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I just spent a couple of hours tracing wires from Alternator thru the bulkhead and back thru the fusible link to the battery on my 70 B-body. I had just over 13.8 volts at the alternator and it would rise & fall with engine speed & I had the same voltage at bulkhead "P" which sends the positive voltage to a buss of which one lead goes to the ammeter & straight back to bulkhead "J" to the fusible link and to 'Battery" on the starter relay. I could only get 11-12 volts at Bat+. I cleaned the connectors at both the male & female connector "J" and i still had the problem
To fix the problem temporarily I ran a 12 Gauge wire from the alternator to the fusible link which I had disconnected from the bulkhead "J". I now have alternator voltage at Bat+. The ammeter does not work now of course. But the battery has 13.8vdc at Bat+ & will now charge the battery.
I really hate to change the wiring to the bat+. I did use the female spade connector to the Bat+ and put some heat shrink on my new connection. it is a clean connection. The wire from the ammeter goes straight to connection "J" without connecting to anything else on it's way to the bulkhead
My question is has anyone else had this issue with wire coming from the Ammeter back thru the firewall to the battery positive. If so, share your fix with me. I'd hate for something bad to happen.
Last edited by WagonMaster (6/15/2012 11:59 pm)
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Those bulkhead connections were known for setting cars on fire.
Before I switched to a one-wire alternator, I rerouted my factory alternator direct to the battery using some 4awg cable.
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Well when you said 4 gauge I was thinking overkill, but that what we have for the battery cables, right? I have plenty of 4 gauge laying around from car stereo applications & I can get some lugs from work. I recall the 70 Charger we owned some years ago and the owner before me had run a wire thru a new hole in the fire wall to run for the connection tfrom the ammeter to the starter relay. I've never liked ammeters as all the positive connections must pass thru it first.
Where might I look to find a one wire alternator for my Mopar? I had one in my chevelle, you can find Generic Motors stuff anywhere. But I've never looked, or thought of installing one in the wagon. I'm sure there would be one of higher amperage which would allow me to run a "proper" stereo. Jegs? Summit? Locally?
Thanks for the reply,
Rennie Kontak
70 Belvedere Wagon /6
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