1966 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S - Restoration

Got the cluster back together and pulled the 12v from the round connector out to the new IVR ... started up, ran for about 5 seconds, and blew the fusible link. Pulled the cluster back out, yet again ... found the A1 hot wire to the ammeter with a hot to the touch crimp and a worn spot on the sheathing. Great.

That said - any advice on the fusible link? It seems to be melted into the bulkhead connector. I'm tempted to completely replace the A1 (red) primary lead between the bulkhead and gauge, but Im also just tempted to completely remove the in dash ammeter. In my 64, I removed the in dash ammeter and put in a voltage gauge - tempted to do the same thing. I'm guessing one the hot ammeter lead arced to something near that worn spot in the wire - the fusible link is toast. I dont plan on replacing the entire wiring harness and it's probably safer to just bypass it. I'd hate losing the ammeter, but at the same time, I've got some trust issues with the existing wiring at this point.

Any opinions or thoughts? Can the fusible link be replaced easily? I dread the thought of trying to hack up the connector to get the pin out, but it seems like I need to do it either way.