Well, this is gonna hurt. Rewire has begun!

[MoparRocks]

Scroll on down for the install of the Ron Francis wiring harness progress.


So yeah. What started as just simply wanting to see why my reverse lights on my 71 weren't working quickly devolved into me removing the whole rear bumper and the tail light housings which I then would up restoring. I replaced the bulb holders that were totally shot with new ones. Re installed the led bulbs I had previously put in, and repainted the housings.

Bench tests showed every light functional and all working as it should. However, when I put it all back on the car it was a different story.

Before I removed them the passenger side brakes, tails, and turns all worked. The reverse did not. The drivers side stop and tails worked but the signals did not. Now I have all 4 brake lights working. The passenger outside tail light is not working but the rest are. The left rear signals work. The passenger side now does not work at all front or rear.

During the process I found some questionable wiring on the tails which I replaced and repaired. Again, it all worked on the bench. Powering up the 4 prong in the trunk with 12 volts one by one shows it all works. This leads me to believe it's an issue between the dash and trunk. So I checked the fuses. All good. The fuse box however is corroded as hell, the wiring under the dash has seriously been hacked and butchered over the years. None of the gauges have ever worked since I bought it and I already have a set of gauges being made by Speedhut to replace the factory stuff.

I had been thinking about a complete rewire of the car for a while now and this crazy light issue just pushed me over the edge. So today I placed an order for the Ron Francis ACCESS 24/7 Mopar system. Who has put one of these in? How bad was it? Tips? Tricks? I am pretty savvy with auto wiring but this is the biggest project I've tackled in one shot.

[TexasStroker]

Sorry to hear, but the wiring is a solid investment...and gives room for upgrades. 

I've considered the same system and will be following to see how you like it.  Last I was looking into it a few had used various RF kits, but most seemed to go with Painless or the EZ Wiring.  I'm also curious as to how the American Auto Wire stacks up. 

The Access 24/7 is pretty slick and the ability to drop it down and pull it out for testing from the seat sure beats draping over the rockers with a test light.

Hope the install goes well...keep us posted!

[70 sublime]

You will not be happy if you change all the wires and find out it still works the same
A lot of the time the problem is in the turn signal switch in the steering column as all the wires for the lights go through it also

[MoparRocks]

Sorry to hear, but the wiring is a solid investment...and gives room for upgrades. 

I've considered the same system and will be following to see how you like it.  Last I was looking into it a few had used various RF kits, but most seemed to go with Painless or the EZ Wiring.  I'm also curious as to how the American Auto Wire stacks up. 

The Access 24/7 is pretty slick and the ability to drop it down and pull it out for testing from the seat sure beats draping over the rockers with a test light.

Hope the install goes well...keep us posted!

Yeah that's pretty much how I am looking at this. As I said it was in the back of my head to do at some point anyway. Apart from it all being 46 years old, working on the tail lights showed me just how bad the wiring is. I discovered some very questionable splices, some very stiff wires, and that the copper has turned black inside the insulation on most of the wires I was working with. Add to that the state of the factory fuse box with the very rusty fuse clips and the serious butchery I discovered under the dash and it just pushed me to do it sooner than later.

I did consider and look at the EZ system as well as the painless system. The ACCESS seemed to be the best bang for the buck and offers the most circuits and expand ability options. The price difference wasn't significant and I would rather only do this once. And I agree on not having to awkwardly climb under the dash to troubleshoot. I was doing that for quite a while yesterday. I'm not as young as I used to be.

[MoparRocks]

You will not be happy if you change all the wires and find out it still works the same
A lot of the time the problem is in the turn signal switch in the steering column as all the wires for the lights go through it also

That was part of the reason for me starting this thread. To see what else I should replace while I am at it. I have a few weeks before this will happen as there is a 2 to 3 week lead time on the harness and I am about halfway thru the 20 day lead time for my Speedhut Gauges. My plan is to order everything I will need and have it all on hand and ready to go before I tear into it. Already planning to just order and replace all of the bulb holders for the rest of the exterior lights I did not replace yet, a new dome light as mine has never worked, the gauges of course, new door jamb switches as mine were gone when I got the car. I don't want to be having to make a ton of parts store runs or waiting for more stuff to arrive during this project if i can avoid it.

