[Darth Menace]

Hey, my mechanic friend was telling me to clean up the wires there as it looks ghetto, unsafe and looks like a rats nest. I was wondering about this wiring harness that's plugged into nothing...he didn't look too hard but he guessed that it was for the factory electric choke. I put the test light to it and it only got power on one side. I was wondering about this because if it's no longer necessary I want to remove it, OR if it is for the factory choke, can I use this as power for the edelbrock electric choke I am putting on?

sorry the picture is fuzzy...oddly my cell just didn't want to focus on it

[webfoot]

The factory used a divorced choke (mechanical) so that is not what that is. Can't tell from the pic but a wire color would help - is it black with a rubber boot terminal cover? If it has 12v with the ignition on the use it for the electric choke.

[Darth Menace]

Sorry, I will try to get a better picture. Also back about 10 inches from this harness I am holding it clips into a larger harness that splits this 2 wires into (I think) 4 and it goes from there. One minute

[Darth Menace]

As you can see it is hard to make out the real color of the wires. I can't even give an educated guess on that one



This is the second harness a little ways back. I was incorrect about the 2 wires into 4 as you can tell. It more or less loops 2 back into 2

[gto4evr]

somebody's customized your charging system. That 4 wire connector with the looping added to it originally went to an externally mounted voltage regulator that was mounted on the firewall. That customization changes the harnessing so you can use an internally regulated alternator on the car. The two prong wire connector would have gone to the old original external regulated alternator. The internal ones use a two wire connector that lays flat side by side, instead of that one that has them vertically side by side in orientation.

normally that two wire plug would have been cut off for the different two wire plug on the newer alternator, did they splice in the other lines further up the harness? Follow the two small wires from the alternator.

[Darth Menace]

Originally Posted by gto4evr

somebody's customized your charging system. That 4 wire connector with the looping added to it originally went to an externally mounted voltage regulator that was mounted on the firewall. That customization changes the harnessing so you can use an internally regulated alternator on the car. The two prong wire connector would have gone to the old original external regulated alternator. The internal ones use a two wire connector that lays flat side by side, instead of that one that has them vertically side by side in orientation.

normally that two wire plug would have been cut off for the different two wire plug on the newer alternator, did they splice in the other lines further up the harness? Follow the two small wires from the alternator.

there is a splice on the wires from the small clip I posted earlier and the loop I posted. I don't see any other splice.

that being said. I am not sure what two small wires on the alternator you mean. This here is the only thing attached to the alternator:

[gtohurstjudge]

Darth, on the stock charging system there are two prongs where that
black plastic cover is on the top of the alternator that a two wire plug with a blue wire and a white wire would plug in. also the alternator in your picture is not a 69 alternator, it
is a later model mid seventies internally regulated alternator. As stated earlier, a conversion
has been done on the charging system. whatever your other connector is, it doesn't belong on the car. If I were you I would order a new engine harness for the car and do away with all
the chopped up worn out wiring. If you do that, order a harness for a ram air car that has
a much safer routing of the wires to the starter down the front of the block then back. The
4 wire loop connector is just a jumper plug plugged into the connector that would plug into the
external voltage regulator that used to be mounted on the firewall behind the distributor for the
stock externally regulated charging system. I'll make this observation......the goal when buying
an old car is to buy an unmolested original car......yours is the exact opposite.....everything
has been molested for decades by people who had no idea what they were doing. Hang in there and we will try to help you sort it all out.

[Darth Menace]

Understood...glad to see it it something useless and not something that I have to go repairing, etc .

So that being said it was mentioned earlier, this does get power with the ignition (one of the sides at least), can I use that for an electric choke or is that ghetto? If not should I completely remove this thing as it is the main part of the rats next of wires tucked back there.

