Bulkhead Connectors - Photos up now! (ooooh! Pictures!)

Wiring, lights, heater controls, anything electrical..
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Noelie84
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Bulkhead Connectors - Photos up now! (ooooh! Pictures!)

Post by Noelie84 »

Popped the clutch at a stoplight yesterday and stalled it like a noob. And of course the bulkhead connector chose that specific moment in time to lose connection between the primary hot wires. So there I was sitting in traffic at a green light, without even hazard flashers. :censored
Popped the hood, jiggled the connection, hopped back in and it fired right up, but still... :banghead
It's done this before, but always when in a parking lot when I'm not holding up traffic (or walking around in it), so it's never been dangerous before. And since I've been driving a stick since I could reach the pedals & don't stall very often (this was the first time since I've owned the truck) I hadn't considered the possibility of getting stranded in traffic until now. :joker

So I'm doing the bulkhead bypass on it this weekend, haha. If I'm not mistaken Chrysler themselves bypassed the bulkhead connector for the heavy-duty applications like police cars and taxis, at the factory, because of these connectivity problems. Any hints or tips from folks who've done it before? Does your ammeter still work correctly/accurately after bypassing the bulkhead connector? I'm planning on swapping out the hot wire terminals for a solid wiring connection through the firewall (with a fusible link inline), but theoretically I could fix the problem of current interruption just by running a jumper wire from the alternator to the starter relay (and cleaning/greasing the rest of the contacts in the bulkhead connector) , right?
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by Noelie84 on Tue Jun 02, 2015 8:01 am, edited 2 times in total.
1969 D100 w/an A833 & a 318
1984 W150 w/a 7.5 Fisher Speedcast, an NP435 & a slant six (because slow but unstoppable!)

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digdoug
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Re: Bulkhead Connectors

Post by digdoug »

I think if you go straight to the starter relay ,your ammeter won't read. You would need to go to a voltage guage. :thinking
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wally426ci
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Re: Bulkhead Connectors

Post by wally426ci »

Search voltage gauge. I added one in detail i think

Noelie84
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Re: Bulkhead Connectors

Post by Noelie84 »

Ok, thanks.
I never got a chance to get under the hood this weekend, even with the extra day from the holiday :lol:
That'll give me a chance to read up on the process a bit more, and weigh my options. I'll have a poke around for that gauge post of yours.
1969 D100 w/an A833 & a 318
1984 W150 w/a 7.5 Fisher Speedcast, an NP435 & a slant six (because slow but unstoppable!)

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wally426ci
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Re: Bulkhead Connectors

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Noelie84
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Re: Bulkhead Connectors

Post by Noelie84 »

Ended up doing my own quasi-version of the Mad Electrical Upgrade. I wanted my gauge to still function properly, without having to wire in a new, modern unit in its place. And I also wanted to keep everything looking more-or-less factory under the dash and in the engine bay, but I liked the reliability of a solid wire passing through the firewall. So rather than do the true Mad Electrical, I kind of made it up as I went along.
Sorry for not having more photos; I'm not great at remembering to stop what I'm doing and pick up the camera.

The old wiring connections were pretty well burnt, so I started by pulling the terminals through the male and female connections (I had to break one of the terminals off because it had fused with the bulkhead connector's plastic). Looking at them closely, it's no wonder I wasn't getting a reliable connection!
Rewire 1.jpg
rewire 2.jpg
rewire 3.jpg
rewire 4.jpg
The old alternator current wire in particular had been burned pretty badly from heat buildup at one point, and had clearly had a poorly-done splice done (probably to get the truck up and running again, since it was a farm truck in a prior life)
rewire 5.jpg
I removed the fuse block/firewall block and drilled the former holes for the battery wire and the alternator wires, and did the same with the connections on the engine side.
Then I crimped/soldered/heat shrank new lengths of 10ga wire and threaded them through the holes
rewire 6.jpg
rewire 7.jpg
rewire 8.jpg
I ran new 10 gauge wire (with new connectors crimped/soldered/heat shrank on them) from the mounting points on the back side of the dash, and put new 10 gauge connectors on by the fuse blocks (these pictures taken before I taped them and zip-tied the excess wire up out of the way behind the dash). The grey wire on the end of the battery wire is a length of fusible link to help prevent fun fires behind my dashboard, and there's another length of it mounted to the starter solenoid as extra insurance that I forgot to take a picture of.
rewire 9.jpg
Last edited by Noelie84 on Tue Jun 02, 2015 5:23 am, edited 4 times in total.
1969 D100 w/an A833 & a 318
1984 W150 w/a 7.5 Fisher Speedcast, an NP435 & a slant six (because slow but unstoppable!)

Noelie84
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Re: Bulkhead Connectors

Post by Noelie84 »

Once all of the new wiring was in its proper place and connected (and tested!) I took some electronics cleaner to the remaining connections and scrubbed them with a toothbrush until they shone, then loaded them with dielectric grease and reconnected them. I've got about 12 inches of extra wire from the new 10ga wiring inside the engine compartment, but they zip tied and tucked away nice and clean once I got everything reconnected and tested.
rewire 10.jpg
rewire 11.jpg

Everything works properly, the engine fires right up and my headlights are super bright and the wipers move at their proper speed regardless of engine speed (unlike before, where the headlights dimmed and the wipers slowed considerably at an idle). The gauge also still functions properly and the readout matches up fairly closely to my multimeter at different engine speeds, so that's a win. I sized the wiring and the connectors up so that burnout shouldn't be a risk, but I added those lengths of fusible link as a 'just in case' insurance. As an added bonus, the setup looks factory while everything's plugged in, unless you really look closely (or lay on your back in the footwell and shine a flashlight up at the dashboard!) :lol:
I also thought ahead enough to have the same 10ga connectors on both ends of the fusible links, so if one of them should happen to self-torch I can just unplug the burnt section and plug the wire in directly to the connection points, sans fusible links. That way I don't have to worry about being stranded somewhere if it does happen to fail. :idea
Overall I'm happy with the upgrade, but we'll have to see how it works long-term.
1969 D100 w/an A833 & a 318
1984 W150 w/a 7.5 Fisher Speedcast, an NP435 & a slant six (because slow but unstoppable!)

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Re: Bulkhead Connectors - Photos up now! (ooooh! Pictures!)

Post by wally426ci »

Nice job man. the difference I made in the MADD department was keeping a bulkhead connection (new connectors)

I don't like the idea of having to cut the wires if I ever have to take it apart but I suppose I could do the same thing at that time as well. :thinking

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Re: Bulkhead Connectors - Photos up now! (ooooh! Pictures!)

Post by Noelie84 »

Thanks!
I didn't like that 'solid wire' approach that Madd took either, but I also wasn't a fan of just replacing the contacts in the bulkhead connection (mine were in pretty sorry shape). That's why I did the connectors inside the cab and left about a foot of wire inside the engine compartment. That way I can disconnect the bulkhead connectors if I have to for cleaning, etc. And if I ever have to completely take the bulkhead unit out I can just unplug the wires inside the cab and thread them back out through the holes I drilled.
1969 D100 w/an A833 & a 318
1984 W150 w/a 7.5 Fisher Speedcast, an NP435 & a slant six (because slow but unstoppable!)

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