Started with a 72 duster with electronic orange box ignition.

Ok, so i've read here how to bypass the ballast, took my two Ignition wires, tied them together at the firewall, and started up. Car ran, but i noticed smoke at the firewall. Shut down, and felt the ammeter wire was very hot.

Someone in the past installed a Leece Neville Co. Voltage regulator with 3 posts and a bunch of wires to it, and disconnected the stock Volt Reg. and wires. Since nothing matches any wiring diagrams i have, I decided to go back to stock and start from there.

I picked up the new voltage regulator today, and started the wiring.


Ignition 1 is a blue wire. From the bulkhead it splits 2 ways, to the alternator, and to the ballast, and from the ballast to the voltage regulator.

Ignition 2 is a brown wire. From the bulkhead it goes to the other side of the ballast, then to the ignition coil.

Questions:

The green wire from the alternator that goes to the other side of the voltage regulator is a ground, i'm guessing. Do i run a 2nd wire from that alternator post to the battery negative terminal?

To bypass the ballast and feed the Msd little red wire:
Take the brown wire straight off the bulkhead.
Take the blue wire and splice it before the alternator and voltage regulator.

Solder the brown, blue and red msd wire together?

Why dont you scrap all that take the VR back & get a 1 wire GM ALT & be done with it, your voltage will be alot better & steady which electronics like MSD need.

Off the top of my head I dont know how to get you wired because its been along time sense I have even run a stock type ALT. But if this is the way you want to go & no one chimes in on it I will look it up & see.



Jess

Blue wire is ignition RUN.

Green wire is the ground the voltage regulator regulates, to control alternator output. Do not run the green wie to the battery negative. If the green wire is fully grounded, it will full-field the alternator.
Yes.

-S/6

Thanks..

Before i cut the wires, i saw that the negative wire from the alternator was going to the negative of the voltage regulator, and they also had a 2nd wire off that post grounded to the body. I'm not sure what full fielding is, but maybe that was one of the problems?

Eventually i'm going to have the alternator re-wound since it's probably never been touched.

Full-fielding the alternator means the alternator will put out the maximum voltage/amperage it is capable of producing. Somewhere around 18-20 volts and it's amperage rating. Not good for electrical systems, or the alternator.

BTW, it is poorly shown in my crude diagram above, but the center pin of the volatge regulator is ignition switched 12 volts. The upper right pin (as you look at the front) is the regulated ground. Upper left is not used.

The voltage regulator grounds itself through its case, so make sure it's mounting bolts are clean and tight. To ensure a good VR ground, you can run a short ground wire from one of the mounting bolts to a good chassis or engine block ground. However this is only needed if you cannot provide the VR a good mount-point ground for some reason.

-S/6

_________________
The "Silver Bullet"
87 Ram D150

Thanks again!

I ran a wire with a solderless loop connector on each end to the battery negative terminal from the back of the voltage regulator.

I also think that the alternator WAS full fielding before, as i was getting between 30 and 45 amps reading on the ammeter at fast idle and about 10-15 at idle.

After i rewired eveything back to original the ammeter readings were about 10-15 at fast idle, and 2-10 at normal idle.

Oh yeah, your diagram was fine, and thanks alot for going to the trouble of posting one.

Unless your battery is discharged, or you have high amperage draw items turned on (headlights, blower motor, electric fans, etc) the ammeter should read neutral, i.e. neither discharge nor charge.

If you have a multi-meter, check the voltage at the alternator output stud with the engine running. It should be around 13.5 volts, ±0.5 or so volts depending on wiring condition, battery charge, and the alternator and voltage regulator.

-S/6