Wiring harness advice

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Hambony58

Hambony58

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Anybody have opinions on which complete wiring harness I should buy for my 1970 Dodge dart? I am not on a tight budget but obviously don’t want to needlessly overpay. Thanks in advance. Hambony58
 
For the engine harness, buy new. They are reasonably priced and originals are almost always trashed.
For the dash harness you can usually find good original ones. Rear harness usually hold up well but may need some work in the trunk area. These are not too expensive so it may be easier just to buy new.
The dash harness is very expensive and they are usually fine other than maybe some hacked stereo wires.
 
Hambony58 said:
Anybody have opinions on which complete wiring harness I should buy for my 1970 Dodge dart? I am not on a tight budget but obviously don’t want to needlessly overpay. Thanks in advance. Hambony58
Click to expand...


if you want it all original style then a M&H from year one is the way to go..
 
evanswiring.com
I got a V8 engine harness for my 68 Dart w/ electronic ignition.
I called them and we talked about what I needed.
It worked great.
 
You can buy the M&H ones from Year One, they are great. You can buy the underhood one already wired for electronic ignition and an electronic voltage regulator. If you don’t like troubleshooting electrical problems, buy them all. You will never regret it.
 
Having repaired several connectors on my harness from Year One, they are good, but not great. I've posted pictures of the terminals and connectors repaired so its not a secret. Keep your original in a box. That way in 5, 6 or 10 years, if you need a connector housing or such, you'll have right ones. Glad I kept mine.
 
Yearone (made by M&H) is the best plug and play wiring harness on the market.

Yearone has a 30% off sale going right now.
Code - SUPPORT
 
Ron Francis by FAR offers the best quality replacement harnesses. The firewall connector is eliminated. It was always a source of contention on old Mopars. I have a friend local to me who installed one. It is very high quality. Before I replaced it with anything that had a firewall connector, I would look at the Ron Francis products.
 
I purchased a Year One harness for my underdash, and I have only one complaint--the fuse box was not threaded to mount up under the dash. Other than that, the harness went in perfect and the connectors were exactly positioned where they need to be. I used an Evans harness for my engine bay, and that worked fine for me as well. The only minor complaint I had was the connectors for the ballast resistor were tight to reach where I had it mounted and the light harness for the headlights was a little tricky to get in right.
 
My only complaint with @YEARONE 's harness is the bulkhead connector has holes in it.
 
I bought a Evans front harness and it was very good. However I ended up rewiring the entire car eventually with an EZ Wire Harness. Great quality and the fact I found one on Craigslist from someones project they never got to was even better considering it was half the cost.
 
Just to revive this thread a bit, since I'm looking at doing my dash harness and engine bay/lighting harness in my 69 Dart Swinger.

1969VADart, I was looking at doing the exact combination you purchased. YearOne for the dash harness (HU310A), and Evans for the engine & headlight wiring [listed on his site as: 1969 Dart Headlight and engine harness (small or big block electronic) $265.00]. Does the Yearone dash harness come with the bulkhead that clips into the firewall? Does it come with a replacement gasket and clips, or would it be ideal to get this also: 1966-74 A B E-Body Bulkhead Connector Gasket Clip Set ?

Any advice on the install of them, or are they pretty much plug and play? I have the Mopar orange box electronic ignition, mounted to the passenger side inner fender, so I'm guessing I may have to relocate that if the wiring isn't long enough on the Evan's harness.
 
The year one underhood harness is engine and lights both and is only a little over $100 on sale. Both the dash and under hood harness are complete except for the wiper and transmission harnesses which must be purchased separately. A/C harnesses are also separate. Don’t know why you would buy Evans for twice the price.

See my earlier post about electronic ignition.
 
Thanks for the info Mike69cuda, much appreciated.

Wondering if you could clarify the plugs the engine harness has for the electronic ignition and electronic voltage regulator. My current setup is the Mopar orange box and I have the blue style voltage regulator (single stud on the case with the single red wire plug). Does the YearOne harness plug right into those, or is some modification required?

I know Chrysler has the black voltage regulators, with the two prong triangle shaped plug, didn't know if the YearOne harness has that style plug or not.

Thanks again for all the info and help.
 
The year one underhood harness comes in two flavors.

One is the stock harness that works with all the original components.

One is a modified harness, possibly HU200AM for your 1970 dart. This harness may has three modifications:
1. It is wired for electronic ignition.
2. It is wired for an electronic voltage regulator (triangle connector)
3. It is wired for an isolated field alternator. This is the one with two field wires and one big wire for charging.

This was true on my 1968 cuda. I think in 1970 the stock harness already had the triangle connector regulator, and the isolated filed alternator. If that is the case on yours, then the only difference is the electronic ignition. You must still have the three wire alternator and the triangle connector regulator.

I am not sure about your blue regulator. CAn you post a picture?
 
just installed M&H (year one)dash harness in my 70 dart (standard dash). Everything was perfect - connectors, wire colors and tracers - just like stock. Replace the voltage limiter on the back of your dash cluster with the new upgraded one while you are doing this!!! I've used their underhood harnesses for years (they usually go first due to engine heat and weather exposure). Make sure that the amperage from your alternator is in line with stock specs. The HD alternator in 1970 was rated at 56 amps. Putting a 100 amp alternator on stock sized wires is asking for problems!!!
 
