Original or new wiring??

[69bronzeT5]

I'm working on getting my Charger on the road for next summer. Figured I'd start hooking the wiring up. I'm just wondering who is still running the original wiring in their car and if they've had any massive problems? Reason I ask is my Charger still has all the original wiring. The car sat outside from 1985-1998. Since buying it in 1998, I do know my father went over the wiring and checked for any breaks or splits before re-wrapping it all. I don't think he checked the under-dash stuff.

I would really like to get the car running and take it to a few shows next summer but I really can't afford to buy new wiring harnesses. I'm wondering if you guys see any harm in using the original wiring for the time being if it seems to check out and look good. I'm running all the original stuff in my Duster and all is good so far (knock on wood).  I was thinking of just starting to hook stuff up, putting a battery in and getting the lights working and etc to start.

[Lord Warlock]

I'm kind of in the same boat, the original wiring could still be fine under the dash, provided rodents haven't gotten up there to nest or wreak havoc.  The engine harness was more important to me to replace, just because of the breaks in the insulation in multiple places, plus the engine harness only costs a hundred bucks, the light harness is going to be a bit more, as will under the dash if i choose to pursue that too.  Eventually, I suspect I'll replace the entire underdash harness as well as rebuild the gauges, but they should work just fine since most of them worked last time I fired the motor up, and should now work better now that i have new connectors and wires in the engine bay.  To me the Dash will be one of the last things to worry about, I really want to replace the dash pad, as well as take the heater box out and seal it from leaks, and if i go to that length, i may as well replace the dash harness, but the car can likely be driven safely using the original wiring for a while until I get motivated to aggravate me more than necessary (I dislike doing wiring and plumbing)

[sanders7981]

I bought a painless kit.  My car is not roadworthy yet, but so far the kit seems pretty simple... I know jack and $hit about automotive electric wiring! 

[fy469rtse]

factory manual electrical diagrams a must,
inspect and replace any suspect  wiring, brittle , bad connections, engine bay replace all wiring or buy new harness,
under dash untape and inspect repair retape, don't do too much at once or you will have a big mess,
look for the threads on here about factory modifications, DONT IGNORE THESE , these are a must to fix factory created mistakes weak points in you cars wiring, etc bulk head and amp gauge fixes a must

[myk]

I bought a Painless kit as well, as I wanted to eliminate the bulkhead connectors entirely and know I had wiring good enough to handle a hotter 'alt and possibly some electrical additions down the road.  After 20 years of cleaning contacts, jiggling connectors, patching bad wiring and chasing electrical gremlins I decided to be done with it all.

Whatever route you choose do NOT skimp on the project.  People will drop thousands into their drive-train, wheels and paint but couldn't be bothered with a $400 wiring kit that will not only guarantee an improvement in electrical performance but possibly keeping the car from burning to the ground as well...

[Ghoste]

It isn't cheap but I'm a big fan of the reproduction harnesses from M&H.  Easy to install, everything is correct, value of the car isn't affected and if there is a problem down the road you can still easily use the fsm wiring diagram to help.  Not as visible as something new and shiny for the outside but some of the best money I ever spent on the car. 

[tan top]

only way to check through your original wiring , is to take it all out especially the dash harness , lay it all out on a bench , floor , kitchen table   unwrap it all ,  personally would not bother ,   just get new harnesses & have done with it , (M&H ) ,
 on the other side of the coin , if you  charger was running & driving  as a daily   before it was parked ,  just check it over & fire it up   & get new harnesses when you do the resto  

[Dino]

I am running most of the original wiring.  There were a few wires under the hood that had not been secured and showed wear such as split insulation.  Those wires I replaced but everything else looked like new so I kept it.  I did measure resistance on a bunch of them and they measured the same as new wires so that's good in my book.

I DID however bypass the ammeter and changed the entire charging system so there is no longer a heavy load going through the cabin now.

I think upgrading the dated charging system is a must on these cars, regardless of what wiring you want to use. (for a driver that is)

[1974dodgecharger]

Both here also.

Bypass ammeter with 10 guage and 4 guage alt to stud among other stuff like that.

[Nacho-RT74]

tranny and engine harness, better new. They usually get toast.

if fuse block is PERFECT, forgett the underdash harness, no need for that unless is all hacked up. Bulkhead pìece is available I think by itself as repro, and if some terminal needs to be replaced, they are available around.

lighting system ( front and rear ) same as above... usually you can fix easily and way cheaper.

[Ghoste]

Evans offer the bulkhead pieces.

[Dino]

I got mine off ebay, Kramerauto.  They sell the entire bulkhead kit or separate pieces. 

