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What is this thing?!


michaelp

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It's called a power shunt. When it's wired correctly, it has 2 two-prong plugs going into it. One of the plugs is wired with thick 12-gauge wire, and the other is wired with much thinner (maybe 18 gauge?) wire. Given that it's probably carrying 60-90 amps, I would remove it or ensure that it's wired correctly. You can find MANY threads on this subject in the "Ignition and Electrical" sub-forum.

 

The unit's primary purpose (if not the only purpose) is to bleed off enough current from the car's main power leads (the thick wires) to operate the ammeter in your dash. Neither the gauge nor your dash harness are designed to handle the full load of the main power leads.

 

Later cars came with voltmeters (vs ammeters) and did not have the power shunt, if I recall correctly. Guys wishing to convert their ammeter setup to a voltmeter setup are able to remove the power shunt.

r/jhm

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It's called a power shunt. When it's wired correctly, it has 2 two-prong plugs going into it. One of the plugs is wired with thick 12-gauge wire, and the other is wired with much thinner (maybe 18 gauge?) wire. Given that it's probably carrying 60-90 amps, I would remove it or ensure that it's wired correctly. You can find MANY threads on this subject in the "Ignition and Electrical" sub-forum.

 

The unit's primary purpose (if not the only purpose) is to bleed off enough current from the car's main power leads (the thick wires) to operate the ammeter in your dash. Neither the gauge nor your dash harness are designed to handle the full load of the main power leads.

 

Later cars came with voltmeters (vs ammeters) and did not have the power shunt, if I recall correctly. Guys wishing to convert their ammeter setup to a voltmeter setup are able to remove the power shunt.

r/jhm

 

 

Spot on! :2thumbs:

 

'76 was the first year of the volt gauge, and if you wire one in, removing the shunt is very easy. Did that exact thing in my '75, replaced all the gauges with '78 including the volt meter with charge light.

When removing the shunt, be sure to remove all the wiring dedicated to it and depending on where you make that cut, be sure exposed wires are well protected from possible inadvertent grounding! :wink:

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Its a fuse i have it on my car it should have a cover, I'm not really sure what its for but it would be on the right hand side of the car. I'm sure someone else will chime in on what its for but its a big fuse for the harness.

 

Well, it was there. The cover is still there, I was checking all of the connectors and went to unplug it and the whole thing pulled out since the cover wasnt screwed onto it.

 

More on my project, I hooked power up to it after going over all of the wiring and turned it over for a compression test...it has no compression except on 4 and 6, which 4 has 25psi and 6 has 50. After a wet test, 1-3 have 25psi, 4 had ~30, 5 had 25, and 6 went up to 80psi. I'd say it needs rings...

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