67 Barracuda Dash harness install

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bmoparmofo

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Hi, apparently I'm going to need to change out my Dash wiring harness in my 67 Barracuda due to some melted wires down by the bulkhead connector and the bulkhead connector itself. Any tips on what is the best way to go about it? Should I pull the cluster out and try to get the new harness on that and drop that back in as opposed to fishing around underneath? Not looking forward to the under-dash work. Let me know what kind of tips and tricks you guys might have.Not sure how bad of a job this is going to end up being.. thanks
 
bmoparmofo said:
Hi, apparently I'm going to need to change out my Dash wiring harness in my 67 Barracuda due to some melted wires down by the bulkhead connector and the bulkhead connector itself. Any tips on what is the best way to go about it? Should I pull the cluster out and try to get the new harness on that and drop that back in as opposed to fishing around underneath? Not looking forward to the under-dash work. Let me know what kind of tips and tricks you guys might have.Not sure how bad of a job this is going to end up being.. thanks
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When I rewired my 67 cuda I removed the bulkhead connector, removed all the connectors/wires from the housings and drilled out each pass through with 3/16" bit. Installed the bulk head connector housing back in the car and pushed each wire through to the engine bay. No weak link connectors needed, no labeling, bulkhead looks stock instead of aftermarket.

You will never have melted wires again. The connectors get hot and melt because that is the weak link. Also check what those melted wires go to and make sure you have good connections and or proper fuse... they shouldn't be getting that hot. You want it to blow a fuse before getting that hot... of course you knew that already...lol
 
mullinax95 said:
When I rewired my 67 cuda I removed the bulkhead connector, removed all the connectors/wires from the housings and drilled out each pass through with 3/16" bit. Installed the bulk head connector housing back in the car and pushed each wire through to the engine bay. No weak link connectors needed, no labeling, bulkhead looks stock instead of aftermarket.

You will never have melted wires again. The connectors get hot and melt because that is the weak link. Also check what those melted wires go to and make sure you have good connections and or proper fuse... they shouldn't be getting that hot. You want it to blow a fuse before getting that hot... of course you knew that already...lol
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Hi thanks for the reply I was installing the M&H engine harness due to the one in the car being spliced and pretty much jerry-rigged the car was not charging I thought it was something to do with the engine harness being butchered. I ordered an M&H harness for the dash after I found this disaster. Not sure what caused this entire problem I bought the car this way. Electrical is definitely not my strong suit and it doesn't look like there's much room to work under there I really need to stop buying vehicles from eBay.....lol
 
bmoparmofo said:
Hi thanks for the reply I was installing the M&H engine harness due to the one in the car being spliced and pretty much jerry-rigged the car was not charging I thought it was something to do with the engine harness being butchered. I ordered an M&H harness for the dash after I found this disaster. Not sure what caused this entire problem I bought the car this way. Electrical is definitely not my strong suit and it doesn't look like there's much room to work under there I really need to stop buying vehicles from eBay.....lol
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For the time being I remove the metal connectors from the bulk head, drill out all the way through the bulkhead with 3/16" drill bit, take the bad burn t up wire cut solder heat shrink and new wire to the old burnt up wire, push it through the bulk head, cut solder heat shirnk to the bad wire in the engine compartment. Easy...lol

You will not have to worry about it after that.

Here you can see my install of the after market fuse panel in the glove compartment..lol
Wiring kits?
 
You might not be able to get the connectors out of the bulk head so try to drill through them. You really need to fix that... F I R E !
 
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If it was me I would send the M/H harness back and do my own wiring. Now that's just me... but you could do way better and make you're own harness cheaper and loose the weak link bulk head connectors.
 
Take front seats out so you can lay under dash easily.
Replacing wiring could lead you down a rabbit hole. It really depends on how much you wanna dig into it.
To be honest if the car is "unknown" to you, I would remove instructions cluster and check gauges wiring under the thoroughly.
Carry a fire extinguisher in car with you. I do.
Do a search on here TONS of info on wiring etc.
Go to mymopar.com and get factory manuals..a must.
Dad n I redid some wiring on our 67 cuda, it can be a lengthy process.
Good luck!
 
As stated, pull the front seats out and the steering column. Also be very careful disconnecting/reconnecting the round plug on the back of the dash as the pins like to break off.

