Rebuilding my ride.

[magnumdust]

I feel like this might be thread worthy, as i posted a few days back, disaster struck. My newly installed efi system developed a leak and spit fuel onto some ignition source. The engine bay caught fire and virtually everything electrical/plastic in my engine bay was ruined.

Before:

Efi all nice and tidy:


Now the damage:



And because i'm a bit of a busy body with this car, by saturday afternoon i had all the wiring removed:


^ note the original metallic orange color. I'm tempted to go back to this color when i get all the dings fixed.


^ out in mostly one piece, but i had to cut a few things to keep my sanity.


^ the bulkhead looked surprisingly good, but at this point, if i'm gonna have to repair my wiring, i felt that i should go all the way and get rid of this old wiring.

After debating the wiring harness options, i settled upon Doug francis wiring and their 1961-1975 Mopar Express Series Kit.

I guess we'll see how this kit measures up.

As for the efi, the ecu and ecu wiring harness was destroyed. Luckily, because the system was purchased used, it came with a spare ecu(no spark control though). and i just need a set of new injector o-rings to try this again...hopefully without the catastrophic ending.

 

[HemiDenny]

was it sitting....or were you driving?

I had a similar fire on my green Duster....wiring and a "brown spot" on the undeside of my aluminum hood....lucky my brother saw the smoke as I was walking away.

1 step forward...2 steps back

Oh, the joy of hot rodding!

 

[txstang84]

Man, that sucks...good thing the damage wasn't too extensive...

 

[magnumdust]

was it sitting....or were you driving?

I had a similar fire on my green Duster....wiring and a "brown spot" on the undeside of my aluminum hood....lucky my brother saw the smoke as I was walking away.

1 step forward...2 steps back

Oh, the joy of hot rodding!

Luckily, it was sitting. I started it up to move it out of the driveway and it caught on fire immediately after it started. Given the size of the fire, i'm pretty sure it would've burnt to the ground if i had been on the road. Which reminds me, I'll also adding a fire extingisher to the interior.

 

[magnumdust]

Well wiring is slow going to say the least. That kit was pretty unimpressive, but i chose to stay with it just to get the car on the road. Plus returning it would be a giant headache.

Anyhow, Yesterday i mounted the fuse box. I first had the *brilliant* idea of trying some heavy duty velcro. The idea being that if i ever needed to trouble shoot something, i could unstick the panel and work on it. That failed for some obvious reasons and i mounted it with some sheet metal screws.

Then i started working on what to do about the hole in the firewall from the bulkhead connector. The kit came with a plate fore the bulkhead, but its completely the wrong dimensions. So intially i was gonna hack/gut the old bulkhead and use it as the plug, That too didnt go well because those clips are a nightmare. So i broke out the dremel and some scrap aluminum i had laying around.(pic1)

And then i ran some of the wires for the starter solenoid. Got stuck because i need to figure out how/where i am going to mount the coil.(pic2). I should have some updates on wednesday. Until then i have to study for finals.

 

[Saetun]

Terrible luck, man. Im glad you didnt let it get the best of you. Cant Wait To See What The Wiring Looks Like When All Is Said And Done!

 

[pettybludart]

Sorry to hear of the meltdown on your car.I also have the Ron Francis Express in my 66 Dart(race car).It can be a bit overwhelming with the install.I had a friend that builds race cars do most of mine and it all turned out good in the end.I,m happy with it and it,s many option outlets.Here,s mine..
View attachment 66 Dart rewired.jpg

 

[magnumdust]

Sorry to hear of the meltdown on your car.I also have the Ron Francis Express in my 66 Dart(race car).It can be a bit overwhelming with the install.I had a friend that builds race cars do most of mine and it all turned out good in the end.I,m happy with it and it,s many option outlets.Here,s mine..
View attachment 1714619891

thanks.

One thing i do like is the labeling on the wires. So while that second pic looks like a rats nest of wiring, its easy to tell where everything goes. And yeah the fuse box outlets was one of the reasons i bought it. Since i plan to run efi, eventually run A/C, aftermarket ignition, nitrous, and *maybe* a gear vendors.

 

[magnumdust]

Well no pictures today, but i have a happy update, the car now turns over!

I spent a solid 8 hours finishing up the column/starter wiring and pulled the plugs to turn it over to see if water had gotten in the cylinders. Luckily, that doesnt seem to be the case.

Most of that 8hrs was spent with the neutral safety switch. The fired burned up that wiring so i had first i had to try and figure out how to wire the 3 prongs. Then i had to modify a terminal to fit those prongs. Much to my surprise, i got the wiring right the first time.

Tomorrow is lights/signals hopefully with some pics.

 

[bad440]

well i'm glad it didnt take out the whole car.seems like i've seen it on another forum,how did you like the efi kit compared to a carb.

 

[magnumdust]

well i'm glad it didnt take out the whole car.seems like i've seen it on another forum,how did you like the efi kit compared to a carb.

I'm on a few different northern california forums. I've been here or yellowbullet lately though.

I drove the car with efi once for about 4 miles. That was the best 4 miles i have ever driven in this car. I've had an edelbrock tuned by a friend who runs a shop, and a summit 750cfm i tuned with a wideband. I could never get them to work well enough for me. I could have good WOT and terrible cruising or great cruising and no power.

The efi gave both, with no headaches.