[70 sublime]

Did you look at these guys for your wiring harness ?

http://www.megapartsusa.com/proddetail.asp?prod=124-HU285B


I used this one in my 70 Charger and it worked well

http://www.megapartsusa.com/proddetail.asp?prod=MP-TSS804

[MoparRocks]

Well I just got my shipping notice from Ron Francis. The harness is on its way. Now if I can just get the same notice from Speed Hut for my custom gauges.

That said I've been busy while I've been waiting. Placed a huge order with Summit Racing and a decent order with Classic Industries today. I might have gone a little overboard but I figured now was as good a time as any to make some changes and fix a few things while I'm doing the harness install. I ordered the harness set up for electronic ignition so I'm gonna convert to that while I am at it.

All told I have in process or en route:
Ron Francis ACCESS 24/7 Mopar wiring harness
Speed Hut 6 gauge set including Tach, Volts, Fuel, Oil Pressure, Temp, and a GPS speedo with built in indicators.
MSD Street Fire Ignition
Petronix Firepower 2 conversion kit
MSD 2 Blaster Coil
MSD Street Fire 8mm plug wires
Replacement Turn Signal switch assembly
Neutral Safety Switch
Starter Relay (someone painted mine at some point and it looks like ass)
Door Jamb switches
Electric Fan switch set up with temp probe (currently fan is always on)
New cap and rotor
NGK spark plugs
Headers, glass packs, x pipe kit, and tubes to redo the ghetto butch job of an exhaust
New valve covers
Pcv valve
Heater hoses
A nice radiator overflow
New radiator
New dipstick and tube to replace the broken one on the 340
As well as a bunch of other odds and ends to complete the tune up, oil change, exhaust redo, and rewire job. This is gonna be fun.

[MoparRocks]

Well, got home to a nice big heavy box from Ron in front of my door.



Went ahead and got the Charger in the driveway and began the tear down. Got most of the under hood wiring removed, got the dash cluster torn out after quite the struggle. Got a long way to go but it's a start.

[MoparRocks]

Got some work in today. Finished gutting the under hood wiring, got the majority of the dash wiring removed as well as the bulkhead. Also went ahead and replaced the steering column signal stuff.

Before



After



Also mounted the MSD and installed the Ignitor 2 in the distributor



Oh, and the new Ron Francis block next to the old one




Oh, and this is the kind of crap I'm finding on the old stuff. This is the ignition switch wiring plug. I did not order a replacement for this so I'm gonna fix it as best I can.

[MoparRocks]

Well first day focusing on the wiring. It's a bit overwhelming to be honest but I feel like I am making progress. My goal of course is to have everything nice and neat when it's all said and done. Have as much wiring hidden as possible. So with this in mind I am working on just routing everything to where it roughly needs to go before I loom it and start to tidy it all up. My biggest issues so far have been my own doing as far as the electronic ignition conversion and having to try to figure out what I need and don't need from the RF harness and what I need to change. Also discovered the replacement turn signal switch I got has different wire colors from the factory diagram I have. So that took a bit of comparison to figure out. Also the schematic I found online for the factory set up doesn't show everything, like the ignition plug pinout from the column side. For some reason the colors are different than the harness side of the plug.

Anyway, here is the status pictures from today.










Also worth noting I apparently have to get a different floor dimmer switch as the harness has a different plug on it than what was in the car. They give a Napa part number. Luckily there is one near my house.

[mopar0166]

I used a painless kit, best move I made.  took me a while to actually spend the money and do it but now I'm very happy.  Loved the painless set, very easy to install on my 69 charger. 

[MoparRocks]

I used a painless kit, best move I made.  took me a while to actually spend the money and do it but now I'm very happy.  Loved the painless set, very easy to install on my 69 charger. 

Yeah I looked at the Painless pretty hard. But I've heard nothing but good things about Ron Francis so that was what I d fixed to go with for this. I'm glad I did. The quality is fantastic and the kit is very complete. Gonna have a fair bit of wife left over when it's all said and done I think too. They provided more than enough as well as some additional wires and components to cover several ignition set ups. Instructions are solid and the included diagram is great. Most of the issues I have had so far are related to the remainder of the factory wiring and trying to work off of the old diagrams I've been able to track down online. Nowhere near as legible or easy to decipher as the one that came with the kit.

