Exactly the two electrical experts I was hoping would comment. I did open the alternator and it was burned on every brush contact point. Pretty badly. I checked the terminals on both field wires and they were loose, especially the blue. I found that strange. It was a brand new harness. I know it got hot so that could have loosened the crimp on the insulation but the inner crimp on the wire itself was loose. So much that the terminal fell off while I was inspecting the wire. I have the correct style of crimping pliers so I cut and reattached both the blue and green wire terminals. Then I installed the second rebuilt alternator.
Tried the run position again. This time no problems. No heat in the blue wire at all. So I don’t know if it was the alternator or terminals. I did check through the bulkhead and to the ignition switch wiring and did not see (or smell) any signs of further damage. I will check for voltage drop once it’s running.
I must say this fits a theme of an earlier post about the inconsistent quality of replacement parts making restoration of these cars miserable. I’ve come to expect at every step that new parts will fail.
Thanks for your help as I would not have gotten past this hurdle without it.
