two electrical questions

[Lord Warlock]

Been adding a few new parts to the old car, getting ready to tackle engine bay wiring again.  Have an original engine harness that has been patched up a bit with new connectors from a new harness I managed to screw up and melt in places. 

Two questions I need to cover.  Question 1:  I added a new single wire alternator to the car, it is a 70 style square back with a built in regulator.  this means I have to remove the original voltage regulator from the firewall as it isn't needed anymore.  Don't see a point in disabling the regulator and leaving it plugged in as it used to be, from what I've read on other threads here, I'm supposed to tape up the connectors.  Am I supposed to connect the leads to each other before I tape them down to the harness?  so the wire that normally attaches to the right side, contacts the lead of the left side?  Or do I just tape them down not connected to anything?  Was considering using one of the old regulator leads to power the positive lead to the choke, but so rarely need a choke that it isn't that important.  Will deal with it later. I plan on playing with the wiring tomorrow or this weekend, so figure i'll throw these out there today, to prepare me for the harness.

Question #2:   I added a new Firecore RTR distributor and coil.  From what I understand, this means I no longer need to use the ballast resistor.  I plan on just taping the ballast resistor leads down, there is no need to connect the two leads together here also is there? 

Once I get the new deletions settled, I can hook up the harness to the battery and see if it starts to melt anywhere.  I will likely remove the engine harness and put in a new one later just to be safe, right now the priority is to get the engine started again, which I hope to try this weekend.  There are quite a few steps in the firecore install I still have to do, like set timing etc but want to make sure the loose connections are handled before I start hooking up the hot lead.  I've already run a separate wire from battery lead of alternator to the starter relay connector on the firewall.  I know that I'll also probably have to do some work on the ammeter/alternator gauge bypass, but figure that can wait till after the car starts first.  It shouldn't start a fire behind the dash on initial start with no real electrical load. 

[BLK 68 R/T]

Question 1 - No, you do not need to do anything with the old leads to the voltage regulator other than tape them back out of the way.
Question 2 - I'm not sure with the Firecore dist. but with MSD you have to either solder in a jumper wire in the original ballast or connect the wires together. Do the firecore distributor instructions not say what to do?

[Lord Warlock]

Still reading the directions for the distributor, I'd read several threads on the alternator and regulator but got conflicting info so was confused.  The alternator instructions were almost non existant, think they were 4 steps long and didn't say anything about what to do with the regulator wires.  The distributor instructions are more thorough, got thru parts about disassembly and installation, going to have to set timing at TDC to continue forward, and can't bump the ignition to move the distributor to the correct position until I hook the rest of the wiring harness up. 

Taped up the voltage regulator wires and moved that part of the harness back out of the way so it isn't sticking out.  I'll pay particular attention to the ballast connections if I see them. 

[BLK 68 R/T]

Good luck 

[b5blue]

The RTR is full 12V fed, connect the ballast wires together. Start/cranking is brown/tan= full 12V   Run= Blue runs through no longer used ballast. (If that helps.) You may need to change the curve and degree of the dizzy for fine tune but should be okay (close) out of the box.  Good Luck!

[Lord Warlock]

Ok so I guess i'll be making a small patch cord with two male ends to join the ballast wires together, and i'll make sure I separate the leads to the regulator.  glad to know what to do with those.  Should find out this weekend if the harness will hold up.  Getting closer to the goal, and that is the important part. 

[b5blue]

The one wire Alt. I have no experience dealing with but be careful. I think you'll need to tie the wires on the back of the ALT gauge to each other? (I avoided reverse feeding the system.) 

[Lord Warlock]

Ballast connections were joined, regulator connections separated and electrical taped to harness lead, and tucked under the hold downs on firewall.  Verified nuts were tight, and hooked up the battery, nothing melted, a good sign. Had to turn the motor over to get the distributor to #1, crank speed is awful slow (may have to put in a new starter) probably just the charge on a battery that has sat for months unhooked.  Got the firecore mounted but not wired to coil yet.  Will do it tomorrow.  

If the car starts and runs (idles) like it should can pay someone with a lift to do grunt work, but have to get it there first.  I don't mind bending over an engine bay, but for some reason I've lost the taste for laying on my back on concrete.  Probably because it hurts to get up and down...old age sucks.  

I plan on watching the alt gauge for misbehavior, if it looks like it is acting strange I'll shut down and think about pulling cluster out, wasn't ready to do gauges yet. 

[Dino]

The ammeter will look like it's acting strange regardless since you have a wire running from the alterator to the starter relay.  The ammeter will no longer read accurately because of it.  That's why it's a good time to just disconnect it and maybe run a volt meter instead.