[mopar0166]

I hear you, my painless kit worked out perfect for me.  I was able to easily wire in my msd box, electric fuel pump, cb etc.  As for connectors, I didn't use many of the originals, it was time to replace them.  My kit came with the appropriate gear to do the replacement.  I was kind of surprised with all the extra stuff I had left over.     Good to hear you made out well,  I know it took me a while to actually do it but I'm super happy I did.

Only things that really needed an in-depth look were how to wire in the light package, and my modern gauges(I built a modern dash for mine).  Other that it was straight forward.  I reused the bulkhead connector for the look but did not install the connections.  I also had plenty of wire to run wire to hide it all in the engine space.   

I honesty forget how I came to the decision on the painless versus the Francis kit but I think both are comparable.   

Good luck.

[MoparRocks]

Yeah, I went aftermarket gauges too. Custom made set from Speedhut. They finally came in yesterday and I couldn't resist slapping them in the new dash panel before work this morning. This evening I started wiring them all up to a set of plugs I picked up so I can pull the whole thing easily if I ever need to down the road. Off the next two days so I'll be getting back to work on this. Hope to finish the wiring the next two days but I might be thinking a bit too optimistic on that. We shall see.

[mopar0166]

Looks nice,  I rework the original setup went with 2" aux gauges and 5" speedo and tach.  Yes the fit, if you take you time and work the metal.   

Good luck with it, I know I'm happy every time I drive the car now. 

[MoparRocks]

Made some more progress today. No pictures due to what I did.

Anyway, I decided to start at the front of the car and work my way back now that I have most of the wires run out from the fuse panel. So I started with the headlights, horn, front turn signals and markers, etc. I replaced the bulb holders in the front marker lights with new ones that take an 1157 bulb so they now function as both the original parking light as well as a front facing turn signal. Naturally I am using LED bulbs throughout. Also wired in a set of small led driving lights in the lower valance on either side of the license plate that will kick on with the low beams.

[TexasStroker]

Coming along really well...glad to hear you are happy with the kit!  Are the mini fuses easy to install and remove by hand, or is it so tight you have to use fuse grabbers/tweezers?  That was always one of my questions for that block...looks great, but wondered how it would be servicing...Regardless, it would still be a big upgrade from the glass fuse pullers, lol.  Looking forward to seeing it all buttoned up!

[MoparRocks]

Thanks,

As to the question on pulling the fuses, I guess it depends on how big your fingers are. I have been able to pull and install by hand with no issues.

Didn't get quite as much done today as I had hoped, however I did pretty much button everything up up to the firewall. So all forward lighting is now done. The horn is done. The electric radiator fan and thermostat is done as well as of course the new radiator being installed. The MSD, coil, pertronix distributor module, new senders for the new gauges all installed and done. Neutral safety switch mostly done at least the connections under the hood. Still have to run the power wire to the electronic choke and do the new spark plugs and wires, but I'm waiting until I have the new headers installed to do that.

Next days off I will finally get to the interior. Installing the new gauges, headlight and wiper switch, door jamb switches, new dome light, some LEDs under the dash for footwell lighting, rewire the stereo and speakers, etc. maybe if I'm lucky I'll get to the tail lights and finish the wiring completely and start testing. Been slowed down. Y my insistence to sleeve and loom everything as well as using high quality crimp connectors with adhesive heat shrink on every single connection to ensure they are perfect. Well, that and my 2 and a half year old wanting to "help".

[mopar0166]

only thing I did different was pull the dash out.  this is because I did a new windshield at the same time.  Made sense to wire the car while the dash was out.

So I took the dash and put it on my bench,  then did all the main dash wiring, gauges etc.  looped the rear and front wiring till the dash was installed. 

worked well, if your in a position to take out the dash, like I said before I just had to wire in the A01 light kit.  I used the original harness for that and then kept the lights I wanted on the dash. I put my fuse box in the stock location and also run an auxiliary fuse box for other circuits to be able to isolate them. 

big thing is to take your time,  the results are one of the best things your can give your car. 

