CHARGING VOLTAGE QUESTION

Actually a little bit of drop on the charging line is not terrible so long as we are not heating something up. If there is drop on the charge line, the only thing that happens is, that the regulator will read low and ramp up the difference

The single biggest problem with either early or late regulators, aside from the weakness in the ammeter circuit, is that the share the power terminal with the ignition terminal. So far as I know, all OEM GM, other than "one wire," and same with Ford, have a dedicated sense wire. This wire, since it is ONLY used for sense, carries no current, which means it should be able to truly and accurately sense battery voltage.

On a side note, I once had a beater 62 FJ-40 Landcruiser, which had a 360, then 340, then 318 over the years, and after buying a Warn 8K winch, I scored one of the large frame Chrysler 100+A units. I bought a 100A SW ammeter, and it would BURY that thing using the winch or catching the batteries back up afterwards. I don't remember, anymore, what gauge, I think no6. I'm fairly sure it was not 4