[rockitier350]

jim at js restorations is getting mine he goes through all the harnesses

[jaak]

My dash harness was actually in pretty good shape. I guess being inside the car spared it from the elements, so I checked all the circuits and reused it.
Same with the rear body harness, it was in good shape, all circuits good, so it got reused. The headlamp harness was in pretty good shape, I did have to make a couple of repairs, but all in all it was good enough to repair and use.

Engine harness was hard/brittle and had been hacked/repaired in several places. I wound up just buying a new reproduction engine harness. I had it up graded with the wiring for electronic ignition, dual field alternator, and it uses the 70-up voltage regulator. Well worth the $95 bucks I spent on it!

Finally somewhere along the way, while the car was disassembled, I lost the wiring harness for my console lights. Its pretty simple, so I just made one.

Jason

[1970Moparmann]

It isn't cheap but I'm a big fan of the reproduction harnesses from M&H.  Easy to install, everything is correct, value of the car isn't affected and if there is a problem down the road you can still easily use the fsm wiring diagram to help.  Not as visible as something new and shiny for the outside but some of the best money I ever spent on the car. 

Same here!

[Mopar Nut]

It isn't cheap but I'm a big fan of the reproduction harnesses from M&H.  Easy to install, everything is correct, value of the car isn't affected and if there is a problem down the road you can still easily use the fsm wiring diagram to help.  Not as visible as something new and shiny for the outside but some of the best money I ever spent on the car. 

Same here!

And here too, money well spent.   

[billssuperbird]

I all most had a fire with old wires. I am putting new repop on.

[lukedukem]

I all most had a fire with old wires. I am putting new repop on.

I did too. It was worth it

Luke

[squeakfinder]

   Didn't buy any new harness' but I built the engine compartment with correct color wire and most of the existing plastic clips. Repaired the taillight harness. Pulled the under dash harness and laid it out for inspection. Replaced all the big red wire with new 10 gauge (because of all the current it handles). I don't use the bulkhead connector for the red wire (Engine compartment to amp gauge) run that one through a grommet in the firewall. Also have a dual field alternator with a sold state voltage regulator. Headlight harness looked pretty good but I did the headlight relay upgrade. I do wish somebody had reproduction fuse blocks with clips for fuses, I cleaned mine up but would like to replace it.

[Lord Warlock]

Tach wire, does it go to the positive or negative terminal of the coil? and Alternator wire, is there two wires connecting to it or only one? one of them has a washer looking end to it which i know goes to the alternator, but there is a spade connector on the alternator and none of the connectors on the new harness are wide enough to fit on the spade connector on the alternator that i can see.  Still trying to figure out the rest of the connectors on the wiring harness, I know two of them go to the horns, and one goes to the washer, but i haven't had those connected in so long i can't remember which goes where.  Probably going to assume things based on position on the harness.

Where would you tie into the harness to connect an electric choke wire? the black connector goes to the coil, the red is long enough to go to several places, not sure which one to use. Can use the AC wire if need be, or the heater wire, or can tap into the washer wire or hook to the alternator.  Not that many wires available in the engine bay. (compared to new cars)

[RAC95054]

Unless the main, underdash, harness is hacked up badly, the only one I strongly recommend to replace is the engine harness.  The insulators tend to get hard and cracked from all the heat, and then moisture gets in to start corroding the wire.  I was using a somewhat hacked one before, and things worked OK, but when I got a new reproduction harness, everything seemed to work better... it even seemed to run better (if that were possible).

[70 Charger RT]

If you want to keep the original looking bulkhead connectors intact but eliminate the bulkhead terminal corrosion/poor connection problem, you can do what I did.  Remove all the wires and terminals from both male and female side of the bulkhead connector and drill a wire sized hole through where the terminals used to be.  Feed your new/good existing wires directly through the holes you drilled in the bulkhead connector and "butt connect" the two ends of the wire together with non-insulated connectors.  Heat shrink over each butt connector once the connection is made.  Once you tape the bunch of wires together on the engine bay side, it looks like original harness without the corrosion/weak point issue.  I hope I explained it clearly enough.

PS: It's best to have the wire connect on the dash side of the firewall for aesthetics.
Also: If you are using a new harness, feed the new wires from the dash side through the holes in the bulkhead connector to the engine side.  (no butt connectors are required)(as long as the wire in the kit are long enough)

I hope this helps.

[gibber]

Just got done with a 3 1/2 year resto on my 67 Charger, replaced all the wiring with new reproductions from M&H thru Year One. My opinion is that you don't want to have to pull the dash apart tracing wires after it is all back together. The bulkhead connector and fuse block are always troublesome spots on there old Mopars, especially if any previous owners have "added" things...I'd vote new....

Mark

[Ghoste]

It helps to keep it clean and filled with dielectric grease as well as periodically make sure everything is tight there.