Car in question is a 69 small block. It has dimed (slightly) the lights as long as we've had the car 10+ years. When you come to a stop light the headlights (all, dash, blower motor slows etc etc) as soon as you start moving everything goes back to normal. I've replaced the alt, the voltage regulator, head light switch. I'm at a loss... is it a ground problem? The idel is set correctly I don't get it... ?? Anybody have an idea? Thanks!

This was kind of normal for a original, mechanically regulated (voltage regulator with points) charging system. A electronic external voltage regulator might dim a little less. Original alternators have very low output at idle compared to modern ones.

Converting to a modern, higher amp internally regulated alternator will correct this problem.

My stock '69 Camaro was exactly the same way, even after replacing the components you mentioned.

bad ground connections-clean all the ones you can find starting w/ neg. batt. cable.

bad ground connections-clean all the ones you can find starting w/ neg. batt. cable.

And then he will have the EXACT same situation. Cleaning the grounds isn't a bad idea, but the stock electrical system in these old cars will typically dim the lights at idle, IT'S NORMAL. He's spent a lot of time and money fixing a problem that isn't really a problem.

You can mitigate the dimming by not having every electrical component on at one time if you can help it. The heater blower motor is a huge draw, so are the headlights, how often do you need them on at the same time?

Once again, the dimming of the lights at idle is normal and isn't hurting a thing. If it bugs you, upgrade the charging system with a higher output modern alternator with an electronic internal regulator and rewire the car to accommodate the new alternator.

Greg & Rich are 100% correct,thats the way those 35-40yr old elec systems funtioned BY DESIGN .

It doesnt hurt anything and isn't normally an issue at all ,too bad someone along the way didnt know enough to tell you that .

But someimtes it takes us old timiers that have been working on & driving these old muscle cars for 38+ yrs to teach these youngin's these things /LOL!!!!!!!

Too bad he didnt post here 1st to save a few hundred bucks and the aggrivation of trying to fix something that isn't borken to begin with.

scott

I have the same problem on my 95 half ton. But I am also running underdrive pulleys. Kind of annoying but not a problem.

This was kind of normal for a original, mechanically regulated (voltage regulator with points) charging system. A electronic external voltage regulator might dim a little less. Original alternators have very low output at idle compared to modern ones.

Converting to a modern, higher amp internally regulated alternator will correct this problem.


Thanks, I had a feeling this was normal.... I keep thinking about upgrading to an internal regulated alt. Car is fine otherwise.... it just bugs me.... I should have posted here rather then chase a problem I can't fix!

Greg & Rich are 100% correct,thats the way those 35-40yr old elec systems funtioned BY DESIGN .

It doesnt hurt anything and isn't normally an issue at all ,too bad someone along the didnt know enough to tell you that .

But someimtes it takes us old timiers that hev been working on & driving these old muslce cars for 38+ yrs to teach these youngin's these things /LOL!!!!!!!

Too bad he didnt post here 1st to save a few hundred bucks and the aggrivation of trying to fix something that isn't borken to begin with.

scott


Lol, I'm a 30 something.... the car is older then me. I didn't grow up with these beasts so I didn't know its normal....;)

Greg & Rich are 100% correct,thats the way those 35-40yr old elec systems funtioned BY DESIGN .

It doesnt hurt anything and isn't normally an issue at all ,too bad someone along the didnt know enough to tell you that .

But someimtes it takes us old timiers that hev been working on & driving these old muslce cars for 38+ yrs to teach these youngin's these things /LOL!!!!!!!

Too bad he didnt post here 1st to save a few hundred bucks and the aggrivation of trying to fix something that isn't borken to begin with.

scott

You should have seen the headlights on my old 1928 Ford.
You had to light a match to see if they were on. :D

You should have seen the headlights on my old 1928 Ford.
You had to light a match to see if they were on. :DDid they have matches back then, Deanl:)
Just upgrade to a 200 amp alternator and system problem solved:D

Greg & Rich are 100% correct,thats the way those 35-40yr old elec systems funtioned BY DESIGN .

It doesnt hurt anything and isn't normally an issue at all ,too bad someone along the didnt know enough to tell you that .

But someimtes it takes us old timiers that hev been working on & driving these old muslce cars for 38+ yrs to teach these youngin's these things /LOL!!!!!!!

Too bad he didnt post here 1st to save a few hundred bucks and the aggrivation of trying to fix something that isn't borken to begin with.

scott


I cant agree with the Ol Timer statement all the time though. Im 20 and ill go to carshows sometimes and literally wind up blowing the ol timers mind right out there exhaust with new and better ways to do things that are cheaper than the old ways.

