Protecting the ignition wires

[Steve Hess]

I just went through a small disaster repair because the hot wire from the electronic ignition retrofit on my '65 was
cut by the bottom of the ignition shielding. As it shorted to ground it took out my ignition wire back to the switch
thus days of pulling the dash and repair. Ugh.
Now that everything is back together I wish to make sure that none of those hot wires ground out again. There
are several opportunities for this if you look closely. Has anyone found a sure way to insulate these wires from
long term harm?
The other problem is the "lag bolt" that holds the ballast resistor to the firewall has stripped out the firewall glass
and is very loose. Any good fixes for that?

Thanks,

Steve

[Jack H.]

Re: Protecting the ignition wires

(1) Use the Breakerless SE module that requires on extraneous power wire....

(2) Wrap the extraneous power wire to your existing SS ignition module to 'beef up' the insulation.

(3) Mix some fiberglass bond and fill the ballast resistor mounting hole in the firewall to give fresh 'bite' for the ballast screw.

[Ed Jennings]

Re: Protecting the ignition wires

On the ballast resistor for my 62, I replaced the "lag screw" with a 1/4" machine screw with the same head. In the hole, I installed a "nutsert", with 1/4" threads for a permanent repair. Neat, invisable, and won't strip out again.

[Steve Hess]

Re: Protecting the ignition wires

Thank you gentlemen, all good ideas.

The next question is what triggers the flashing dash "lights" lamp when the lights are down. Is it the switch on the headlamp motor? It's the only lamp I couldn't get power to upon reassembly of the dash.

John Hinckley mentioned a while back that the '67's had a fusable link to protect the ignition circut at the starter. It would be easy to add a fusable link in between the ignition wire connector off the ballast resistor, however would this protect the remaining hot wires from the coil and starter?
Has anyone added an ignition system fuse to the pre 67's that was accessable?

[Jack H.]

Re: Protecting the ignition wires

Micro switches at each headlight bucket are the circuit path switching elements for the dash HL door warning bulbs. The bulbs are a special type of 'blinker' bulb whose filaments producing the flashing action. When HL buckets are both in the fully up position, the microswitches open circuit and shut the warning dash warning lamp off. Trace the wiring path in your copy of the '67 Chassis Service Manual or in your Assembly Instruction Manual.