[Lord Warlock]

Harness appears to be holding up, connections are done, distributor is installed and connected and plug wires are swapped over, didn't have coolant in motor or may have tried to start today, did go ahead and verify that the thermostat was in place, wasn't sure if I had taken it out or not, and didn't want to fill with water till I knew for sure.  Picked up new antifreeze at the store, then took out the AC radiator thingie in front of the radiator, figured since AC wasn't getting hooked up yet, it was blocking radiator from cooling so removed it.  Can always put it back. 

Prepping for Thanksgiving Week, going out of town Wednesday as most will be doing.  A few more small detail things to fix  and I should be able to hear the engine run again. 

[b5blue]

Don't forget we like pics! 

[Lord Warlock]

Have to wait for daylight, lights over car have to be replaced as soon as I can move it out of garage...

[b5blue]

Be CERTAIN the battery is 100% charged and if you run it down much charge it back up before proceeding. Keep in mind if cranking over a bunch the wires gets hot and that adds resistance, give things time to cool off. A small shot of starting spray can give the engine a kick that gets things going/running. I'm excited for ya! Good luck

[Lord Warlock]

Understood,  I charged the battery yesterday...or hope I did, the charger itself can't be trusted anymore, plan on getting another but not sure which one to get yet, a large unit on wheels or several tenders instead.  Usually need at least one good jumpstarting charger.  Been a while since the old craftsman unit bit the farm.  Anyway I charged at 10amps till fully charged, the 2amps for a few hours after that just to be sure.  The battery itself isn't that old either so no reason for it not to charge unless the charger is faulty. 

have several cans of starter fluid, gas is in the fuel lines and the pump should work suppose i'll find out soon.  Its a nice cool Fall day outside.

[b5blue]

Finally cool weather for us!    My charger crapped out last month. I bought this SHUMACHER SC-1200A-CA on Amazon a few weeks ago. Simple to use and nice automatic function in a compact unit it will charge and go into tend mode.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQSIWK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00   Looks to be 8.00 less right now.

[Lord Warlock]

well, wasn't able to hear it run today, got it to crank but realized the blue harness wire wasn't hooked up, attempted to do so and it wouldn't fit the firecore coil, tried to drill out the connector, mangled it so had to make a new wire to fit, got it done but have to wait till daylight to find the other end of the wire to the harness, will be a quick job tomorrow,  but no hiccup of fire from the beast yet.  soon.....soon.....

[Lord Warlock]

It is all hooked up, timing must be off because not getting any fire to plugs, could be any number of things, if have to can put it back to stock and get running that way first then swap out the distributor afterwards, but I plan on picking up or borrowing a timing light from my dad (hate to buy something for a one time use, doubt i'll set timing a second time in my lifetime).  Had to set it aside for now, have a long trip in the challenger tomorrow driving home to visit family. 

A picture of the motor as it sits.  

[Lord Warlock]

Never did get it running, after the holidays, chemo treatment kind of kicked my ass and hadn't felt like messing with it, got off the chemo after 6 treatments or infusions, its been 8 weeks and starting to feel more normal lately, so plan on going back out and playing with the charger again.  Invited neighbor to come over and assist again, plan on working on it around 1pm to 2pm today, so we'll see how it goes.  got a replacement harness as the old one had issues, and the previous new one I melted somehow.  Looked back to find this thread so I knew what wires I had to connect together, and which ones I didn't.  Lost a nut on the distributor, jumped out of my hand and fell under the motor somewhere, went to hardware store last night and bought 15 nuts...just in case. 

[b5blue]

  We are rooting for ya!    I can't imagine what your going through. I worked on my car and remodeled 70% of my house over the last 18 months while using all time off and vacation time when not working and burned out. Had a week off recently and did very little for 7 days and not much the other 2.  Sometimes rest is best, I wish I was closer we could get ya running at least. 

[Lord Warlock]

It was a strike out, would crank, but not getting spark to the plug wires or plugs. Stymied neighbor who has heard it start before and works on cars for a living. Verified connections for distributor were correct , blue wire is hot red to positive, orange to negative, ground to valleypan end pieces.  Tried connecting previous regular coil to see if could get it to fire to metal ground and no luck, firecore coil no spark either.  Something isn't right wire wise, and I'm not an electrician.  It is nearing point of surrender and will just have it towed to the shop and let them diagnose it, all it costs is money. 

[b5blue]

Did you check/test with a jumper wire bypassing engine harness? 

[Lord Warlock]

Haven't tried it yet, may be worth attempting. can make some wires to use, how would I go about it?

[b5blue]

Jump + from battery, you have a big fat ground from battery to engine and a ground to chassis, possibly a ground strap at the rear of the engine right? Just supply + 12V to ignition and use your start remote to crank. (I like to use  clips of some sort so I can pull it off if needed.)