D or should i say real WISE GUY! esp for your whopping 33 posts you have helping out here in t/chevelle with all your experience.

I was just stating in fun some of us old timers can teach you youngin's something about those 40 yr old muscle cars because we grew up driving and working on them & made no reffence to anything else or about any other type cars.

But then you feel the need to chime in with a kinda suttle wise ass remark thats not a big deal but i still wanted to put you in your place where you belong before you get to cocky for your own good and learn how to play better with others .

So lets see,your 20 yrs old chiming in here just to be a wise guy that can have 3 to maybe but not likely even 5 yrs working on these 40 yr old muscle cars & motors whith again you being only 20yrs old vs my or many other old timers with 38-40 yrs (or more) experience growing up with and working on these muscle cars with some of us making a lively hood/living out of it at times too which you cant come close to touching exp wise in 3-5 yrs vs our 40 yrs with these muscle cars/motors,no way no how.

And just because some of us are old timers compaired to you it doesnt mean we dont keep up on the a fair amount of the newer tech items/parts/motors/designs that are out there these days in this hobby becasue we do. I have owned mult IROCS/Camaros with EFI/TPI and have done plenty of perf tweaking on them too,not just 40 yr old carb'd motors.

So let me see,thats approx 35 or even more yrs experience some us old timers have then you have working on & driving these 40yr old muscle cars. That's no contest IMHO for overall familuarity & 1st hand expeirnece working on these muscle cars & motors from that era you cant get from working with them only 3 to maybe 5 yrs . So since your only 20yrs old i think no matter how mechniaclly inclined you may be for a 20yr old that still cant touch our 40yr or in some cases more then 40yrs experience working on thses cars/motors on a wky and or daily basis.

Thats about all i have to say on that one because no matter what you say or think you just got a knock out punch from an OLD TIMER/LOL!!!!!!.

Scott

l:)l:)l:)l:)

Well said Scott:thumbsup: LMAOl:)

I cant say it was well said because i have been workin on classic cars for way more than 5 years PAL. I have been workin on them now since i was about 7 so your not too too far ahead of me and considering this is what i do for a living were not to different. It would be nice to have a build off with some old timers against us youngins. But that was all in a positive way so you took it the wrong way so for bein old people skills just aint your game is it. Why dont you try givin credit to the next generation that will be keeping your alive.

And also i dont have all day to spend on the computer so ya you are right my posts are not high in number

Now, boys... Before this gets out of control, may I remind everyone that we are all here to help each other, not to keep score.

Personally I favor the young guys. We old farts have had years of working on these things and the new guys just have vacuum hoses and computers to make their lives miserable. I love it when the younger men among us take an interest in the old muscle cars and I have seen some real talent and awesome motors come out of the younger guys. I'd call it a draw. Those who can, do and those who can't ask. There is a place here for both. Let's keep our egos in check and remember why we are here (and maybe the young guys can be a little more respectful and humble).

Chuck

Now, boys... Before this gets out of control, may I remind everyone that we are all here to help each other, not to keep score.

Personally I favor the young guys. We old farts have had years of working on these things and the new guys just have vacuum hoses and computers to make their lives miserable. I love it when the younger men among us take an interest in the old muscle cars and I have seen some real talent and awesome motors come out of the younger guys. I'd call it a draw. Those who can, do and those who can't ask. There is a place here for both. Let's keep our egos in check and remember why we are here (and maybe the young guys can be a little more respectful and humble).

Chuck
I agree

I have a customer that builds cars... he is probably 26 and he talks about the turbo charged, intercooled, computer controlled hot rod he built and how he reset the computer for his specific application and shows me the installation of the water cooled Rabbit engine he installed in his Karman Ghia..... I'm impressed..... I'm VERY impressed!

The Ghia is the turbo'd cooled latest hot rod.

Sadly, since I'm from a different generation, the computer stuff is not a natural thinking way for me to go. He is, however, very comfortable with the whole thing.

The new generation... they are doing well in my opinion.

as a younger person, who's into hot rods, i love the new technology! to me, there is nothing cooler than fat ass turbo sitting on a chevy, in an old chevelle. there is so much more you can do with the motors of today. but on the other hand, i love sitting at car shows and cruise ins listening to the "old timers" bs about what they've done to cars to make them go faster! to me, it's the best of both worlds! but seriously, what fun is it screwing around trying to get a carb motor to start when you can turn the key and go with fuelie motors!!lol

...., what fun is it screwing around trying to get a carb motor to start when you can turn the key and go with fuelie motors!!lol

The fun is derived from the fact that you were able to get it to start.....and run like a bat with all that old technology! :D

Hi Joe,BTYW,its really not an issue at all to get a carb'd motor cranked up running as you implied,just curious what gave the idea they are such a PIA to deal with?

