Battery draining fast

Bud,

Thanks for the picture. It's becoming clear someone was getting creative in the wiring in this car and they did not do a very good job of it. Where does the other end of that lighter gauge red wire go?

As Nm9 points out the brown wire is the starter solenoid wire from the starter relay. The battery cable to the starter is a very high current connection and needs to be clean and tight with a good lock washer under the nut. I agree with Nm9, that terminal on the lighter gauge red wire looks very poorly done. If you have other places in the wiring with this type of poor work you're going to have no end of intermittent problems. This is why I had asked for some pictures of the general wiring under the hood. If all the wiring is in poor condition it may be time for some new wiring harnesses or at least some rewiring.

The correct wiring of the charging path should be- A black wire from the alternator output stud to the bulk head connector an then to one side of the ammeter. A red wire from the other side of the ammeter to the bulk head connector an then through the fusible link to the 5/16" battery stud on the starter relay. Part of the positive battery cable should also connect to the 5/16" stud on the starter relay to complete the charging circuit. Can you post a picture of the starter relay area so we see the wiring there?