Re: {Chrysler 300} 1962 - Wiring Thru Core Support
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Re: {Chrysler 300} 1962 - Wiring Thru Core Support



Hi Rich ,
Just a quick comment , the use of 1/4” “ flag connectors “ over 15 A or so is for sure a very bad and very clear engineering error by Chrysler  . Flat out it is an engineering design mistake . 
I can say that as a PE who built thousands of Xray machines in my career.  
Polishing and cleaning will not fix the fact they are overloaded 3 x rating ; they even  burn up the in AC fan and heater motor fuse  connections on all Dodge trucks of the 70’s — and at the bulkhead too., same for Darts .Probably all mopar , 63 up 
What happens is there is not enough copper cross section in the terminal itself for the current expected , also it is high resistance brass not copper .  So even spotless clean it gets warm due to ohmic  loss , especially during the long charging sessions that are typical of a stored car . Even at a 60 A rate it takes over an hour to refill an empty battery , and that is 4 x  the true rating . Rating them  even  at 30 A is a joke as the heater fan wire burn up shows .Why one person says “ I have no problem “ is strictly a matter of how dead the battery was on a given  day and how oxidized the thing is . It will happen sooner or later — If it grounds out due to melt your car is toast . Why a  Ford  fusible link at starter relay IS job 1 

Once warm  the brass oxidizes a bit, ohms and heat  both go up  but it also loses  its spring temper ,then  all this rapidly accelerates in 10 minutes and melts the plastic . 
What I do is  remove the two flat halves out of the recess and drill it clear   , then run another wire of the same gauge through the hole  . Lots of napa “auto wire “ is junk -if you want good stuff find AWM UL wire on line , typically 8 or 10 gauge . ( Appliance Wiring Material) This  has fine strands and high temp ratings as well as oil resistance .
Do NOT use crimp barrels . They are worse than the flag . Rather , smoothly wrap the wires around each other for 1” and solder , first putting a 1/4” or 5/16 shrink sleeve on , keep sleeve several inches away while soldering quickly with big gun or 150 -200 watt iron , The added wire is so you have room to work on both sides .
Alternatively you can drill two holes and use rubber grommets through firewall next to bulkhead plug . 
Unbelievably Chrysler EE  continued to misapply connectors in this way right up into early 2000’s . I repaired the radiator cooling fan connector on my Grand cherokee 4x — it kept burning up stock , then flags then barrel connectors , etc etc and also that damn pwm fan speed  control module  behind the headlight kept frying  . This fails on the hottest day of the year like clockwork . I was so upset with this terrible design I sent the connectors  I pulled to our  good guy at mopar , John Begian along with an analysis of the stock connector pin conductivity by area of  crossection, showing how incompetent the EE design was . The cost and cause  of thousands of blown head gaskets is a 1$ connector . I don’t care about “ rating” it is bs . I did not want to solder in an impossible location so I finally used white nylon Euro set screw barrel connectors , great stuff , you can saw apart easily from up to 12 terminals . they held up . 

And then  I designed a small solid state circuit that uses the factory pwm signal to pull in a 3 pole real  relay with all 3  poles in parallel (P&B  KUP style , not overrated chinese automotive relays , rated 80 A .. with flag connectors ( right) . I opened one up — The single physical  contact inside those are smaller than one pole of P&B,  UL relay rated at 11A . Sure. 
Anyway , sorry so long , you hit a nerve . Might even sell the little PC card and relay, end all the mopar radiator fan constant hassles . Has for me , 260 k miles no more speed control failures for years now . Even better no more mental aggravation this all causes to save 1$ . Stuck in traffic at 5 pm in Boston spewing steam with heat on full on 100 degree day gets old fast 

PS . 
I often think what could they have done at bulkhead ? two # 12 wires in parallel and two flags instead of the #8 or 10 would  have fixed it , flags are under a nickel each . 
Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 27, 2024, at 7:39 PM, Rich Barber <c300@xxxxxxx> wrote:



The referenced opening in our 300K is fairly large and rectangular—maybe 1 ½” x 2 ½”.  I assume most of our cars of the ‘50’s & ‘60’s are similar. All edges of the hole are nicely rolled/lipped to prevent cutting damage.  Six, or so,  wires are wrapped together and pass through the hole to power headlights, horns, turn signals and parking/turn signal lights.  The hole is necessarily large enough to allow the parking light and headlight sockets to pass through during assembly/repair.  At each side, pairs of unwrapped lights drop down through round holes in the pan to power turn signal and park lights.  These holes are also rolled/lipped. Underhood wiring is quite well stabilized with various clips and supports to prevent motion at Mach K.  Not much of an issue IMHO  

 

Concern about underhood wiring might better  be focused on the bulkhead connector.  Arsonist of many past and future underhood fires. Pull the two eight-pin socket connectors off of the bulkhead connector and inspect for dirt, grease, heat damage, corrosion or all of above   If found, clean and polish all brass contacts. Don’t ask me how.   Pay special attention to the largest two wires-one red, one black-both #12 and feeding most electric load for the car.  While using the same little brass spade connectors as a parking light bulb.  Worthy of a recall.

 

Rich Barber

Brentwood, CA

 

From: chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of John Grady
Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2024 10:29 AM
To: Matt Allyn <allynentertainment@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Chrysler 300 List Server (chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: {Chrysler 300} 1962 - Wiring Thru Core Support

 

Hi , A company called Waytek is very good at all kinds of harness and wire supplies . 

I thought there was some kind of grommet there ?  look at Goers list? 

There is also that generic nylon snap on U shaped edge trim to protect wires . I have also used small diameter rubber hose like 300 windshield washer hose , slit length wise and glued with weatherstrip cement . Done carefully this looks good .

Yes wires need protection at sheet metal edges , more than tape imho .

Waytek has harness wrap which is not sticky like electrical tape ( best of those   is scotch 33 , but looks wrong ) —- cheap chinerse electrical nose makes a gooey mess. .

There is always old fashioned electrical friction tape , maybe on line . You will need to wrap the ends of the harness tape with 33 to keep it tight … 

best regards ,

John G 

Sent from my iPhone



On Apr 27, 2024, at 1:16PM, 'Matt Allyn' via Chrysler 300 Club International <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Howdy,

 

The wiring harness that is fed through the drivers side of the radiator core support….

Seems that it comes through a rectangular portion of the core support.

 

It just simply rests on the steel base of that rectangular portion; right?

In other words…the only thing keeping the wires from vibrating & rubbing through to the actual wires is what….?

Cloth Electrical Wire Wrap?

 

I surmise that is the answer, but since my wires have that portion of the cloth wrap missing….

Assume I need to find new cloth wrap & re-wrap to protect the wires from rubbing through & grounding out?

 

Who likes to obtain said Cloth Wire Wrap from where?

Thanks!

 

Matt Allyn

 

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