coppercutlass

Ok so today was the day i was gonna register my car which i did and take it to my parents house to store it for the week while i wrapped up this sidejob at home. Anywho i go to fire it up and i have absolutely no power. I did find the culprit. The power feed wire to the distribution block on the firewall seemed to be burnt at the connector ( weather pack style) I got power going to the starter just not feeding out to its distribution point. Anywho. Im going to rewire it . My concern is i want to wire it diffrently. I have a terminal post to disconnect the battery cable from the starter at the wheel well . I did this so i dont have to unbolt it from the starter . (all wires for the srater are disconnected in the engine bay vs. the starter ) Anywho Since that point is always 12v. hot i dont see a problem wiring it from my batt. disconnect terminal on the wheel . My understanding is that wire just feeds off the same post that the batt. cable is connected to on the starter. The wiring modifications i did where all done to make dropping the starter easy. Its been like that for about 6 years now and i dont see a short being the issue just possibly the thinner gauge because of the connector style i used got a little too hot over time and split. There where no melted wires just the connector was a little melted on that particular pin and the pin itself broke.


My main questions being here

1. Will i be ok wiring the power feed wire off my batt. disconnect post on the wheel well.

2. Is there any other issues i should look for that could have caused this ?
It seems like the split connector was my main issue as there is power going into the starter and not to the junction block/buzzer (i think) on the firewall

3. It is my understanding i only need one wire for the starter and not the 2 since im not running a points dist.

I hate doing electrical but it has to get done and i will be using a thicker gauge for the wire that got a little too hot. Just want to make sure im going about this the right way or not missing something i should look at .

cjsdad

You're right that you don't need the second wire for the distributor. The second wire feeds 12 volts to the points distributor during the cranking phase to give a hotter spark for starting.

I have seen too many burned connectors as a stereo installer. The reasons for the burned connector is simple, something was loose! Whether it was the connector on the wire or the nut holding the connector to the junction block is something you need to determine. Crimp style connectors are only as good as the person doing the crimping. If the crimp is not extremely tight, oil, dirt, corrosion, and any other kind of grime can work it's way into the connector and cause a loss of electrical integrity. When the connection degrades the voltage passing through the connection decreases and the current tries to increase to compensate. Too much current through a bad connection causes heat. Heat accelerates the break-down of the already poor connection, and so on, and so on.

As it was explained to me once, if a crimp style connector is not tight enough to make a good electrical connection the wire is just stuck in there. If the burned wire is long enough, cut the connector off and strip the wire back. If the copper strands are still fresh and not crispy you can put another connector on it and go for another 30-40 years. If the copper is crispy, cut it back until it looks fresh and hope it is still long enough. Use a good quality crimping tool to install the new connector. DO NOT use a two sided smash-it style crimper pictured below first. Use a tongue-and-groove style crimper such as the Ideal unit pictured second and squeeze the $h!t out of it. Get it TIGHT!. Klein crimpers are more commonly available but I like the Ideal. Even Harbor Freight has them now. The flat-crimp portion of these tools is for flattening the insulation of the connector against the insulation of the wire.