[MoparRocks]

only thing I did different was pull the dash out.  this is because I did a new windshield at the same time.  Made sense to wire the car while the dash was out.

So I took the dash and put it on my bench,  then did all the main dash wiring, gauges etc.  looped the rear and front wiring till the dash was installed. 

worked well, if your in a position to take out the dash, like I said before I just had to wire in the A01 light kit.  I used the original harness for that and then kept the lights I wanted on the dash. I put my fuse box in the stock location and also run an auxiliary fuse box for other circuits to be able to isolate them. 

big thing is to take your time,  the results are one of the best things your can give your car. 

While I didn't yank the whole dash I did do the gauge cluster as I was replacing it anyway. I have the gauges all wired up into two plugs so if the need ever arises down the line it will be easy to do so. Just unplug the two connectors and the headlight switch connector and it will come right out. Won't have the speedo cable to deal with anymore as the new speedometer is GPS based. I feel I am making pretty good progress overall, especially as I am taking my time to make sure it's done right and I am checking and rechecking every diagram and connection as I go and using high quality crimp connectors with adhesive heat shrink on every one. I only want to do this once.

[Nacho-RT74]

I haven't read all the thread ( will do later ) but found very interesting your 71 got a 72 and lates turn signal switch

Have a question about... did your hood got a gap on rear grll or is a continuous grill ? Being is column shifter, I guess it got front bench so me next question about bucket back panels won't fit LOL.

[Nacho-RT74]

On a further read,

Yes those aftermarket replacement turning switches are made on diff color codes, but don't worry, is a plug and play. No one color will match with stock harness no matter what. JUST ONCE a friend of mine got one of those units non working, but we found one of tne wire were turned around at switch end ( factory fail ), being blue and white riveted inverted on their locations at turnin switch end. We don't bother about and inverted those.

About the ing switch... did you cut the wires and crimped all those just because the red wire cover being cut? Wow!, was WAY easier, and less disturbing to the harness just remove the red wire terminal from the cavity and slide in couple of sections ( to double layer ) of shrinking tube. That wouldl keep safer all the wires integrity! Just my 2 cents.

Editing

It seems the black wire cover got melted too... thats acc source to acc side of the fuse box, so it seems got some extra load ( noticeable also at plug ).You could made a cut job on that cover section a use shrinking tube. Once again my 2 cents. Is just about my prefference, keeping the integrity of the wire itself, being still one piece from end to end.

I'd do in fact a further cleaning on those overheated terminals ends ( black and red ) inside the plug just in case. Red one is the main one coming from alt/batt. Very important!

[MoparRocks]

On a further read,

Yes those aftermarket replacement turning switches are made on diff color codes, but don't worry, is a plug and play. No one color will match with stock harness no matter what. JUST ONCE a friend of mine got one of those units non working, but we found one of tne wire were turned around at switch end ( factory fail ), being blue and white riveted inverted on their locations at turnin switch end. We don't bother about and inverted those.

About the ing switch... did you cut the wires and crimped all those just because the red wire cover being cut? Wow!, was WAY easier, and less disturbing to the harness just remove the red wire terminal from the cavity and slide in couple of sections ( to double layer ) of shrinking tube. That wouldl keep safer all the wires integrity! Just my 2 cents.

Editing

It seems the black wire cover got melted too... thats acc source to acc side of the fuse box, so it seems got some extra load ( noticeable also at plug ).You could made a cut job on that cover section a use shrinking tube. Once again my 2 cents. Is just about my prefference, keeping the integrity of the wire itself, being still one piece from end to end.

I'd do in fact a further cleaning on those overheated terminals ends ( black and red ) inside the plug just in case. Red one is the main one coming from alt/batt. Very important!

Nacho,

Its a 72 Turn Signal Switch?? The one I got from Classic Industries said 71 to 74 so I assumed they were all the same those years.

I got the wire colors all figured out with the help of the old one I removed. I just oriented the plugs the same way and used that as a reference.

