Burnt '69 up for auction

[lilwendal]

OK. I'll try to help..... Touch the black and red wire from the ammeter and you have completed a circuit. If you have a demand on that circuit.  Like ignition key on and lights or blowers selected on then yes you will see a spark as the circuit is made.  Think Dr Frankinstiens lab when Igor through the switches.    If there is no load.... ignition switch off and nothing will go live when you place the wires together. No spark.
The red wire is your 12 volt from battery.  Touch it to ground and enjoy the show.  Black wire is your 12V feed to all your systems. Ground the black and nothing will happen.  Wait...Let me make that idit proof..If the black wire is disconnnected from the ammeter and grounded nothing will happen. Ground it while its connected to the Ammeter and you get another fireworks show.

On my old car that started this thread.... It appears he added lots of extra accesories.
Aftermarket air....MSD...Stereo system.... Additional gauges..... And who knows what else might have been added besides the hemi and the 4 speed.
When you do this  you are demanding alot more current from the charging system then was ever intended.  All this current is drawn through that ammmeter.  If the demand....current... is more the the wiring, bulkhead connector...ammeter...can flow,  You get resistance. You cannot have resistance without producing some form of heat. So too much resistance will cause too much heat. 
Hope that helps.

[Ghoste]

Now I get it, we were all right.

[rav440]

OK. I'll try to help..... Touch the black and red wire from the ammeter and you have completed a circuit. If you have a demand on that circuit.  Like ignition key on and lights or blowers selected on then yes you will see a spark as the circuit is made.  Think Dr Frankinstiens lab when Igor through the switches.    If there is no load.... ignition switch off and nothing will go live when you place the wires together. No spark.
The red wire is your 12 volt from battery.  Touch it to ground and enjoy the show.  Black wire is your 12V feed to all your systems. Ground the black and nothing will happen.  Wait...Let me make that idit proof..If the black wire is disconnnected from the ammeter and grounded nothing will happen. Ground it while its connected to the Ammeter and you get another fireworks show.

On my old car that started this thread.... It appears he added lots of extra accesories.
Aftermarket air....MSD...Stereo system.... Additional gauges..... And who knows what else might have been added besides the hemi and the 4 speed.
When you do this  you are demanding alot more current from the charging system then was ever intended.  All this current is drawn through that ammmeter.  If the demand....current... is more the the wiring, bulkhead connector...ammeter...can flow,  You get resistance. You cannot have resistance without producing some form of heat. So too much resistance will cause too much heat. 
Hope that helps.

now im cornfuzzed   is this something to be worried about if your adding a MSD 6AL & Race Only Voltage Regulator ? i dont have AC nor do i use the AM radio and hardly ever have the heater running once in awhile i use the head lights .

so should i worry about switching the AMP GAUGE to a VOLT GAUGE

[hemi-hampton]

I'll bet it was the radio that started it all

[lilwendal]

Heres my thoughts on that.
This design of monitoring current draw,Ammeter, was used in all chrysler products for decades.
I'm quite confidant that during all the R&D for the ammeter system was performed in ideal conditions with new harnesses tested with the  current requirements of the cars 30/40 years ago there were no problems.  If properly installed and in ideal conditions with a amp load within the systems limitations. These systems should last forever.  Problem is are cars  meet none of those conditions.  They drive down the road where vibration loosen connections and shifts wiring. They get wet causing corrosion to connectors.  We add other items to the system that increase current demand.
Later.. When Mopar began to realise these other conditions compromised the charging system main weak point, ammeter and the need to run battery current though the interior to get to it, They changed it.

Honestly.  I still will continue to run the ammeter in my cars.  If properly installed and all wiring verified and you add accesories correctly, wired in fused from the battery and not the fuse block.  Everything powered from the fuse block goes through that ammeter.

Its unknown what started the fire on my old car but if it was that circuit who knows what had been changed since 3 years ago when I sold it. Obviously lots of goodies added.  
My opinion.....It was not a dash fire that originated from the ammeter.  That housing for the cluster is pot metal.  very low melting point.  The close up picture of the cluster shows the housing intact with very little heat damage.
I've seen pics of known dash fires and that housing is melted away. So I'm just a little leary there.

OK. I'll try to help..... Touch the black and red wire from the ammeter and you have completed a circuit. If you have a demand on that circuit.  Like ignition key on and lights or blowers selected on then yes you will see a spark as the circuit is made.  Think Dr Frankinstiens lab when Igor through the switches.    If there is no load.... ignition switch off and nothing will go live when you place the wires together. No spark.
The red wire is your 12 volt from battery.  Touch it to ground and enjoy the show.  Black wire is your 12V feed to all your systems. Ground the black and nothing will happen.  Wait...Let me make that idit proof..If the black wire is disconnnected from the ammeter and grounded nothing will happen. Ground it while its connected to the Ammeter and you get another fireworks show.

On my old car that started this thread.... It appears he added lots of extra accesories.
Aftermarket air....MSD...Stereo system.... Additional gauges..... And who knows what else might have been added besides the hemi and the 4 speed.
When you do this  you are demanding alot more current from the charging system then was ever intended.  All this current is drawn through that ammmeter.  If the demand....current... is more the the wiring, bulkhead connector...ammeter...can flow,  You get resistance. You cannot have resistance without producing some form of heat. So too much resistance will cause too much heat. 
Hope that helps.

now im cornfuzzed   is this something to be worried about if your adding a MSD 6AL & Race Only Voltage Regulator ? i dont have AC nor do i use the AM radio and hardly ever have the heater running once in awhile i use the head lights .

so should i worry about switching the AMP GAUGE to a VOLT GAUGE

[moparstuart]

now in hind sight i think i hit the cluster on the dash frame and grounded the wire out !  sparks everywhere 

[lilwendal]

Let me add this before I get pounced on
Adding accesories that are powered directly to the battery do not help prevent overloading the ammeter circuit.
The power for the accessory might come from the battery but the alternator will be replacing that through the ammeter.  If the current demand is more than the ammeter system can pass through the ammeter....resistance.
resistance= heat

[no318]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why not fuse the main wire to the ammeter with a maxi-fuse or something 40-60 amps or so?  MOST of the cars don't draw any more current than that, do they?

