[gibbons]

I washed the '68 and then went for a little spin. After a few miles, I noticed the dash lights going dim, and then the turn signals wouldn't work. I barely made it home with any juice (9V), but the engine kept running fine with the Accel HEI supercoil ignition set up. Hmmmmm, never done this before.

I have an external regulator alternator. I checked inside the voltage regulator (a few months old), the relay contacts were fine and no fried wires. All the under hood wires are in tact, connected, and running where they are supposed to be. No alternator idiot light indications while the lights were going dim. No smoke, no abnormally hot components. No water from the washing got under the hood.

A couple of spins ago, the alternator light came on when I started it. I revved it a bit, but it didn't turn off. I think twice in the last year the alternator light has glowed faintly on starting, but a rev shut it off. I stopped the engine and restarted and it did not come on again. It has operated flawlessly.

Any ideas on where to start de-bugging this??? Thanks for the help.

members.aol.com/kengibbons/auto/index.htm

 

[Tom Mobley]

I think you need an alternator.

 

[Todd]

Check your fusable links also.

 

[Woj]

Sounds like you might have a bad alternator. I'd get it bench checked at a local shop before buying a new or rebuilt-or just have that one rebuilt. Other things to check: make sure your grounds and battery connections are clean, wire connections to the alternator and voltage regulator are clean, and finally, make sure your alternator belt is tight enough. One more thing; think about getting your battery load tested as well. I don't think it should have drained down that quickly. Good luck.

[This message has been edited by Woj (edited 06-12-99).]

 

[gibbons]

Looks like popular opinion has the alternator winning.... I'm going to yank it and the battery this morning and check them.

The connections to the battery and all other wiring are tight and very clean. The fuse links are not burned through. I charged the battery overnight, and the autocharger turned off.

How do you do an internal votage regulator alternator conversion? Any tricks or special stuff to buy? I really should do this, right???

Thanks again double.

Ken Gibbons

 

[Guest]

Ken,
After market external voltage regulators are available that are solid state. A trick I use for conversions to internally regulated alternators is to disassemble one of these solid state regulators, and using a soldering iron remove the circuit board from the four pins that run to the connector tabs. Solder a wire lead to connect the outer 2 pins(1 &4) Solder another wire lead to connect the inner 2 pins(2&3). Reassembled the cover to the regulator and mount as the original, plugging it in to the factory harness. Now simply install the internally regulated alternator. You will have to remove the terminals from the orginal alternator connector(blue & white leads) and insert them in the side by side connector from a car having this type of alternator orginally. Make sure to check the orientation of the wires before doing this. Then simply plug it in. The installation looks original except for the alternator connector plug, and only very astute critics will pick up on it.

Mark

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[rick]

Gibbon check this for some good info www.chevelles.com/techref/index.html
item 14.

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Rick Schaefer
72 El Camino
(soon to be TPI)
ACES # 00140
TEAM CHEVELLE #00038
NCOA #16197

 

[gibbons]

Well, it was the alternator. I replaced it with an internal regulated unit, and it was simple. It consisted of mounting the new alternator, plugging in an adapter pigtail, connecting the big red wire and new pigtail red wire to the main power lug connection, connecting the new pigtail white wire to the white wire in the harness, abandon the blue wire in the harness, remove the old regulator, and jump the white and brown wires in the old regulator plug. Of course, using nice rings, solder, and tape to sanitize it is implied.

No, my car is not a numbers car, so I didn't care about the non-stock look. However, I sure do like the even brightness dash lights at idle and brighter headlights!

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