Almost had a fire today

[Michael]

So after a valve adjustment I was over the car listening to make sure there was no tappets hitting and making sure the gaskets were sealed. All of a sudden I smelled plastic melting and before I could blink white smoke POURED from the harness and coil compartment. I knew it had to be something I moved and once I got the car shut off and battery disconnected I found the issue. The Dulcey alternator field wire had come free from the electrical tape harness wrap and grounded against something. The wire was foolishly cut right where the alternator bracket was but it wasn't cut at the blue plug in the coil compartment per the TB (nice touch DMCH you do this on all your refurbs?). Had I not been right on top of the engine I doubt I could have stopped it with no damage. Why a bare hot wire was just left with no cap spanning 4' in a wiring harness is beyond me. Why was it just not cut at the plug itself?? Fortunately the only wire damaged was the wire that should have been removed to begin with and melted electrical tape which I will replace with a cloth wrap.

Anyway I am making the best of it. I removed the wire and cut the plug side of the wire and removed a good portion of it too. I also decided to take this opportunity to remove the alternator harness from the main harness and just run a much much shorter 4 gauge wire from the bulkhead to the alternator. Probably will shave 2.5 feet off that line.

The rest of the harness will be wrapped in a more aesthetic covering and tucked under the manifold to be out of sight.

[Trstno1]

So after a valve adjustment I was over the car listening to make sure there was no tappets hitting and making sure the gaskets were sealed. All of a sudden I smelled plastic melting and before I could blink white smoke POURED from the harness and coil compartment. I knew it had to be something I moved and once I got the car shut off and battery disconnected I found the issue. The Dulcey alternator field wire had come free from the electrical tape harness wrap and grounded against something. The wire was foolishly cut right where the alternator bracket was but it wasn't cut at the blue plug in the coil compartment per the TB (nice touch DMCH you do this on all your refurbs?). Had I not been right on top of the engine I doubt I could have stopped it with no damage. Why a bare hot wire was just left with no cap spanning 4' in a wiring harness is beyond me. Why was it just not cut at the plug itself?? Fortunately the only wire damaged was the wire that should have been removed to begin with and melted electrical tape which I will replace with a cloth wrap.

Anyway I am making the best of it. I removed the wire and cut the plug side of the wire and removed a good portion of it too. I also decided to take this opportunity to remove the alternator harness from the main harness and just run a much much shorter 4 gauge wire from the bulkhead to the alternator. Probably will shave 2.5 feet off that line.

The rest of the harness will be wrapped in a more aesthetic covering and tucked under the manifold to be out of sight.


Holy crap! I’m glad you were there and able to stop it before things got bad. Close one!

[Michael]

I got a lot to do today so I don't know if I will get to the car or not but here is the carnage

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It's actually a good time to do this. I have been updating/repairing/detailing the heck out of this car since December working on and off in my down time. I made a list and have been checking off items and adding more items to the list which has snowballed but I am actually enjoying doing the work myself. The car will no doubt be better than it has ever been when finished next month(projected).

[David T]

Good that you caught it quickly and got it shut down before you had a lot more damage. The "correct" tape is a black tape with no adhesive. You can get a roll of it from Eastwood. Or you can use the plastic loom covering that modern cars have. Don't use ordinary electrical tape. The heat will cause the glue to ooze out and it gets all messy and sticky. You might also consider adding a plug so if you take things apart you just unplug the motor from the car.

[Michael]

Good that you caught it quickly and got it shut down before you had a lot more damage. The "correct" tape is a black tape with no adhesive. You can get a roll of it from Eastwood. Or you can use the plastic loom covering that modern cars have. Don't use ordinary electrical tape. The heat will cause the glue to ooze out and it gets all messy and sticky. You might also consider adding a plug so if you take things apart you just unplug the motor from the car.

I'm trying to locally source the cloth loom wrap for the areas I can't do in braided loom.

[Michael]

All back together. I got a new 4 gauge battery cable, cut to length and soldered new ends on and then got to work on the wiring harness. All seems well. Starts and drives just fine and looks sooo much better with the harness tucked and covered.

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