  I'm using the Firecore RTR dizzy with the square full 12V coil included and it works very well. Again (like any change) it requires some minor wiring and coil mount changes. Like my electric choke I fed the Firecore with a relay also. I joined start (brown) and run (Blue) wires under the dash and used that to turn on the relay pair for ignition and choke. The relays are tapping ALT. output wire under the hood to feed choke/ignition.
  I'm hoping someone chimes in about the newer ALTs as an option for you and we can figure out ignition as it worked okay for many years right? I did all these upgrades for specific reasons mostly to do with using the car as a daily driver/long range cruiser so I'm not really advising these changes.   

[Lord Warlock]

Hard to say it worked for years, it would occasionally start up and run, and idle just fine, but it hasn't been driven in a long time.  Now I'm starting to get nervous about tuning the points even though there hasn't been a problem with them before.  The firecore RTR distributor looks very promising as an alternative, that would bring it up to electronic ignition levels of performance, was concerned about original looks, but then decided originality can exist in my trunk if it has to, all original parts usually store in trunk.  Now I'm deciding ability to start, run and drive. 

Alternator is a question still, want a polished unit to go with the braided lines in the engine bay, I anticipate adding a 4 channel amplifier and an aftermarket stereo head unit to the car, and retaining the original radio in its original position.  Car doesn't have many electricals to worry about other than that.  I mainly intend to play mp3's via a memory stick in the car.  I don't think I really need a high powered alternator to support a single stereo upgrade, so trying to decide if I want a 55amp or maybe a 70amp alternator at most.  Still haven't pulled the trigger on the alternator, think i'm going to have to talk to the distributor guy here, just to make things simple and easier to tune, i'm thinking a firecore may be the better solution. 

[b5blue]

  Look at "idle output" ratings for ALT. when picking not total capacity. I went with the Denso as it's capable of 60amp @ idle not the higher 120amp capacity rating. (Again not saying to use Denso, it was all that fit my needs at the time and I've no cares about looks.) I used a 4X50watt stereo and by matching the speakers RMS to the deck's output have plenty of clear volume. ( 4X6.5 with 35watt RMS each.)
My RTR dizzy/coil is working great. 

[Lord Warlock]

I've opened conversation with the firecore rep, evidently there is a waiting list for RTR Dizzy's, will probably put my name on the list.

[Lord Warlock]

Well,  took new harness out of car, used new connectors from that harness and patched them onto the original harness that was on the car for last 40 years, and got it hooked up, except the voltage regulator, which I removed entirely, the new alternator is internally regulated, so shouldn't have to worry about the regulator part.  Do I connect the two regulator leads together after installing a 1 wire? I added a direct wire from alt out to starter relay with a 100 amp fuse in it.  The 100 amp 1 wire alternator is hooked up, looks good just hope it works.  Haven't tried to start it yet, but it is looking more likely every day. 
The Denso looked good, I'll keep it in mind as an alternative, I'm still a bit sketchy on the alternator gauge  wiring changes, so still reading about that, not comfortable cutting wires in the original bulkhead, so trying to figure out way to make things functional but not be a fire hazard.  Really didn't want to pull the cluster just because I added the alternator.  But also don't want to fry anything important in the cluster.  The dash wiring is all original and uncut, just hope the rats didn't chew many.

Hope the site can handle a few more threads on electronics, looks like i'll be involved with it for a few more weeks.