Months ago, I upgraded my voltage regulator to electronic-type* when I installed my HEI ignition.
Now I am replacing a bad (one FLD terminal) alternator with a 73 alternator.
Initially, I am going to ground one FLD terminal.
Is there an advantage to wiring up the 73-type voltage regulator and running the extra wire from it to the second FLD term?

*Later, I found out that I really had not upgraded. I still had a points-type regulator. See pg 2.

Since good electronic regulators are available for the old-style single terminal alternators, there's not much real advantage to going to the newer style two-terminal design, other than the fact that those regulators are much more commonly available than good electronic old-style regulators. But just buy a spare or keep a working old-style mechanical regulator around to use in a pinch.

FWIW- go with an '80 or newer alternator. They've got a little better output at idle than the 73. The newer style is identifiable by 1) 3 bolts in the front case-half behind the pulley, and 2) a thinner band of stator laminations visible between the case halves.

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I thought I had everything hooked up right...
I had the new alternator installed and the old voltage regulator was doing its job. I already bought the alt before you answered, so it's for a 1973.
The new battery was 12.7 volts off the shelf, and it read 13.2 v before I started it today.
I was keeping an eye on the ammeter and suddenly it pegged while I was driving at 25 mph in Drive.
I shut the engine off and pulled over.
I cautiously started it again and the needle was OK at idle.
I measured 13.4 volts at the battery terminals, but then I increased the rpm to about 1000.
Now it showed about 15.5 volts and electrolyte started bubbling out of the caps. I stopped it asap.

I just ordered a new voltage regulator. It's rated for 60 amps.
Why are some old-type VRs rated at 35 amps and some at 60?
Doesn't it just control whether the field coil is powered up?

I'm going to use the directions on this site for bypassing the bulkhead terminals and the ammeter.

http://www.madelectrical.com/

Will a 2 1/4 inch voltmeter fit in place of the old ammeter?

God, here we go again with that dumb site.

A bunch of Chevy-heads pontificating on how "unreliable" the Mopar electrical system is, and scaring you with their blather about how "failure-prone" the in-dash ammeter is, and gabbing about how useless an ammeter is and how much more useful a voltmeter is. What a bunch of hooey.

And no, a 2-1/4" or any other size voltmeter will not fit in place of the stock ammeter. Only the stock ammeter fits in place of the stock ammeter. There is no reason to be afraid of your stock ammeter, or to bypass it. If it needs repair, repair it. Otherwise, there's no reason you shouldn't leave it be.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

yeah, but they have some cool wiring diagrams relating to adapting headlight relays to old cars for better output, wouldn't you agree dan?

-james

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Top posting just for grins....

A pegging ammeter can mean several different things.

1) with the "one-wire" system you have, it usually means that the voltage regulator is losing its ground connection to the chassis. Make sure its bolted down tight, paint scraped off its "ears" where the bolts go, and maybe use star-type lockwashers under the bolt heads to dig in good.
2) it can mean a failed VR too.

3) with the later "two-wire" system, it can mean all of the above, PLUS it can mean a short-to-ground somewhere in the field wiring (the green wire from the alt back to the VR, not the blue feed wire), or even inside the alternator rotor itself (been there, done that, took a while to figure out!)

You're right in that the vR just regulates the field current, and all the alternators draw pretty much the same field current. There were slight differences in rotor winding, though, so I can see why there might be slightly different VRs. I've never noticed different ratings for the electronic versions, though, which I always use.

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No, I would not. Their headlamp relay method is halfassed. It leaves long lengths of old/thin factory wiring. Mine isn't and doesn't.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

No reason not to. This here ain't Usenet.
And run a ground loop.
Agreed on all points.
There were two different field current draw specs: 2.3 to 2.7 up through '69, and 4 to 5 starting in '70. This was one reason why they went to the electronic regulator, because the higher field current draw tended to be too much for the contact points in the electromechanical regulator to handle reliably.
Correct, there was only one electronic '70-up regulator. It had a bunch of different part numbers through the years, but the same regulator was used whether your alternator was a 40 or a 100 amp unit, or anything in between.

Speaking of which, my highly-trusted Wisconsin rotating-electrics rebuilder has a large stash of brand new (NOT rebuilt, NOT remanufactured), American-made 60-Amp alternators for our cars. They're set up for single-field service, but have the rear housing that accepts either two insulated brushes (for 2-field service) or one insulated and one self-grounding brush (for single-field service).

