Hey Guys... well after 4 months of working a Firewall forward restoration I finally brought her back to life today. She's running solid but I definitely have some electrical issues.

Some of the basics

71 Chevelle 2DR coupe
350/TH350
wired for AC but most of the system removed
External regulator

Here's what I know.

1. Gen light is dimly lite when car is running.
2. Turn headlights on and left blinker is on solid.
3. Turn left blinker on and it blinks normal
4. Turn right blinker on and it stays light all the time (doesn't blink).
5. ~12V at the battery when car is running.
6. Most other lights (headlights, dimmer, brake, backup) seem to work as normal.

Here's what I did
1. The AC compressor and other components were gone when I bought the car last fall so I continued the removal of the A/C by removing the evaporator. I installed an AC delete panel and mounted the blower motor to it. I mounted the AC/Blower motor relay below the A/C delete panel I installed and maintained that same wiring for that relay.
2. I connected the same wires to the blower motor that were connected before I started. One PPL wire to the terminal and one black wire with a connector to a single spade bolted to one of the blower motor mount screws. (is this supposed to be grounded? The mount screw and spade go into the "plastic" A/C delete panel)
3. There is a 4 prong resistor and a 2 prong switch terminal that were mounted to the evaporator (which was removed) that I left alone and the wiring for them is not connected to anything at this point.
4. There was one wire (black I believe) that went from the right terminal on the horn relay over to the A/C harness and had an inline fuse in it. I removed this wire and the fuze (thinking I didn't need them).
5. The temp sending unit was on the pass side, I moved it to the drivers side but ran into problems where the connector was contacting the header pipe. After consulting with you pro's on this site I switched to a single prong temp sending unit and connected the solid green wire to that. The green/white wire is dangling.
6. Both TCS relays are still present and connected.
7. Both the Engine wiring harness and the forward lamp harness are brand new.

Sorry for the length but I wanted to try to provide as much detail as possible to help isolate the problem. What do you think?

Thanks for your help.

Pat

1. Gen light is dimly lite when car is running.
make sure the voltage regulator is solidly mounted, must have a good ground, same way with the alternator. Start here
2. Turn headlights on and left blinker is on solid.
check grounds for the headlights, they should have a "star" washer behind the lug so it bites into the metal. Check other grounds as well, there should be a 12 ga. black wire from the battery (-) to the passenger fender, this provides "body ground".
3. Turn left blinker on and it blinks normal
4. Turn right blinker on and it stays light all the time (doesn't blink).
Again, start with ground inspections
5. ~12V at the battery when car is running.
At approx. 1000 rpm idle, you should have NO less than 13.8 volts for proper charging
6. Most other lights (headlights, dimmer, brake, backup) seem to work as normal.

Here's what I did
1. The AC compressor and other components were gone when I bought the car last fall so I continued the removal of the A/C by removing the evaporator. I installed an AC delete panel and mounted the blower motor to it. I mounted the AC/Blower motor relay below the A/C delete panel I installed and maintained that same wiring for that relay.
2. I connected the same wires to the blower motor that were connected before I started. One PPL wire to the terminal and one black wire with a connector to a single spade bolted to one of the blower motor mount screws. (is this supposed to be grounded? The mount screw and spade go into the "plastic" A/C delete panel)
The black wire terminal goes under one of the mounting screws that holds the blower motor to the fiberglass, this provides the ground. There should be another ground with a large lug, this originally mounted by the evap box on the firewall, it's towards the top, this must be grounded for the motor to work right
3. There is a 4 prong resistor and a 2 prong switch terminal that were mounted to the evaporator (which was removed) that I left alone and the wiring for them is not connected to anything at this point., you need this if you want a functioning blower
4. There was one wire (black I believe) that went from the right terminal on the horn relay over to the A/C harness and had an inline fuse in it. I removed this wire and the fuze (thinking I didn't need them).Now you will have no "HIGH" on your blower settings
5. The temp sending unit was on the pass side, I moved it to the drivers side but ran into problems where the connector was contacting the header pipe. After consulting with you pro's on this site I switched to a single prong temp sending unit and connected the solid green wire to that. The green/white wire is dangling. Ground the green wire, if the "HOT" light comes on, assuming you have dummy lights, you've done good ;)
6. Both TCS relays are still present and connected.
7. Both the Engine wiring harness and the forward lamp harness are brand new.