[lilwendal]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why not fuse the main wire to the ammeter with a maxi-fuse or something 40-60 amps or so?  MOST of the cars don't draw any more current than that, do they?

There is a fusable link on the red wire coming to the ammeter from the starter relay.
Sometimes its been removed and replaced with straight wire.  Other times the fusable link doesn't melt.
You would think once you have direct contact with that 12 gauge wire and ground that it would blow instantly but it doesn't always.
I like the idea of adding a secondary protection. I'm in aircraft maintenance and we have these nice resetable push button circuit breakers.  One hidden but easily accessable would add piece of mind.

[rav440]

now im cornfuzzed   is this something to be worried about if your adding a MSD 6AL & Race Only Voltage Regulator ? i dont have AC nor do i use the AM radio and hardly ever have the heater running once in awhile i use the head lights .

so should i worry about switching the AMP GAUGE to a VOLT GAUGE

       

[Ghoste]

How is your wiring?

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

How is your wiring?

Ahh yes the key to all of this.  Ammeters were/are safe to use when the rest of the system is up to par to handle it.
40+ year old wiring, wires twisted together, corrosion etc all make more "sense" to eliminate the possible hazard that an ammeter can pose to an antiquated system.

Brand new wiring (dash harness, engine harness etc), then by all means use that ammeter if it floats your boat.
If ANY of your 40+ year old wiring is questionable, its free to disconnect the ammeter.  Or if you must have that dash gauge working convert it to a voltmeter....

& a little more....

[rav440]

How is your wiring?

Ahh yes the key to all of this.  Ammeters were/are safe to use when the rest of the system is up to par to handle it.
40+ year old wiring, wires twisted together, corrosion etc all make more "sense" to eliminate the possible hazard that an ammeter can pose to an antiquated system.

Brand new wiring (dash harness, engine harness etc), then by all means use that ammeter if it floats your boat.
If ANY of your 40+ year old wiring is questionable, its free to disconnect the ammeter.  Or if you must have that dash gauge working convert it to a voltmeter....

& a little more....

more than make sence . you talked me into it 

the engine harness will be new , im not sure if there is a repo dash harness  plus im not the greatest electrition .  and i dont fit well in small places 

[moparstuart]

How is your wiring?

Ahh yes the key to all of this.  Ammeters were/are safe to use when the rest of the system is up to par to handle it.
40+ year old wiring, wires twisted together, corrosion etc all make more "sense" to eliminate the possible hazard that an ammeter can pose to an antiquated system.

Brand new wiring (dash harness, engine harness etc), then by all means use that ammeter if it floats your boat.
If ANY of your 40+ year old wiring is questionable, its free to disconnect the ammeter.  Or if you must have that dash gauge working convert it to a voltmeter....

& a little more....

more than make sence . you talked me into it 

the engine harness will be new , im not sure if there is a repo dash harness  plus im not the greatest electrition .  and i dont fit well in small places 

dash wiring harness is a pain but the fuse block plug on the firewall is part of it and usually where all the problems start 

[rav440]

How is your wiring?

Ahh yes the key to all of this.  Ammeters were/are safe to use when the rest of the system is up to par to handle it.
40+ year old wiring, wires twisted together, corrosion etc all make more "sense" to eliminate the possible hazard that an ammeter can pose to an antiquated system.

Brand new wiring (dash harness, engine harness etc), then by all means use that ammeter if it floats your boat.
If ANY of your 40+ year old wiring is questionable, its free to disconnect the ammeter.  Or if you must have that dash gauge working convert it to a voltmeter....

& a little more....

more than make sence . you talked me into it 

the engine harness will be new , im not sure if there is a repo dash harness  plus im not the greatest electrition .  and i dont fit well in small places 

dash wiring harness is a pain but the fuse block plug on the firewall is part of it and usually where all the problems start 

i found the dash harness  that adds another $600.00+ to the rr budget

[Ghoste]

It's one of the best investments you'll ever make in the car.  I did my harnesses from bumper to bumper and in the beginning I questioned the wisdom of it because of the expense.  Not only is it expensive but no one will ever know but you unlike shiny new wheels or a groovy cool necker knob for the steering wheel.  The peace of mind when I'm driving the car MORE than makes up for it.

[AKcharger]

So...anyone know how much it went for?

What suprises me what kind of  Charger owner wouldn't settle withthe ins. company to KEEP the car and have it repaired?

Mine would need to be in this shape or worse before I just 'let it go"

[moparstuart]

car landed 

[moparstuart]

i'll post more tomorrow

[squeakfinder]

i'll post more tomorrow

So it's in your possesion I take it?   

[tan top]

car landed 

    ...........

[The70RT]

 .............

[moparstuart]

NO a salvage yard i buy from and deal with bought it . Not for sure but i think they are going to fix it.   Hemi with tremec 5 speed in it . Have more pictures in an email @ work will post tomorrow

[Hemidoug]

What did it go for?

[moparstuart]

What did it go for?

could not get them to say , but knowing him he is smart enought to not pay more then 15k , we know the hemi and crossmember are worth that , let alone the new manual trans &, dana