[Jagtec1]

OK, here goes. Car in question is a 64 Bonneville wagon, and I'm trying to convert to an internally regulated 12si alternator. The car had no motor when I bought it, and the wiring was a bit of a mess. It appears that it was still running the original setup. There is a regulator on the firewall with ONLY 2 wires, one Blue on the F terminal, and a Black wire on #3 terminal. The Black wire is ignition switched B+ (on in run but not accessory), the Blue wire I presume went to the F terminal on the old alternator. I cut open the harness, and there are NO other wires cut/clipped/buried anywhere. I have a Mad electrical kit to convert to the 12si, but the instructions don't jive with what I have to work with in terms of wiring. The car has no idiot light that I'm aware of, only an ammeter gauge in the dash (which I have no attachment to with regard to functionality).

How am I to wire this thing? I want to delete the external regulator, and I really don't care if the ammeter works or not. I will be adding an idiot light (I think it needs one to excite the alternator), diode (will be running MSD box) and a voltage gauge. Do I simply use the switched black wire through the idiot light and diode, and onto terminal #1 on the new alternator? And then add a "sense" wire from the #2 terminal on the alternator to the + battery post (or distribution block for any accessories)?

Thanks in advance...this is new to me. Race cars seemed simpler!

[george kujanski]

What you describe is the proper way to do it, with the added idiot lite. keep the ammeter if it is still connected, you can add the voltmeter also, but the ammeter will show you if the battery is being charged.

George

[Jagtec1]

Thanks for the affirmation George! So, I can leave the ammeter as wired from the factory and there is no need to worry about the higher output alternator?

[george kujanski]

If I recall, the ammeter shows only the current going into or out of the battery, not the actual output of the alternator. In the typical case, the battery current to the rest of the system or while charging a healthy battery will be not much different from your usage with the previous system.

George