Today was a productive day. I pulled my back seat and routed all the wires that go from the dash to the trunk area. Tomorrow i'll be buying some new bulb sockets and i'll hopefully wire it up. Test the blinkers/brake lights/head lights. Then i just need to wire ignition, efi, back up lights, gauges, radio, wipers, and maybe the A/C motor....which all sounded smaller in my head. lol

 

[bad440]

I'm on a few different northern california forums. I've been here or yellowbullet lately though.

I drove the car with efi once for about 4 miles. That was the best 4 miles i have ever driven in this car. I've had an edelbrock tuned by a friend who runs a shop, and a summit 750cfm i tuned with a wideband. I could never get them to work well enough for me. I could have good WOT and terrible cruising or great cruising and no power.

The efi gave both, with no headaches.


Today was a productive day. I pulled my back seat and routed all the wires that go from the dash to the trunk area. Tomorrow i'll be buying some new bulb sockets and i'll hopefully wire it up. Test the blinkers/brake lights/head lights. Then i just need to wire ignition, efi, back up lights, gauges, radio, wipers, and maybe the A/C motor....which all sounded smaller in my head. lol

well your getting it done,another day or two and it will be a car again.would like to check out that setup.nice lookin car btw

 

[magnumdust]

well your getting it done,another day or two and it will be a car again.would like to check out that setup.nice lookin car btw

Thanks, well *hopefully* it will be drivable again after this coming thursday. I still need to bite the bullet on gauges, which won't happen for a little while because what i want for gauges is not cheap.

And speaking of gauges, i bought something to go with the gauges today. I couldn't find any reviews for the mopar version, but most other reviews liked these gauge clusters other than the thinness.

http://www.classicdash.com/shopping/1970-76-Duster-Black-6-Hole-Panel.html

I was gonna go fastlane west, but this one has nicer gauge spacing.

And once i get the car running and put a good 904 in it, i'll be taking it racing often, so you'll be able to check out the efi one of these days.

 

[magnumdust]

I love when you order something based in a neighboring state. UPS ground is basically next day shipping.

My gauge pod came in and i'm very happy i spent the extra cash. It looks like a fairly solid construction.

 

[HemiDenny]

Those dash bezels look like great pieces.

Let us know if it fits as good as it looks

 

[mopardude318]

magnumdust, sorry to hear about your troubles but you'll get there...FYI, NAPA AUTO sells a rubber 3 prong transmission pigtail if you would like to have a correct one...

also, one from rockauto

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,c...google.com+Search+for+STANDARD+MOTOR+PRODUCTS

 

[magnumdust]

Those dash bezels look like great pieces.

Let us know if it fits as good as it looks

Thanks, well fitment leaves something to be desired. The mounting holes don't completely line up. It looks like i'll have to drill 1-2 new mounting holes.

magnumdust, sorry to hear about your troubles but you'll get there...FYI, NAPA AUTO sells a rubber 3 prong transmission pigtail if you would like to have a correct one...

also, one from rockauto

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,c...google.com+Search+for+STANDARD+MOTOR+PRODUCTS

Thanks for the fyi. I'm definitely gonna buy that pigtail after i finish everything else.

So today was productive. I finished blinkers, park lights(front and rear), and the headlights.

I took pics of the wiring. However i still need to get some more wire loom. Also, kicking around the idea of not wrapping/looming the wires under the dash and instead just binding them with zip ties. I put some strips of duct tape on all the sharp edges to further protect the wires. And from here forward it will be easier to chase wires.

Tomorrow my plan is to wire the voltage regulator and try to setup the efi system.

 

[magnumdust]

Today's small bit of work. i found a spot for the voltage regulator, ran the wires, and took off the burnt section of pushlite hose to see if i had enough remaining hose to replace it. My remaining hose was 3-4" shorter. So it looks like i'll need to redo the routing to make it work, but the bright side is that it will take the hose off the firewall, which i was told isnt NHRA legal.

I was gonna mount the reg. on the opposite side of the wiper motor, but it looked like it might be a pita to replace if it ever crapped out on the road.

 

[magnumdust]

well its finally looking like a car under the hood. Today i repaired the distributor, mounted the efi, cleaned up the wiring a little, and mocked up the new fuel line.

Tomorrow will be an oil change, wiring the efi & ignition. More looming covering to clean things up, hopefully some line testing and maybe fire it up.

I did have one "oh mother F..... S... C... B..." moment. When i pulled the distributor a small washer, that i didn't see, dropped into the distributor hole. Luckily a little creative use of a magnet, a small pick, and some patience got the washer out of the hole.

 

[Abodybomber]

Hate those moments ,Magnum. Best of luck.

 

[bad440]

Today's small bit of work. i found a spot for the voltage regulator, ran the wires, and took off the burnt section of pushlite hose to see if i had enough remaining hose to replace it. My remaining hose was 3-4" shorter. So it looks like i'll need to redo the routing to make it work, but the bright side is that it will take the hose off the firewall, which i was told isnt NHRA legal.

I was gonna mount the reg. on the opposite side of the wiper motor, but it looked like it might be a pita to replace if it ever crapped out on the road.

that looks like a ford voltage regulator...

 

[magnumdust]

that looks like a ford voltage regulator...

It is. The ron francis kit is setup to use a ford voltage reg. It comes with the correct plug and you just route the wires.

 

[bad440]

bet it worksbetter than the mopar type too...

 

[Abodybomber]

Bad440,knows his voltage control.....

 

[magnumdust]

bet it worksbetter than the mopar type too...

That wouldn't surprise me. If nothing else, its a regularly available part. And the more easily replaceable parts i have, the more comfortable i feel taking the car on trips.