For the ignition switch wiring Yes I cut and spliced them all. Honestly I am now going to cut it all again and just replace that roached out plug set up. I picked up some weatherpack style plugs of various sizes for other parts of this project so I am going to use a set here as well. I just don't like how the old plug looks as far as the melted and darkened appearance in a few spots and some of the pin corrosion. This week I am finally ready to get to it on the interior wiring as I wrapped the majority of the under hood and forward lighting last week on my days off. I have just a couple more things to connect under the hood. Namely the electric choke wire and the wires to the wiper motor and heater motor. My new Wiper motor switch was delivered today as I found the factory switch will not work with the new dash panel due to how it mounts and the length of the collar on it so I ordered a Ron Francis wiper switch that will match the headlight switch that came with the wiring harness kit.

[Nacho-RT74]

Second Half 71 production it seems got the thick hazzard knob which is actually the 72 and laters units, while first half 71 production got the same knob used on 70s nearly imposible to find, thin one. I think there is another difference between 70 and first 71 production, being he 70 needing to be pushed in to activate hazzards and 71s just like laters, being pulled out to turn on hazzards.

Usually those first 71 Mopars ( and 70s ) needing turning switches need to trim the knob of the switch you got to be able to fit on column

I was asking about hood grilles ( and bucket panels ) because these pieces were also a mid year change and I'm trying to find a pattern on all the pieces changed on mid year for 71s

[MoparRocks]

Second Half 71 production it seems got the thick hazzard knob which is actually the 72 and laters units, while first half 71 production got the same knob used on 70s nearly imposible to find, thin one. I think there is another difference between 70 and first 71 production, being he 70 needing to be pushed in to activate hazzards and 71s just like laters, being pulled out to turn on hazzards.

Usually those first 71 Mopars ( and 70s ) needing turning switches need to trim the knob of the switch you got to be able to fit on column

I was asking about hood grilles ( and bucket panels ) because these pieces were also a mid year change and I'm trying to find a pattern on all the pieces changed on mid year for 71s

Well it's hard to say as I am 98% certain at least my front fenders are wrong. They have the 72+ side markers and when I yanked them to install some new LED side markers I discovered some pale yellow paint underneath, not the various shades of blue I have encountered around the rest of the car. If it helps here are a few underhood pictures. More of the various things I have been working on apart from the wiring but I didn't post here as I was keeping this about the harness install but what the hell.







Day I brought it home

[TexasStroker]

Coming along great!  Thanks for the insights on the fuse pulling...it is hard to gauge from the RF pics if it is tiny, or you've got more space to work with.  Wise move investing extra time in the connections and keeping everything tidy.

[Vegas_Nick]

I have been working on the same on my 74. I built my own harness though.



So far so good.

I hear ya on sketchy things! I found an old extension cord ran to the fuse block from who knows where. It had been cut off long ago and left dangling in there!

[MoparRocks]

Ok,

So got off work a bit early today and was messing around a bit in preparation for the interior tomorrow. Trying to work out the heater wiring and I have a question. The car had AC, but when I bought it none of the under hood stuff was connected and I decided to just remove it all. Figured it would cost a fortune to get it all hooked up and charged and running. That said I have no plans to put it back in so I don't see the need to hook up any of the ac wiring. However I am slightly concerned the heater won't work properly so just for clarification.







Based on the schematic I found online for this, the long black plug is MOSTLY AC related. However,
The black with white stripe is the power in from the fuse box
The light green is the clutch feed
The brown is linked to the 3 prong that attaches to the heater switch and is for low heat
The tan also links to the heater switch and is for the blower
The dark blue is also labeled clutch.

So I should be able to just cut out the two clutch wires as I am not running the AC correct?

Also, there is a dark green wire from the plug that goes to the heater switch labeled blower motor. This should connect to the motor under the hood correct? Because I also have a dark green wire coming out from behind the dash someplace with the rest of the wires that go to the heater box behind the dash. Not sure if they were both connected to the bulkhead or not. So do I connect the wire from the switch plug to the blower motor u doer the hood? Or to the wire coming out behind the dash?

[Nacho-RT74]

Will post better info about what you have at this moment later, however an advance...

The AC harness is a separated one from the rest of harness. Just need to remove the black traced white wire from the AC control plug, and the related green and blue wires from the bulkhead. The harness will come out from the main harness in one piece.

