electrical issues, some ideas & suggestions
Remember these are almost 50 year old cars now...
Check your starter relay, starter connections, AMP gauge, horn relay, fusible link {always have a spare}
I'd highly suggest, if nothing else for peace of mind,
stave off a meltdown,
take you bulkhead connectors off "very carefully, they can & will be brittle most times"
painstakingly tediously clean all connections, a little bronze or stainless wire brushes/pipe cleaners,
Q-tips, little pieces of sandpaper, what ever you can get into the connections etc.
& some non residue type
aerosol electronics spray cleaner work relatively well afterwards too &
make sure to inspect "all" of the connection "both sides" of
all the connectors,
after thoroughly cleaning, spraying off the residue corrosion & rust dust & inspecting all of them,
before when you go to put it back together,
use some dielectric grease on each connection,
it will assure a better connection, help stave off water & corrosion in getting into them too...
the suggestion about checking your grounds is a great idea also,
if you
don't have a good ground, than it/DC power will seek ground,
to the easiest path of resistance & ultimately fry something,
your fusible link will generally blow/burn out, but just replacing it isn't always the cure,
that's just a fix Band-Aid, for some other problems down the road,
especially when there's a bad ground or too much load also etc....
a weak or faulty Battery or Alternator or Regulator & charging system issues {or connections},
can cause these types issues too,
it puts a much higher load on the charging system & AMP gauge wiring...
I'd suggest getting a Factory Service Manual if you don't already have one too...
I have added ground straps to my cars always, I use a few 6 ga. wires,
they can be hidden easily, they go from body to engine, engine to K-frame,
then back to body to alternator case, {neg. batt. term to body if it doesn't have one already}
make sure there no paint/rust/corrosion between the connection/grounds &
I'd suggest that you use star washers & some
dielectric grease on all you connection everywhere...
Also make sure you headlights wiring & connections, are all good & free of corrosion...
optional;
I always run a 8 ga. wire from the
1/4" output 12volt terminal on the back of the alternator,
back
to the starter relay on the firewall, connect on the large terminal 1/4' lug,
this will help to
shorten the path to recharge your batter system & aid in much less strain/load
on the wiring that goes underdash, there's a big black wire that goes thru the bulkhead connections,
that feeds everything 12volt in the car, it all goes thru the AMP meter,
make absolutely sure all the connections & wire are clean, not frayed loose etc.,
again clean all corrosion & rust off everything, make sure to use
dielectric grease on all connections...
there's also a great site
http://www.madelectrical.com Mad Enterprises
that has some great tech tips {look in the tech section} on Mopar Bulkheads & problems
associated with much of the wiring & amp gauge stuff...
they also have some great parts & supply for re-wiring & any updating...
there's ways of using 30amp Bosch relays that will have constant voltage & a switched connection,
especially for 12volt DC automotive electronics & lights,
that ease the load on automotive electrical systems, especially these older antiquated systems
good luck
