Greetings All!!! I have a lil ol' problem that hopefully can be assisted with. Here goes:
On Friday, Jan 2nd my lower radiator hose burst midway up a pretty steep incline on hwy 13 in the bay area. (if u ever have to go to autozone to replace this hose, have them transpose the last 2 numbers of the part no. - the one they have is too short) I let the car cool some then tried getting it started in order to get off the hwy, and it really started hard.
got it off changed the hose, made it to my destination and here is where things get crazy. the next morning, the sandy wouldn't turn over. we added gas, then got a jump and she started ran for a minute then cut off. the starter had died in the process. i had sandy towed home, driver didn't bring the bed i requested so she bounced most of the way, and changed the starter the next day and still no fire. she finally started with a jump and drove around a bit at which time i realized i had no head lights. at that point it was discovered that the S-Z section of the bulkhead connecter was hanging, we plugged it in and she had lights but since then i've had a serious battery drain problem on a new (little more than 1 year old) diehard battery. as i had valve(2 burnt) and carb issues causing other starting and running issues, it was hard to pinpoint the drain at the time, it seemed so insignificant with engine trouble. I have
a. had carb rebuilt
b. did (yes i a girl did it) a valve job
c. replaced the fuel pump, positive and negative battery cables
e. prior to all this stuff, replaced the alternator, voltage regulator, relay switch, coil, had battery checked and rechecked, and determined to be fine.
f. removed my stereo system(it loses power when i hit brakes or turn on blinkers, etc) since i could hear the power on with no key and no face.
g. unhooked and reconnected the lighter wire
my car will only start with the battery at full charge and will drain quickly even if only sitting at idle to warm. when engine is completely cold it seems to start quicker - go figure! i've since begun testing connections wires and fuses. At the S-V section, the Z spot has wires protruding which appear to be burnt and frayed, but i find no wire hanging around looking as though it's lost. I have an ampmeter?? (is that what it's called) positioned directly below the original radio (i installed my stereo in the glove compartment) which has a black, i assume positive wire, attached to the red ignition wire as it leaves the ignition switch. and a brown wire, i assume ground, attached to a black wire which goes directly thru the firewall and connects to the relay switch via the red wire. according to my manuals the Z connection correlates to the lighting. should there be a wire attached within the engine to the S section? when i tested the various wires, i removed the black ampmeter wire from the ignition wire and lost ALL POWER, INCL THE DOME LIGHT! I apologize for the length but i'm trying to be somewhat concise ! ALL assitance is appreciated. thanks, katt...

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fenomenalkatt!!!

'67 Dart "Sandy"
225/904

Well the for the first bit of your story it sounds like your problem could be as simple as your alternator. But from what you have explained it sounds like you would have already checked that. Make sure all the wires going to it have good connections and doulble check all your grounds. In order to narrow down what is draining your battery try pulling your fuses one at a
time until the drain stops to narrow down the problem. good luck.

Congrats on doing your own valve job!

Suonds to me like you have a serious short somewhere and/or some serous corrosion on some of the bulkhead terminals.

When you say the "S-Z" section of the of the bulkhead connector, I assume you means one of the sections of the plastic connect containing a bunch of wires, right? These are nown points in the wiring harness for corrosion to build up after a few decades, leading to poor contacts, increased heat generation, and melting plastic housing. I would carefully check all portions of the bulkhead connectors, clean them, make sure the plastic housing hasn't melted and is allowing two or more of the terminals to touch.

It sounds like you have already taken care of the usual suspects (alt, volt regulator, battery, starter, battery cables), so not you are down to the less common suspects. I would start by checking and cleaning all connections at the firewall and then going from there.

thanks for the input re the bulkhead connecter... i'mm checking also the cluster of wires that leaves the connecter going to the headlights in order to find a loose wire then getting to work on cleaning the connection portions. i actually had pictures but i haven't yet narrowed down how to download them .