Then if you get a Heater harness you can simply relocate that black traced white wire into the heater harness plug, get a heater control switch unit and you'll be done on that side. Reinstall the blower wire from the heater harness ( which is the one what feeds the blower ) to the bulkhead conector, and done there...

Next diff to deal is the AC and heater boxes differences. Firewall is different too.

With all the investment you are doing, why not to get the parts you need to get completed what you already have on car?... just my 2 cents.

Need to note on AC cars, the heater works just at one blower speed, which is just a bit higher than the lower AC and VENT speed

[Nacho-RT74]

ok here is how it is wired and how it works... ( check diagrams )


Wires at Control unit plug:
light green traced is the input for the compressor clutch... attaches at an acc power feed provided by the main harness with a bullet terminal which comes from fuse box

blue is the output to compressor... runs to bulkhead

Black traced white wire is the input to the BLOWER, comes straight from fuse box

Brown sources the resistor block at A/C box just for HEATER and DEFF speed... its a fixed speed. These functions are not affecte for the blower lever

Tan wire, is the output to blower lever switch


Now wires at blower lever switch

Tan... input to the lever switch but you can note is spliced and this splice RUNS STRAIGHT TO RESISTOR BLOCK... this makes the low speed actually DOESN'T GO THROUGHT the lever switch, but reachs straight the resistor block and it means if you remove the lever switch, when you turn on the AC ( or max AC ) and VENT funtions, the low speeds is A DEFAULT speed. When the lever switch is connected, the Low position is just like it is in OFF, taking this input source to nowhere inside.

light green... it takes to the mid speed at resistor block. The switch takes the tan wire source and redirecting to the light green position to feed mid speed resistor.

Dark green... it goes straight to the bulkhead cavity to feed the max speed. switch takes also the Tan wire input to select the max speed point on switch


Wires at resistor block

Tan..., low speed,  comes from the lever switch splice... as mentioned previouslly, is allways hot when setting AC or Vent positions and is the default speed.

light green... comes from lever switch, mid speed, going throught the switch points.  Even the resistor block is ALLWAYS hot at TAN input, by ohms law, the mid speed selected at Light green is the one what will source the blower. Remember THE ohms law, the load will go through the smaller resistance it finds

Brown... is hot when set Heater and Deff funtions... its the fixed speed for them. No blower lever for them

Dark Green... is the output from the resistor block to feed the blower once the speed or function is selected. you'll find THIS OUTPUT IS SPLICED INTO THE SAME WIRE COMING FROM SPEED LEVER... yes of course, because the max speed is a direct source from lever. Once again, this wire splice will take the max power it comes from by ohms law... if max voltage from lever speed at AC or VENT, then won't matter what comes from the resistor block... which usually is the lower lever speed because is the default source.


attached... the 71/72 acc wiring when you'll find the AC section and what wires use from the main harness

and next diagram is the underdash harness where you see ilustrated the heater wiring when the car is just heater ( which is the basic equipment ), using just the Black traced wire to feed the Heater system. Resistor block for heater is there too. As mentioned, when car got AC, this black traced wire is attached to the AC control plug on AC harness. This wire is allways present on ALL underdash harnesses

Need to note these diagrams are 71... 72s got some differences, related to warning buzzer systems ( just to let you know ) and wiper switch plug

[MoparRocks]

Thanks Nacho! You are the man!!

One more thing I am having difficulty with is the wiper motor. None of the diagrams I have found say which pins are for what function on the motor pigtail. On the new Ron Francis wiper switch I have:
Motor Low Speed
High speed terminal
Park terminal
And battery positive with two pins so I am assuming one in from the fuse box and one out to the motor.

On the wiper motor pigtail I have 4 wires.
Red
Brown
Green
And blue
Assuming red is battery positive but which wires are low, high, and park?

[MoparRocks]

Well once again life and daughter slowed my progress today. Got the heater stuff all figured out. Still need to work out the wiper wiring above. Got the gps unit for the speedo installed and wire run. Started coraling and straightening out the rats nest of spaghetti under the dash and managed to get all the wiring fed back to the trunk that needs to go to the back. Also went ahead and swapped out the cigar lighter in the ashtray for something a bit more modern after giving it a few coats of hammered paint to clean it up.

