MAD electrical upgrade question??

RedFish said

I choose to believe the fault is before that gauge. If not the male/female service disconnect on the fusible link, the link itself, or the bulkhead terminals. I wont argue that OEM amp gauges have failed but those failures are far out numbered by those other members in this current path. I challenge you to prove the instrument itself is the fault.
Any "work around/bypass" method suggested above would work. All lead to the same end result too. A dead instrument. Without some indication you cant know if you fixed anything nor will you know when there's a problem tomorrow.
Maybe you already have or plan to have another instrument mounted somewhere.
Converting the OEM amp gauge to a volts gauge is the most practical route but... more effort than R&R the panel is required. That doesn't address those more typical points of failure either.

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I believe the main thrust of eliminating the ammeter is because ALL the current in the car goes through it. Therefore, any fault in the system due to resistance, bad ground, etc. can potentially increase the chances of it frying even if the fault is not in the charging circuit itself. The gauge is certainly not the most robust thing in the car.

The ammeter was fine when the cars were new but 30-40-50 years down the road, the gauge can wind up being the 'sacrificial lamb' of the system. Wires get frayed, insulation cracks, connectors get pulled apart or corroded yada yada. The worst is if and when some dumb *** hacked into the harness to wire in a stereo or some crummy gauges.

I've messed with these cars for long enough now to know that even if a car looks outwardly OK, the wiring is probably shot. At the least, it should be gone over carefully, cleaned up and re-installed with sound methods.