_________________
fenomenalkatt!!!

'67 Dart "Sandy"
225/904

_________________
fenomenalkatt!!!

'67 Dart "Sandy"
225/904

here's some pix of some of the wiring. for the record i just burnt the other connection from the ammeter - the one going from the left post in rear and spliced onto the wire going thru the shunt thru the firewall and connecting to a fusable link which goes to the relay switch. i'm looking at a diagram i got from mymopar.com that shows the wire coming from th Z spot (what a name) should be connected to the fusable link and continuing to the relay switch. i figured the picture thing out... and thanks for the complement re valve job.

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fenomenalkatt!!!

'67 Dart "Sandy"
225/904

greetings... most definitely i disconnected the battery before attempting any connects or disconnects. i was actually reconnecting a post to see if my power was restored at all. picture 4 is the connection of the ammeter and ignition wire. the wire from the ammeter came from the left rear. the wire that burned came from rear right to the bypass of the z-spot. the ammeter is so old that it almost looks like orig equipment. apparently the genius bypasser took out all fusibles in the fusible links. but what would have been the ground if one went to the everhot ignition and the other went to the relay. sooooo. here's my thought: to reconnect via the original z-spot- again that's an intriguing name - removing all traces of the problematic pieces protuding... thoughts... here's the front and rear of the ammeter i removed which is actually kinda ugly and missing a big spot. also the only other difference in the comp when we touched the battery cable to the post was that i plugged in the cig lighter connection which has been suspect for a while also. update u all as i go... again thanks for the assistance. side bar... i really appreciate the assistance and one reason i enjoy the puzzle that is sandy is that i hope more women are encouraged to, if not get greasy and grimy, at least have a working knowledge when they have to take their cars for repairs...


IMG]http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo330/fenomenalkatt/sandysinnards-wiring007.jpg[/IMG]

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fenomenalkatt!!!

'67 Dart "Sandy"
225/904

That ampmeter is aftermarket,probly in the past the car had another electrical fire that ruined the stock ampmeter and fuse link.

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V8?? We don't need no stink'n V8!!

okay, i've experienced an enlightenment!!! car was towed w/o flatbead, i replaced starter, battery was low so we got jump, started the car. drove to gas station less than mile trip and on my way home, discovered i had no headlights. 4 stress-filled days later we realized the S-Z connection was not plugged in. once in the lights came on. focused on engine thinking the drain was due to bad valves, fuel pump, carb, fuel filter, new stere connection (removed it)etc and replaced them all. after first test drive with hot battery, noticed the quick drain. that's when i started testing wires with test light. the Z connection with the burnt frayed wires was hot as the ignition wire is still plugged to it. when it discconnected could it possibly have bumped metal? that's my epiphany anyway. now why the heck the ammeter was there i'll probably never know. would one hook it up and connect one end to the ignition wire in order to add an external stereo and keep the original one in place? I'd like to if possible reconnect thru the orig Z spot if at all possible, bought the wire with fusible link as well as the one the bypass wire was connected to via the relay. how do i remove the frayed wire from the wire harness part of the connection?

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fenomenalkatt!!!

'67 Dart "Sandy"
225/904

Sorry I still am not sure what the heck you are saying.

But removing a terminal from the bulkhead connector is actually fairly easy. You will need a pair of needlenose pliers and as small flathead screwdriver.

Most old Mopars use a "U" shaped terminal which holds the wire and terminal in the junction block by having a tab on each side of the U tht holds the terminal in the plastic. To remove the terminal and the wire, simple squeeze the two sides together with the needlenose pliers and then pull it out. Use the flathead screwdriver to spread them again so the terminal sticks back in the housing.

Do you have the car running again with all the lights working,but with a current draw? If your at that point,and you have a test light,I can probably help you out,but I,m confused with what point your at on this project.Don,t keep jump-starting and running your car with a low battery,It will cause further damage.The original alternators of that time period put out 40amps and the alt. charge wire was 14Ga. which was VERY marginal even when new.Most rebuilt alts. are from newer cars and put out 50-70 amps.Modern batteries can put out more starting current for the same size,and I believe they demand more current when the car first starts,so they charge faster.So,think about it,the bigger than stock alt. is trying to charge your dead battery full blast with 40 year old corroded wiring.lets try to fix the current draw first,then repair the damage the low battery caused.

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V8?? We don't need no stink'n V8!!

_________________
fenomenalkatt!!!

'67 Dart "Sandy"
225/904