Originally Posted by gtohurstjudge

Darth, on the stock charging system there are two prongs where that
black plastic cover is on the top of the alternator that a two wire plug with a blue wire and a white wire would plug in. also the alternator in your picture is not a 69 alternator, it
is a later model mid seventies internally regulated alternator. As stated earlier, a conversion
has been done on the charging system. whatever your other connector is, it doesn't belong on the car. If I were you I would order a new engine harness for the car and do away with all
the chopped up worn out wiring. If you do that, order a harness for a ram air car that has
a much safer routing of the wires to the starter down the front of the block then back. The
4 wire loop connector is just a jumper plug plugged into the connector that would plug into the
external voltage regulator that used to be mounted on the firewall behind the distributor for the
stock externally regulated charging system. I'll make this observation......the goal when buying
an old car is to buy an unmolested original car......yours is the exact opposite.....everything
has been molested for decades by people who had no idea what they were doing. Hang in there and we will try to help you sort it all out.

[webfoot]

I'd get the external to internally regulator alternator harness conversion plug and use it as designed. They are cheap. The way it is set up there is no way for it to regulate the voltage.

A lot of people tap into the wiper motor plug for choke power.

[Darth Menace]

Originally Posted by webfoot

I'd get the external to internally regulator alternator harness conversion plug and use it as designed. They are cheap. The way it is set up there is no way for it to regulate the voltage.

A lot of people tap into the wiper motor plug for choke power.

Oh, I thought what was done was an upgrade, not a downgrade. Shows that I have no clue

[gto4evr]

what I'm seeing is an internally regulated alternator without a plug on it at all. I don't really see a need to replace the whole harness, it looks like someone did the jumper for cutting the external reg out of the loop, but didn't cut the alternator plug off to splice in the internal reg alternator plug. I have heard of "one wire" aftermarket alternators but have no clue what the cases look like.

okay, I just looked up one on ebay, they put a black plug over the slot where the two wire connector plugs in. Staring at your picture, I think you've got a cap over the connector (close to your middle finger in the picture) So that's why that plug is hanging unconnected, you've got a one-wire alternator conversion on the car.

[Darth Menace]

Originally Posted by gto4evr

what I'm seeing is an internally regulated alternator without a plug on it at all. I don't really see a need to replace the whole harness, it looks like someone did the jumper for cutting the external reg out of the loop, but didn't cut the alternator plug off to splice in the internal reg alternator plug. I have heard of "one wire" aftermarket alternators but have no clue what the cases look like.

okay, I just looked up one on ebay, they put a black plug over the slot where the two wire connector plugs in. Staring at your picture, I think you've got a cap over the connector (close to your middle finger in the picture) So that's why that plug is hanging unconnected, you've got a one-wire alternator conversion on the car.

Okay, so this is correct and the alternator should function as designed, although not ideal.

My car has a hard time starting, but I am thinking that is due to the crap crap crap carb and a somewhat weak battery (I had it tested and it got about 500CCA), so winter starting sure wasn't ideal. That being said once the car starts, it does continue to run and doesn't die out like when the alternator is pooched. So I think (famous last words) my alternator is all good.

[gto4evr]

Originally Posted by Darth Menace

Okay, so this is correct and the alternator should function as designed, although not ideal.

My car has a hard time starting, but I am thinking that is due to the crap crap crap carb and a somewhat weak battery (I had it tested and it got about 500CCA), so winter starting sure wasn't ideal. That being said once the car starts, it does continue to run and doesn't die out like when the alternator is pooched. So I think (famous last words) my alternator is all good.

yes, a simple test on the alternator is to get a voltmeter, (can get cheap ones at Harbor Freight for like $3 during their non-stop sales). With the car running you should see about 14.5 volts. Nothing that you've described sounds like a bad alternator anyways so this test would just be piece of mind that it's charging correctly. I have no experience with one wire alts other than knowing your idiot light is cut out of the circuit and won't function. I also didn't know that they don't start charging until you blip the throttle to exceed 1200rpms. Here's a link to nice description of the differences between the 1 and 3 wire alts. http://bob_skelly.home.comcast.net/~...ternator1.html