Also one of the small LED battery powered lights with magnets helped greatly
 
Thanks for the replies I appreciate it. I'm going to pull the front seat probably drop the steering column I guess. Hopefully things will go smoothly but I'm sure they won't.. at least it'll be a new Dash harness and a new engine and forward lamp harness in the car... not what I was intending on doing. As far as the alternator gauge bypass I read somewhere that running a wire directly from the alternator to the battery alleviates some of the load? Wondering if that's good enough considering all the wiring is going to be new? Not real big into the electrical so it would figure that would be what my car ends up needing...lol
 
The wiring will be new but you are still dealing with 50 year old technology and gauges.
Do a search on here lots of threads on this.
Get yer back pills lined up lol. Hopefully no console or AC?
 
4spdragtop said:
The wiring will be new but you are still dealing with 50 year old technology and gauges.
Do a search on here lots of threads on this.
Get yer back pills lined up lol. Hopefully no console or AC?
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No air conditioning but it is a console car.
 
bmoparmofo said:
No air conditioning but it is a console car.
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I'm not sure how many things are considered sub harnesses that will plug into the new one that I'm doing like the car has the rear defrost option so I'm sure that harness plugs in somewhere I'm sure I'll have to pull the cluster I don't think there's any way I'll be able to reach up there and deal with all of that
 
1 outta 2 ain't bad lol. Console makes it a *****. AC is even worse lol.
Be gentle and careful and have a midget on standby to help.
Take lots of screws out of cluster before trying to remove.
 
4spdragtop said:
1 outta 2 ain't bad lol. Console makes it a *****. AC is even worse lol.
Be gentle and careful and have a midget on standby to help.
Take lots of screws out of cluster before trying to remove.
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Thanks I appreciate it. Trying to recruit some of my smaller friends... so far they're dodging me like the plague...lol
 
Also if you are pulling the switches out of the dash, get the correct bezel socket or you’ll end up mangling the dash no matter how careful you try to be
 
JoeSBP said:
Also if you are pulling the switches out of the dash, get the correct bezel socket or you’ll end up mangling the dash no matter how careful you try to be
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What bezel socket is it that would be needed? Do you have a link to any of the specialty tools that I'm going to be needing? Thanks
 
4spdragtop said:
Yep what Joe said. Only like $10-12 bucks and well worth it. Google mopar bezel removal tool
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Thanks for the heads up on that. I hadn't even thought about that. Anything else you guys can think of let me know. Whatever I can do to take a little more stress out of it...lol
 
Take pictures before you start removing the wires. Make sure you have a factory service manual available. Someone suggested going and have the diagram of the wiring harness enlarged and laminated. Didn't cost much and really helped out.
Good luck. Take your time. You've got this.
 
Much easier to remove the instrument cluster. Just take your time.
What Joe wrote is good advice. Removing the seat will provide more room. Lowering or removing the steering column will make it easier to work on the instrument cluster. In fact, IIRC lowering it is a must to provide the clearance.

1967 Barracuda had a supplement to the shop manual with its own electrical diagram. The difference between it and the service manual Valiant diagram are minor but obviously they put in the sup because there are some. 1968 Barracuda uses different connector cavities and so is not interchangeable with '67 without modification.
For some ref photos, here's a picture of the bulkhead side of my '67 notch back with two of the wires removed for inspection.
Wires at the bulkhead are all original; alnt 6, 2 speed wipers, no A/C or light packages. The white wire and bundle in the lower right is not - those are for the aftermarket tachometer.
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Engine compartment side: Repop harness pruchased from YearOne over 20 years ago. (Gray cable is for MSD ignition.)
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Don't get put off track by MAD. They over generalize. A link to another perspective.
The condition of the wires in your picture show the problems on your car are not only in the bulkhead connector, but also the condition of the copper wiring. The wires have lost insulation and the copper is green oxidized quite some distance in from the connector. Electrons travel on the surfaces - so oxidation like that diminishes their capacity.

The electrical wiring problems in my '67 (which was an AZ car before coming to the northeast) were at the headlight switch connector, the bulkhead, and the headlight connectors. (If you plan to drive at night more than just once in a blue moon, a headlight relay system is will take most of that electric load off of the bulkhead, headlight switch, and wires. Crackedback makes one that is plug and play. )

Is it worth buying a repro harness for under the dash? In my opinion, if you can find a good quality one made specifcially for a '67, yes. If you can't, then lay yours out on a big board, invest in the right crimpers and terminals, and fix what is needed. That's a big initiation but is doable if you have to go that route.
 
If you have the money, I strongly suggest just buying the resto-mod harness from American AutoWire.
It's an excellent harness.
 
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