Dash wiring.

[John H.]

Re: On Cig Lighters...Safety issue

Randy -

Yes, but you're likely to have less harness damage if you fuse the lighter directly.

[Jack H.]

Do the calculation...

to determine fuse rating. Measure a typical Casco element and you'll see around 1 ohm of resistance (don't forget to take the resistance of your VOM probe leads into consideration). Figure the gen/alt is charging and you're cruising with about 14 VDC as the supply voltage.

V= IR, therefore I= V/R and you get a branch circuit drain of 12A. Lay in a safety margin to prevent false fuse triggering and the result says something in the 20-25A range is what you're after.

[Henry S.]

Re: Do the calculation...

Very interesting subject. I have a 64 and will definitely put an inline fuse to the cigar lighter, clock and starter. What size would you recommend for the starter? On that subject I was heading to a show in September, stopped at a car wash to vacumn out. When I tried to start car it wouldn't start and found the starter was bad. While I was taking the starter off I noticed a loose wire that looked like it was some sort of ground. Would that be the one you are talking about? If I remember right I believe it was a brown wire but it may have been a replacement as I am finding in other areas. I've been doing other projects on the car also so I haven't gotten around to re-installing the starter yet. Thanks for the info.

[John H.]

Re: Do the calculation...

Henry -

You should have the following wires on a '64 starter:

12-ga. red on the large stud with the (+) battery cable; that's the main power feed to the whole car that has a fusible link on '67-up cars.

18-ga. black on the large stud with the (+) battery cable; that's one of the sense wires for the battery gauge.

14-ga. purple on the inboard small stud marked "S"; that's the "start" wire from the ignition switch that energizes the starter.

18-ga. black/purple wire on the outboard small stud marked "R"; that's the bypass wire that feeds a full 12 volts to the coil while the starter is cranking.

14-ga. black wire with large ring terminal under the head of the outboard starter-to-block attaching bolt; that's a ground pigtail that serves both the heater blower motor and the wiper motor.

[Henry S.]

Re: Do the calculation...

Thanks John