[Nacho-RT74]

I'm actually not aware about the color codes BUT the back of the switch got the codes( also the plug ), where:

W is washer is ine of the browns... can recall if traced or not
B must be battery ( actually from keyed source ) should be pink
P is parking ( and is hot while ign key is on and switch is off ) dunno if red or blue.

Then we have A, F1 and F2. Would need to check it.

[MoparRocks]

Well made some solid progress this weekend. I think most of the big stuff is done and I managed to get most of the wiring tidied up. Still have to finish the tail light rewire then I should be about done with the electrical. Managed to do some testing as well and so far pretty much everything appears to be working. For the first time since buying the car the fuel gauge works!!!

Here are the pics from today.
















Still have to figure out the wiper motor wiring, finish re wiring the tail lights, install the amp and wire the rear speakers, reinstall a few interior panels, and do the headers and new exhaust. If all goes well I hope to be able to fire it up at the end of my next two days off.

[mopar0166]

Nice Work

[MoparRocks]

Hey all,

Got sidelined by the flu last week but I got the majority of the wiring all wrapped up now. Everything appears to be working correctly. Dome light and foot well lights come on when I open the door and off when I close it. Blower motor runs, gauges work. Headlights, turn signals, brake lights, parking lights, etc.

Few last odds and ends to resolve.

Still need to figure out the wiper motor wiring but I don't drive in the rain if I can avoid it anyway so not a huge priority.

I did notice that for some reason my reverse lights are on with the ignition. Now I haven't started the car yet or run it thru the gears as it's still on jackstands and I still have to complete the exhaust. But just with the parking lights or headlights on, the reverse lights are lighting up. Wondering if I wired the neutral safety switch wrong? I ran one wire to the starter relay, one to the reverse lights, and one to an ignition hot source from the fuse box. Possible I have the pins wrong?

[MoparRocks]

Ok so got the reverse lights resolved. I just unplugged the connector on the neutral safety switch and flipped it 180 degrees.


Finally hit the big moment of truth and tried to fire it up.

No spark!

So it's either the MSD, the Perronix, or something is wired wrong going to them. I double checked my wiring and I have the two wired together correctly per the MSD instruction sheet. I fed the MSD off the coil feed wire in the wiring harness as it is ignition hot which is what the MSD needs. But yeah, no spark. Any thoughts where to start checking?

[Nacho-RT74]

Ok so got the reverse lights resolved. I just unplugged the connector on the neutral safety switch and flipped it 180 degrees

Something is wrong! It should work in any position

[MoparRocks]

Ok so got the reverse lights resolved. I just unplugged the connector on the neutral safety switch and flipped it 180 degrees

Something is wrong! It should work in any position

That's what I thought as well. But I flipped it over (it's the 3 pin) 180 degrees from where I had it and the reverse lights no longer come on with the running and headlights. To be fair I didn't actually check to make sure they come on with the trans in reverse but I was more concerned with the no spark issue. That said it only cranks in park and neutral. Won't even crank in any other gear.

Personally I'm thinking it's an issue with the petronix conversion. I rechecked all the wires to and from the MSD and everything is wired as it should be. I kind of just snapped and ordered a MSD ready to run pro billet distributor and I'm just gonna go ahead and throw that in. It's been one of those days. I also caved on my exhaust plans after spending half the day trying to make it work the way I wanted. But hey, I guess at least it's looking good under the hood.








Oh, and a shot of the tail light wiring I did

[TexasStroker]

Off topic, but is that vacuum line red, or orange?  It looks orange and I'd always toyed with the idea of doing that under the hood just as a change of pace, but was never able to find an "orange" or red that looked orange as you so often have to settle for when trying to do orange.

Very basic on the cranking/spark, but a lot of issues I've had in the past are solved with a fully charged battery and checking/cleaning grounds.

Hopefully it is a quick and easy fix.

[MoparRocks]

Off topic, but is that vacuum line red, or orange?  It looks orange and I'd always toyed with the idea of doing that under the hood just as a change of pace, but was never able to find an "orange" or red that looked orange as you so often have to settle for when trying to do orange.