Sorry for the length but I wanted to try to provide as much detail as possible to help isolate the problem. What do you think?

Joe.. Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I'll definitely get started checking all the grounds. A couple quick questions.

1. You mention making sure the regulator is secure and grounded and that the alternator is as well. My alternator never had any separate ground. Are you suggesting it should?

2. So I basically need to reinstall all of the original AC wiring just to maintain a fully functional blower motor? Can I mount the 4 prong resistor and the 2 prong switch to the AC delete panel or would I be better off trying to find somewhere on the firewall to mount them?

Thanks again.

Pat

1. You mention making sure the regulator is secure and grounded and that the alternator is as well. My alternator never had any separate ground. Are you suggesting it should?
Generally, the alternator doesn't need a seperate ground. If you painted all the brackets and the engine, the ground path from alternator to engine may be poor. Just scrape them to bare metal where the brackets, alternator and engine meet.


2. So I basically need to reinstall all of the original AC wiring just to maintain a fully functional blower motor? Can I mount the 4 prong resistor and the 2 prong switch to the AC delete panel or would I be better off trying to find somewhere on the firewall to mount them?

Thanks again.

Pat

The resistor needs to be mounted where the blower blows air on it, or it will burn up in short order.

You need to replace this part.........
4. There was one wire (black I believe) that went from the right terminal on the horn relay over to the A/C harness and had an inline fuse in it. I removed this wire and the fuze (thinking I didn't need them).
in order to have high speed on you blower.

You can remove ALL of the A/C wiring and convert to heat only, but it is a lot more involved (diff resistor, blower, fan switch ect...)

Thanks Greg. So here's where I'm at. I'm staying focused on the lights/alternator issue and leaving the blower motor alone for now. The blower motor is not working at any speed and I can only assume it's because of what you mentioned in that I need to take that switch terminal and resistor off of the removed evaporator and put them back on the car and connect their wiring. Also need to add back that one wire that went from the right terminal on the horn relay with the inline fuse to the AC wiring harness.

So for the gen light issue.

First thing I did was check the grounds by the headlights. Removed the screws, wire brushed the contact area of the radiator support down to bare metal and re-attached screws. Made sure regulator was making good contact to radiator support as well. I then did the same thing to ground from the battery neg to the fender. I then removed the alternator and cleaned the area where the alternator contacts the bracket and where the neg battery cable is bolted.

Still had dimly lit gen light when car running and still only 12V at the battery.

So I took the alternator to NAPA and had them bench test it. It failed. So I picked up a remanufactured one they had on the shelf and installed it. No more gen light. Seems that issue is solved.

So for the lights issue

No change after all of the work above. Here's some more detail on the issue.

Engage Left Blinker
- Left indicator flashes inside car
- Fwd and rear lights all blinking (just like hazards).

Engage Right blinker
- Right indicator light on solid inside car
- Right rear light on solid.
- Right front light off.

Now here's what happens when I turn the headlights on and do the same procedures. Immediately when the headlights are turned on the left indicator inside the car is on solid.

Engage Left blinker
- Left indicator light still on solid inside car.
- Left rear light on solid.
- Left front light not on.

Engage Right blinker
- Right indicator light on solid inside car.
- Right rear light on solid.
- Right front light not on.

What do think guys?

Thanks

Pat

Engine should be grounded to body also. right front, bad bulb or rusty sockett, no ground.

thanks don... so i went and replaced both front blinker bulbs with the 1157 bulbs. all of the issues I was seeing with the lights/blinkers seem to be gone now, thankfully. the only oddity now is the delay on the blinking seems noticeably longer now. seems about a one sec trigger between on and off. any thoughts on this one guys?

thanks

Pat

Hey guys.. Any thoughts on why the blinking delay would be longer since I swapped in the new blinker bulbs?

Thanks

Pat

Try replacing the flasher.

Old flasher can cause slow flash.

Some over 50 have trouble getting the overcoat closed quickly. :)

LOL... Thanks Verle.