I'll make a separate post about these; seems a fair number of people have had difficulty finding good quality alternators lately.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

SixSignet: Be advised that slantsix.com is a better place to go for chitchat, noise, and unsupportable opinion palmed off as advice, while this board is a better place to go to get your car fixed.

(No, in case you're wondering, it has nothing to do with where I post. Even if I never posted here and every single one of my posts were erased, the information here would still be of far higher and more reliable quality than on slantsix.com).

The reason I bring this up is that you're not asking all the same questions over here as you are over there, and as a result you're leaving yourself open to unnecessary car hacks and/or unsatisfactory fixes. Wasted time, effort, money.

You wondered on slantsix.com why the Echlin VR-1001 is listed as "Exc. 60A Alt". It has nothing to do with the rating or capacity of that regulator (which, by the way, is the same as Mopar P3690732 and Standard-Bluestreak VR-128). It has more to do with the cruddiness of the napaonline.com electronic catalogue.

VR-1001 is the electronic alternative to VR-32, which is the original-type electromechanical regulator with breaker points. Vehicles that got 60A alternators didn't use the VR-32 type regulator P/N 2098300 (superseded to 2444348 and then to 3000074) from the factory. Instead, they used P/N 2444980 (later superseded to 2723517). This is a larger regulator with heavy-duty contact points and a handy external voltage adjustment screw, and is available as Standard-Bluestreak VR-106. I've used this regulator with good results.

Note that Standard-Bluestreak also offers VR-101, transistorised replacement for the original regulator. That's a good one, too.

There's no reason why you couldn't use Echlin VR-1001 or Standard-Bluestreak VR101 or VR128 with a 60A alternator; they'll both handle it just fine. You can see, though, how the catalogue info came about: When VR-1001 was introduced, they looked at the applications for VR-32, saw that it was used on all except '66-'69 vehicles with 60A alternator, so that info was repeated for the VR-1001.

On the other hand, dual-field regulators VR-138 (Echlin) VR125 (Standard-Bluestreak) work well, too.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

OK.
Is the Niehoff AL157B voltage regulator a good pick? That's the one I have on order.

Is it a (nother) mistake to stay with the old-type vr when I have a newer alternator?
Are the flat 70's voltage regulators cheaper and more reliable?

If I stay with an electronic version of the old-style vr, what wiring modifications/upgrades do you recommend?

The connections at the ammeter were cleaned, polished and treated with a contact cleaner 3 months ago.
I think the wire from the BAT terminal to the bulkhead and to and from the ammeter are only 12 ga on a 1963 - is that enough to handle up to 60 amps?

I like the idea of running a ground wire from the voltage regulator to the alternator's case.

That should be the Niehoff-branded version of the large "60A" points-style regulator, but without the external voltage adjust screw. You'll have to drill additional mounting holes, since it's not a direct bolt-on for the original regulator. If you don't mind living without E-Z line voltage adjustment, it should be fine.
You should be OK. Do run that ground loop I linked to above.
Less expensive, usually. More reliable? Donno. Your original regulator worked fine for how many decades before the points stuck...?
Ground loop, ground loop, ground loop. Whichever regulator you use!


Good.
12 or 10; I've got the '63 FSM at the office.
Pushin' it a little at 12ga, but if you're worried about it, you can always simply run additional 12ga or 10ga wires alongside the originals.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

They said it's an electronic-type.
My VR-32 points-type never failed. I replaced it with an electronic one about 6 months ago, because I installed an HEI ignition.
My 63 FSM says The black wire (R-6) from BAT is 12 and red (A1-A) from bulkhead to relay is 12.

It's points type. The guy who ordered it for me was surprised.

Might've superseded. Be interesting to see what arrives. Got a camera/post a pic?
Ah, gotchya. Which electronic unit died on you?

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I couldn't find any markings on the VR, so I took the cover off.
It electromechanical. Points type. That explains a lot.

The AL157B was also points-type.

I have decided to go with the modern flat VR and picked up a connector at pickaparts yesterday.

I can run a 10 ga wire from the alt to the bulkhead connector, but my FSM says the red and black wires from the bulkhead connector to the ammeter are also 12...

It seems like drilling holes and running 10 ga wires ( bypassing the bulkhd conn.) from the alt to ammeter to starter relay (like that darn site says) may be a good idea.


About wiring the newer VR - the wire with the ring terminal on the top of the old VR should splice onto the wire at the center of the triangular VR connector, right?
Is there a wiring diagram somewhere for this conversion?