Very basic on the cranking/spark, but a lot of issues I've had in the past are solved with a fully charged battery and checking/cleaning grounds.

Hopefully it is a quick and easy fix.

It's red line and I did it for the same reasons you mentioned. Just for a splash of color contrast under the hood. Got the kit from Amazon with several different sizes. Used it for the line to the overflow bottle as well. It's all silicone. Curious to see how well it holds up.

Battery is definitely fully charged. Been sitting with the solar panels hooked up to it the whole time it's been under construction. I also know the grounds are good. That's one area I went all out on during this. Cleared paint down to bare metal on every single point and coated with dielectric grease. I also did several heavy gauge grounds. Battery to block, block to chassis times two in two separate areas, battery to chassis as well. I kinda felt when I installed the petronix that it may be an issue. I followed the directions to the letter but I just wasn't thrilled with it putting it in.

[MoparRocks]

Btw, can someone tell me what the hell that black tube is on the passenger fender? Nothing was hooked to it when I got the car IIRC. It goes down to a line below the car on that side as well but I haven't tracked it all the way back to its other end. Can be seen in the first and second picture in my last post above.

[Vegas_Nick]

Btw, can someone tell me what the hell that black tube is on the passenger fender? Nothing was hooked to it when I got the car IIRC. It goes down to a line below the car on that side as well but I haven't tracked it all the way back to its other end. Can be seen in the first and second picture in my last post above.

I can't see it clearly but it appears to be the gas tank vent line that should be going to an emissions canister.

[MoparRocks]

Well, major milestone today. IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!

I got the MSD ready to run pro billet distributor in. Quickly discovered I somehow had screwed up the plug wire routing before and had them out of order so I fixed that. Went to turn the key, and nothing again. So I broke out the multimeter and discovered that the coil wire I was using for ignition power to the MSD box and distributor drops to no volts during cranking. There is the problem. So per the instructions that came with the distributor, I wired in a relay to ensure a solid 12 volts straight from the battery to the distributor and ignition box. Trie to trigger it with the coil wire, but no joy. So instead I installed a hidden toggle switch run off one of the select a circuits that is always hot. Added bonus is I now have a hidden kill switch for anti theft measures. Switch on, turn the key and she fired right up.

Also verified that the reverse lights come on in reverse, the electric fan kicks on at temp, etc.

So my issues now are:
Major static in the rear speakers with the engine running despite the fact that I ran the rcas and power wire down opposite sides of the car. Thinking I may need to redo the speaker wires from the amp to the 6x9s as those do cross the power cables in the back.

The idle is a bit rough and lopes a fair bit. However I plan to get it dyno tuned with all the ignition changes I made and sadly I'm not super familiar with timing and carb tuning. Just need to get it running well enough until I get it tuned. Also I noticed I can turn the distributor pretty easily by hand. The factory hold down has teeth in it that engage in slots on the base of the stock distributor, the MSD however does not have these slots. Probably need a new hold down that's flat on the tips.

And finally, I think the neighbors are gonna hate me. It's LOUD with just the purple horny header mufflers, but I like it!

[frank1966]

Nice, i did the same. I gutted all of original wiring and installex 24 7, msd all in one, one wire alt, dakota digital dash.
Did connect the heat yet.

[MoparRocks]

Well I guess a final update is in order.

Only thing I haven't figured out is the wiper motor, but it's low priority as I don't drive her in the rain if I can help it.

Spent a lot of time trying to get it dialed in but I just couldn't get it tuning well. So I went ahead and took it to the local dyno shop figuring I just didn't know my way around a timing light and carb adjustment screws as well as I thought. I had it running well enough I was able to drive it there. Mechanic hops in for a quick drive before pulling it onto the dyno and it stalled out in the driveway.  He spent some time trying to figure out why it wasn't running right. Finally it got to the point that I left it there. Mechanic called me next day and come to find out the harmonic balancer was shot. It's the old two piece design and it had spun out so the timing was completely screwed. He's replacing it and then he is gonna dyno tune it to get it dialed in.

And yes I got the heater hooked up and working. Then went out an hour later to find a nice green puddle on the floor mat. So yeah, bypassed the heater core again. Looks like that will be the next project.