Can someone please explain to me the internal alternator conversion!!!!

Discussion in 'Sparky's corner' started by thapachuco, Nov 21, 2008.

  1. thapachuco

    thapachuco Well-Known Member

    i do not have an 80. i have a 67 that used to have an external regulator that i removed so as to "simplify" the system.

    apparently that didnt happen! ugh!! im so frustruated. its still running too hot for me to touch.
     
  2. 70sLark

    70sLark Well-Known Member



    Your trying to run a simple system while keeping the complicated wiring.

    Why GM went to the 1 wire system wired like mine is, its simple, less problems and easy to sort out problems they come up.

    You gonna hafta rewire some stuff as I bet your problem is in the wiring your trying to jumper.

    Id make some long leads for a volt meter and test the resistance of the old wiring your trying to use. It may look good but can be bad on the inside.

    Member electricity flows on the outside of the wire, not down the middle like a pipe.
    Easy for the wire to get nasty green or brown under the covering where you cant see it and make gobs of resistance you dont need. Which make heat.
     
  3. Schurkey

    Schurkey Silver Level contributor

    Yes. 70sLark has an '80, and he thinks you need to convert your older car to the wiring routing that his has. I consider that to be the simplest--but not the best--solution; but there's no guarantee that it will work.

    Then there's probably something still wrong. What you NEED is an ammeter; but ammeters with ~100 amp scales are hard to find and expensive.

    Unlike "aftermarket" 1-wire alternators, yours is still a 3-wire system. The only thing that changed is where the voltage sensing terminal of the internal regulator is connected to the voltage source. In your case, it's connected to the back of the alternator; and in thapaucho's it's connected remotely--at the external voltage regulator's plastic connector block.

    Entirely possible--but--since the voltage sensing wire is within 1/4 volt of the alternator output, I consider that unlikely.

    I thought "skin effect" had been discredited except at very high AC frequency...

    ...but your point is well-taken: Corroded wire and bad connections are not optimum.
     
  4. 70sLark

    70sLark Well-Known Member

    Im thinking that you confusing the poor man though with to much detail im afraid.

    If he was blowing up voltage regs and the current system is running hot.
    trying to keep it wired like a 67 has to be the problem.

    Id wire like a hot rod and be done with it, it will charge just fine.

    figure out a dash amp gauge in other crap later.

    The only easy way Im afraid now is to wire like a rod or pony up several $100 bills and let a shop work it out. You can then blame them when its still funky.

    Im washing my hand on this one.
     
  5. thapachuco

    thapachuco Well-Known Member

    thanks everyone for your input. I found that my horn relay had been taken out and the hot + wire running to it was then connected directly to the horn lead.

    this hot wire is part of the charging system, so i have reason to believe that this may have caused some resistance due to the fact that it wasnt connected factory.

    so i replaced the relay and the other two wires, one to the dash and the other to the horn. and my volt meter is reading about 14.5 volts, where as yesterday i belive it was reading less.

    Keeping my fingers crossed. thank you again for all the help!!! :TU:
     
  6. thapachuco

    thapachuco Well-Known Member

    what would the hotrod style wiring be? the way youre explaining it?
     
  7. 70sLark

    70sLark Well-Known Member

    still in the wind on this one???
     
  8. thapachuco

    thapachuco Well-Known Member

    ? its been garaged since.
     
  9. 70sLark

    70sLark Well-Known Member

    Well no one seems to want to help but to point out that what I say is wrong.

    But if all you care about right now is your battery charging and not blowing up the Altf rom heat.

    Yea id wire it like mine.

    Run cable from back of the alt straight to the battery, you can leave the other two wires alone I bet.

    That or save some loot and let a pro tear into the wiring.
     
  10. thapachuco

    thapachuco Well-Known Member

    Cool thanks. Meaning that the other red wire connects to nothing, where it originally was to the back of the alt right?
     
  11. thapachuco

    thapachuco Well-Known Member

    do you know if the 67 skylark power window motors fit a 1967 lesabre window motor as a replacement?

    NEVERMIND
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2009
  12. 70sLark

    70sLark Well-Known Member

    Take the big red wire that hooks to the back of the alt and run it directly to the + on the battery. Im bettin the rest of the wiring is fine, but its your daisy chain of that big one off the alt into your home made jumpers is your cause of heat. Let the alt directly send juice into the battery which can soak up everything its trying to send out / its not gonna get super hot then.

    [​IMG]
     
  13. thapachuco

    thapachuco Well-Known Member

    thanks im going to try it and see what happens.! Thanks for all the help
     
  14. thapachuco

    thapachuco Well-Known Member

    i idscovered today after tearing open the wiring harness sheath or electrical tape that the wires connecting to the alternator were spliced half was down the harness and were holding on by a thread :( ive since re connected them. Keeping my fingers crossed.
     
  15. thapachuco

    thapachuco Well-Known Member


    so where are your plug wires going? i see one (red "R or f" terminal?) is going to the output to the battery. Where is your black or other one going to?
     
  16. 70sLark

    70sLark Well-Known Member

    My plug wires are all over. I was lazy and didn't custom cut them, one of them uni accell wire kits but near $20 cheaper.

    Wiring in the chassie manual says its a brown wire but I can't trace it out. Runs into the fuse block and I don't se it come out. I know its a 25amp fuse.
    ONly wires coming out are a tan, and brown/white that run to alt oil gauges.

    Im sure it just for the dash gauge or something. As how else would it be able to know if its charging. Or maybe its a switching wires. I don't know, just guessing right now. Though its all factory. What does your wires run to?

    Should be all over the web what what them wires are for. Folks use them things to hoptie up home made generators n stuff, seen one with a CS144 used as a tig welder. Using the juice right out of the alt to weld with.
     
  17. 70sLark

    70sLark Well-Known Member

    "On the smaller wire, you run this to the Ignition switch and 12 volts. This is the exciter wire. Most people put a diode in the line, or I just put a 12 volt incandescent bulb (jewel light) on the dash to tell me when the alternator crapped out. Wire from ignition switch to light, and light to alternator."
     
  18. 70sLark

    70sLark Well-Known Member

    full thing

    [​IMG]
     
  19. thapachuco

    thapachuco Well-Known Member

    thanks for the diagram ill have to jump the terminal to the output. Thanks!
     

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