While idling in neutral (800rpm) w/lights on my battery voltage reads about 14.3 volts, but when I put it in drive (~650rpm) my battery voltage drops to around 13 volts. When I put it back in neutral the voltage slowly climbs back to 14.3.

If I set my idle any lower the car wants to die while in drive.

Could this be a voltage regulator issue? Both my battery and alternator have checked out okay.

Thanks for the help!

What year is your car?

This is normal with older low-amp alternators.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Sorry, its a 64 Dart. That's good to hear that it's normal. Thanks for the information!

go to the electrical portion of this site and it'll show you how to update your alt. makes all the difference......welcome to the site BTW
MaX

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1966 barracuda 360
1964 signet conv. 170 turbo
Bonneville or Bust 2012

Thanks MaX! I was just looking around and found this link about upgrading the alternator:

http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Elec ... arging.htm

Is this what you are referring to?

Also, thanks for the welcome!

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64 Dart GT - 225

Yep .........that's it .........way too simple just find you a two field alternator and ground one of the field wires to the alt. Then proceed as normal........you'll be happy ..car will be happy
take care
max

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1966 barracuda 360
1964 signet conv. 170 turbo
Bonneville or Bust 2012

You mentioned grounding one of the field wires to the alternator. In the link they suggest connecting the second field wire to the new VR. Does that sound right to you? Anyway, I'll do some more reading as I've got a lot to learn. Thanks for the help!

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64 Dart GT - 225

You are right .............that thread is if you want to upgrade your alternator regulator.
If you don't want to go with the transistorised voltage reg., just ground one field wire to the alt case and leave everything as is. Sorry about the mis-understanding.
MaX


Lots more info in electrical the hEI set up is great!

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1966 barracuda 360
1964 signet conv. 170 turbo
Bonneville or Bust 2012

Yeah, the hEI update is next on my list. I just need to figure out how to setup the relay (been studying up on my electrical). I also want to keep a clean look without a lot of wires and possibly go back to the points system as a backup.

As far as the alternator upgrade (newer alternator with second field wire grounded), is the primary benefit just having the bigger alternator (more output) or is there something else causing the improvement?

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64 Dart GT - 225

You'll get 60 amps instead of 35 to 40 amps. just by changing the alt and grounding the field wire.
MaX

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1966 barracuda 360
1964 signet conv. 170 turbo
Bonneville or Bust 2012