Electrical upgrades

[Thunder II]

I'm planning on a 12 volt conversion soon. New guages, GM alternator, fuse panel, ect. My question is, how do I wire in the new fuse panel? Where sould I draw the hot lead? What size wier? Should it be a fusible like? Any sugesstions would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

[Guest Dave Claussen]

Are you going to purchase a complete wiring kit or are you going to try and make the change over from scratch? If you buy a 12 volt wiring kit then all that information would be contained in the installation instructions. Most kits come with the fuse block and everything else you need to complete the installation. Check out EZ Wiring at:

www.ezwiring.com

There are other companies that offer wiring kits as well. I pretty sure Painless Performance also has wiring kits.

[Thunder II]

I was thinking of making the harness from scratch. Although, I did check out that link. I might have to re-think this. Thanks again.

[MBF]

When I converted mine to 12V I replaced the harness 1 wire at a time and made a color coded schematic as I went sticking as close to the original color scheme as possible. If you go with the internally regulated alternator you can eliminate the mechanical one on the firewall. Don't forget to put the proper resistor in line for the fuel guage before you turn on the key! (mine was disconnected as I'm looking for another sending unit). Chrylser always ran everything through the amp meter-since I have a bunch of extra lights on my 52 stake body, I'm going to rewire around the amp gauge and install a voltmeter under the dash to make sure the alternator is doing its job. Mike

[Thunder II]

I was planning on new guages, so the resistor for the fuel guage wont be needed. But thanks for pointing that out.