Rapom's Rocket - just another Duster build thread
Dion what's going on with your wiring, maybe we can help?
Charging issues. Started over a year ago when one night the amp gauge showed a hard discharge and then the next morning it showed a huge overcharge (pegs to the right at start and then middle of the charge side at a high idle). Ive been fighting it ever since, car has been sitting the whole time. Recently replaced the battery which finally got the amp gauge to read right (comes down to center after running awhile), but now I am reading 15.5v or so across the battery posts. Had the alternator tested and replaced the voltage regulator with no change. Used 67Dart273s process to check for voltage drop and I do in fact have a huge drop at the blue wire on the alternator (1.5-2v). Ive checked and cleaned connections, replaced the wiring harness under the hood, pulled the harness under the dash and checked it and cleaned the connections at the bulkhead, swapped in a different amp gauge, removed the amp gauge from the circuit entirely and plugged a different ignition switch into the harness. Nothing seems to help. Even went and replaced the ignition box in case it was drawing a bunch of voltage or something.
The weird thing is, I get a voltage drop at just about every connection leading out to the alternator, and each location is worse than the other. For example, I get no voltage drop on the red wire at the amp gauge, .2v drop on the black wire at the amp gauge, .75v drop at the ignition switch, 1v at the bulkhead and 1.2v at the engine wiring harness plug. Why does it just get worse?
The only thing I can think of that is left is the welded splice, but I dont see why I would get a drop on one side of the amp gauge if that was the issue since the welded splice is after that.
I dont believe this is an issue with the bulkhead connection, this is a voltage drop on the blue wire when the car is not running, and it happens under the dash as well. Plus, I get zero voltage drop on the red wire at the amp gauge which tells me the connection at the bulkhead is fine on the main power feed. So I dont believe the MAD conversion is worth doing or will fix my issue.
Nor do I think the amp gauge is the problem since I removed it and it didn't change anything.
Know anybody that wants an original 74 Duster 360 4 speed car? It runs, but shouldn't be driven. :violent1:
BTW, car looks good!
