sl6 dan, joshie, 65 dodge , danny and emstivil. rule #1 check the simple stuff first. i forgot it this time and feel like a damn fool which i hate feeling like. the problem was dirty plug connection at the regulator plug and possibly a bad regulator. with a known good alt and a spare regulator installed and a fully charged good battery it stillhad 12.5v at the back of thealt and at the battery while idling . had a tough time pulling out and pushing in the plug so i sprayed it with wd 40 to make it easier to move, cleaned it with a q tip and reinstalled it. started car and had 14v at battery and back of alt. ran car all around and had good electrics. took the two spare alternators to autozone for checking. one failed, bad rectifier and regulator ciruit and one passed all the tests. swapped one in car is ok too. learned a lot from reading your posts. had some errors in how i thought the charging system worked in these old tanks. will be rereading the charging sections in the petersen and stockel books. does it make any difference which order the two field connectors are connected to the alt? i switched them and it didnt seem to affect anything. thanks tons for your guidance; wouldnt have known "watt"to do otherwise.(sorry couldnt control myself).bob f