Mike69cuda said:
The year one underhood harness comes in two flavors.

One is the stock harness that works with all the original components.

One is a modified harness, possibly HU200AM for your 1970 dart. This harness may has three modifications:
1. It is wired for electronic ignition.
2. It is wired for an electronic voltage regulator (triangle connector)
3. It is wired for an isolated field alternator. This is the one with two field wires and one big wire for charging.

This was true on my 1968 cuda. I think in 1970 the stock harness already had the triangle connector regulator, and the isolated filed alternator. If that is the case on yours, then the only difference is the electronic ignition. You must still have the three wire alternator and the triangle connector regulator.

I am not sure about your blue regulator. CAn you post a picture?
Click to expand...

Just to clairify, my Dart is a 1969, which may be what's causing me issues with finding a direct plug and play with everything correct.

So, did a little more digging and reading. The harness I was looking at was the HU201AM (1966-74 A B E-Body Engine Forward Light Harness). After reading the note on the bottom of the page it appears this harness, which is set up for electronic ignition and electronic voltage regulator, is for the 'newer' style voltage regulator (triangle connection, 1970+). My regulator is the 1969 and earlier style (http://www.brewersperformance.com/prodimages/large/P3690732.jpg).

My second issue would be that my alternator is also the older style, single wire alternator (round style as opposed to the squareback style).

Looks to me like I'll either have to get the YearOne points ignition harness and modify it, or get this one and switch my voltage regulator to the newer style, as well as my alternator.

I believe that, even though more expensive, Evan's would probably make me a harness for the voltage regulator and alternator that I have, instead of me switching things or having to change wire runs and ends.
 
JRapley said:
Just to clairify, my Dart is a 1969, which may be what's causing me issues with finding a direct plug and play with everything correct.

So, did a little more digging and reading. The harness I was looking at was the HU201AM (1966-74 A B E-Body Engine Forward Light Harness). After reading the note on the bottom of the page it appears this harness, which is set up for electronic ignition and electronic voltage regulator, is for the 'newer' style voltage regulator (triangle connection, 1970+). My regulator is the 1969 and earlier style (http://www.brewersperformance.com/prodimages/large/P3690732.jpg).

My second issue would be that my alternator is also the older style, single wire alternator (round style as opposed to the squareback style).

Looks to me like I'll either have to get the YearOne points ignition harness and modify it, or get this one and switch my voltage regulator to the newer style, as well as my alternator.

I believe that, even though more expensive, Evan's would probably make me a harness for the voltage regulator and alternator that I have, instead of me switching things or having to change wire runs and ends.
Click to expand...
Contact YO or M&H because the photos with each of those are the same. get a real pic and description.
There's not much difference between engines besides wire lengths.
You're asking for standard harness modified for Chrysler ECU. That's it.

As far as the alternators go, the difference is this.
Alternator's pre-70 have the field brush grounded to the alternator housing.
Alternator's with two field connections were designed to work with a regulator that controls the ground connection.
An alternator with two insulated field connections can be used with pre-70 type regulator by grounding one field.

Pre-1970 Roundbacks, One field grounded.
On these, which many call "single field alternators", the vertical brush holder is cast into the housing.
upload_2019-3-20_22-21-17-png.png


upload_2019-3-20_22-29-20-png.png

The grounded brush uses the cast in brush holder circled.
upload_2018-12-28_19-21-31-png.png



Isolated field alternator. Both brushes insulated.,
Yellow arrow points to output stud.
upload_2019-3-20_21-50-52-png.png
 
I had a newer alternator, so I was able to swap grounded brush from ground to a spade lug to make the conversion to a two wire field. I guess the best solution depends on just what you want to end up with. Having a new alternator and regulator is not a bad thing though.
 
Thanks for all the information and pointers guys, it's very much appreciated! Have a lot to ponder about which route I want to go. I'm going to give M&H a shout and confirm with them exactly what their 69 harness setup for electronic ignition is.

As much as it is more expensive, I did contact Evan's too, and he has confirmed that his engine&forward light harness for the 1969 Dart is set up for the 1969 and older style regulator and alternator, and has the direct connection for a Mopar orange box.

I'll see what M&H has to say and post back, if anyone's interested.
 
Mike69cuda said:
I had a newer alternator, so I was able to swap grounded brush from ground to a spade lug to make the conversion to a two wire field. I guess the best solution depends on just what you want to end up with. Having a new alternator and regulator is not a bad thing though.
Click to expand...
Not quite following you here.
Are you saying you already had a 1970up Chrysler alternator, but someone had put a ground wire on one of the brushes? That's pretty common way to use a later style on a earlier positive switching regulator system. So then you just undid that to use it with the ground switching regulator.
upload_2019-5-18_6-57-27.png

upload_2019-5-18_6-57-49.png
 
Hey Mattax, the replacement alternator I had was a squreback with both isolated brushes, but rebuilder had used a brush holder that had grounded one side to simulate a round back alternator. I pulled the grounded brush holder off and swapped one from another alternator on to make it an isolated field alternator like it was originally designed.

I guess round backs are getting hard to find, so they just convert newer ones now by grounding a brush to sell for the older cars. Since my car is kind of a Frankenstein any, I didn’t care.
 
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