Electrical system upgrades on a budget

[Hammer759]

  Hello to all here in Charger land.  This is a very informative site and I have spent lots of time browsing through various topics and problems posted here as we all try to work out the details of keeping these cars alive and on the road for people to enjoy.  I have spent many hours working on my Charger and just got done refreshing the charging system which included pulling out that infamous fuse box.   

I work in stages and try to see what differences are made with each step and after putting on new cable, cleaning all bare metal grounds and lots of other basic steps I still only had about 12. 9 volts at an idle and maxed at around 13.2 at 2500 rpm.  No other loads on the system, like lights, heater fan etc.  I decided to just throw on a new regulator because it had been there for years.  Alternator is a recent stock parts store replacement and works fine. Wow,  got up to around
13.5 volts.   

I was not thrilled about taking out the fuse box but decided it was going to have to be done.  Long story short is after altering the wiring and eliminating the male/female connectors at the fire wall voltage was 14.3 at idle and everything was working better.  I have quite a few pics and I will try to resize and post them. Voltage goes right up to 14.7 at around 1500 rpm so now my battery is getting fully charged. 

Many thanks to everyone here and all the different ideas and information that gave me the back up to get this project sorted out.

[Kern Dog]

Infamous fuse box ? Says who?
It is the bulkhead that causes the most trouble from what I have seen and heard.
What year is your car? My '70 has a different fuse box than the one in your picture.

[Nacho-RT74]

that's 71/74  (70/74 on E bodies )

Being numbered instead function labeled, it must be 73/74

[John_Kunkel]

Infamous fuse box ? Says who?

Many documented problems with the riveted connections, they loosen with age/use and corrode.

[Kern Dog]

I must have been lucky. I don't recall having any trouble there. The bulkhead wiring though....

[John_Kunkel]

Testament to the value of anecdotal experience.

[c00nhunterjoe]

Surprisingly with the abuse my car has seen, the fuse box is still oriognal and untouched. But i have seen the failed connections on others.

[Hammer759]

Got some free time to try and resize some pics to post here.  My charger is a 1974 and the bulkhead connector is what I took out and by passed #16 and #18 coming through the male/female blade terminals.  I also replaced the fusible link with a 40 amp weather resistant fuse holder from the relay on the firewall. 

On the alternator side I took a long piece of 8 gauge wire and looped and split the end. Put the ends in a single terminal with lots of dielectric grease and heat shrink and now one side goes to the fuse box and the other to the starter relay.  I had the dash out last year and did what I could and so I have not done anything with the stock amp meter.  This pretty much makes it a decoration.  Installed a simple volt meter that really works.

[Hammer759]

I hope this pictures loads ,   

[Hammer759]

This just might be working......      

[Hammer759]

Looks like  I got the resize numbers pretty close.   

[Hammer759]

 

[Hammer759]

More pics....

[Hammer759]

 

[Hammer759]

The charging system should be able to handle the load now.  I can really hear the fan motor on just low speed. 

[Hammer759]

My take on this car is to upgrade for reliability and long term daily driving as well as road trips.  All of my cars are driven in the daily grind that is just the Seattle area traffic and I do not want to have any issues with the cooling or electrical systems that have the potential to take the fun out of driving these cars. 

Pictures are a good reference and also can help if someone is dealing with a previously butchered wiring situation.   I tried to get decent pics with the colors and tracers visible.  We all know how much fun a wiring diagram can be. 

[Hammer759]

Looking at the original harness I decided to leave the old terminal on the end and just set aside since the other end is now blank as well. 

[Hammer759]

Thinking I would just lay this harness right along the inside and blend in was not happening. 

[Hammer759]

Since I had plenty of length I went out from the alternator post over to the fender apron and secured the harness above the heater control valve.  Then along the inner fender to the firewall under the MSD box and across the back.   This will help with keeping things away from the heat of the motor and the headers. 


                                                                          

[Hammer759]

This upgrade went in relatively easy.  With 2 cables feeding from the alternator,  one inside to the fuse box and the other to the relay on the firewall.