From what i see here in t/chevelle when it comes to people having issues with carbs is simply because some people dont know how to propely tune/dial them in esp with perf cams and not running enough timing screwing up intake signal to carb due to retartded timing lowering int vacuum and also when it comes to tweaking chockes/jetting/power vaqlves and or power pistons-metring rods/etc. etc.

It's not surprising the younger generation that were brought up on efi have issues with the carbs/chokes having to 1st spin the motor over for 8-10 seconds to get fuel into the carb if motors been sitting for a few days(esp with a q-jet) . Then having to pump the gas a few tiimes to prime the motor then spin it over again a second time for only a couple more seconds to get the motor to fire up.

I know it all seems like a pia to them but it really isnt unless you have no patience which i think is the issue at times when it comes to carbs and the younger people not liking them & having little patience with them when they can just use thier laptop to tweak/tune a new hi perf efi system and just hit the key and motor fires almost instantly in 20 deg f or 80 deg f,makes no difference.

Obviously there's nothing wrong with EFI either,i loved the chevy's i have owned and tweaked perf with TPI etc. They have great throttle responce and trq not to mention better fuel mileage . But when it comes to perf application they have thier issues that need to be addressed too when the efi/tpi is in stock form just like carbs do
.
That's because you can't just drop a hot cam that lowers intake vacuum too much in a stock efi/tpi setup and expect it to deal with it. But its ok when you buy an efi/tpi hi perf system from maybe accell /tpi specialties/etc that already has larger injectors & proper map sensor ,chip ,etc all meant to better deal/work with the lower intake vacuum at idle and lower engine speeds when running a hot perf cam with an efi/tpi setup.

You have to do some tweaking/mods when running hot perf cams with low idle/low speed vacuum with a stock efi /tpi just like you also need to tweak carbs with respect to power valves-jetting-etc in that same perf cam application too. But if you buy a carb built by a pro for a specific motor setup they can often run fine out of the box just like the new perf efi/tpi system can also work well right out of the box because they are setup to deal with it too.

The carbs and EFI both have their place,i like to keep the cabs for original #'s matching muscle or pass cars but other then that i think EFI is great for any other perf app in a 30-40-50 yr old chevy esp along with an auto OD trans or tremec 5spd trans. I love to see tpi motor setups in chevelles & old impalla's that were bought back from the dead made into neat resto mods.

BTW,us old timers had mechanical FI back in the 50's Pontiac/57 chevy 283/283/ and also vetts too esp the 63 fuel inj 375hp 327. It wan't as good/reliable as todays efi but it was the pre runner to todays efi where todays ECM control make it a much better /efficient/tuneable system like we have today.

And BTW,as usuall some of these threads get twisted because i was not ever getting close to talking about efi etc and or the newer gen 40 yr newer cars that the younger gen are dealing with these days and others bought all that info into play here too when it had absolutely nothing to do with the thread or what i said.

IT was just 1 statement i made saying "sometimes the old timers can teach the younger generation something a times " like with the thread here where the guy didnt realize the stock charging system on a 40 yrs old gm car would cause the headlights to dim when at idle in traffic then get brighter as you hit the gas and were at a higher cruise rpm .

But that statement was twisted into something completely different then it was meant to be.GEESH!!!/LOL!!!!!)

Scott

yeah things do get twisted on the internet..lol i guess i wasn't implying that carbs were a pita, personnally, i've had vehicles with carbs( 54 Ford, 72 chevelle) and tb's (87 monte carlo SS) and now fuelie (03 silverado SS) i guess i may be a little impatient as i've been spoiled by hopping in my ss and turn the key and instant start up. not to mention i can change fuel maps for performance or for fuel mileage. in any event, i love all the old cars, carb'd or not! And i also love hearing older guys advice, because like it was said before, you guys laid the foundation for all of this by working on them back in the day. great write up too scott, really hits the nail on the head.

as a younger person, who's into hot rods, i love the new technology! to me, there is nothing cooler than fat ass turbo sitting on a chevy, in an old chevelle. there is so much more you can do with the motors of today. but on the other hand, i love sitting at car shows and cruise ins listening to the "old timers" bs about what they've done to cars to make them go faster! to me, it's the best of both worlds! but seriously, what fun is it screwing around trying to get a carb motor to start when you can turn the key and go with fuelie motors!!lol

Look at Mike Moran as an example. He drives a screamin fast twin turbo Pro Mod car, he's young and very fast. Speaking as an almost old guy though, nothing beats a 1071 blower, loping from too little boost, passing you at a GoodGuys show. LOL.

ps: I thought this was the Electrical Forum. Nice change... for a change.
Chuck