63 voltage regulator wiring

I was looking under my hood for some potential small projects to tackle and I think I found it. The wires going in to the voltage regulator are toast. Not really sure how it's still functioning. Also the connector itself appears so brittle I am afraid to touch it. So question is were can i source the parts and what are some tips for repairing this while maintaining a stock appearance. I take it I have to undo the whole part of the wiring harness.

If I were you, I'd: 1) get a new regulator, 2) find a wiring harness from a donor car and splice that connector with some good wiring into your harness at a point where your wires are good, and 3) replace that positive battery cable and move the positive post of the battery to the radiator side where it belongs. If you have the four note horn option on your car, a Buick service bulletin suggests that you run the positive cable between the battery and the hold down rod to keep it from rubbing on the horn and fraying the cable.

Ed

I am obviously not experienced at auto wiring are I wouldn't be lost. My first thought is wouldn't wiring from a different 53 year old vehicle that's being junked also be shot and brittle

I am obviously not experienced at auto wiring are I wouldn't be lost. My first thought is wouldn't wiring from a different 53 year old vehicle that's being junked also be shot and brittle

You may be able to find just the plug and a few inches of wire sold as a replacement. The connector looks similar to the one on my Chevelle, I'm sure they make a replacement of just that plug for the Chevelle. You might try that route.

Tim

I've done a lot of searching for pigtails for other more reproduced gm models of the same era. Many resources show the same or similar regulators however every picture I find of the pigtails shows a unit with 4 wires and mine has 5. I did try to remove it to inspect how the connections worked and the plastic crumbled in 20 pieces

I've done a lot of searching for pigtails for other more reproduced gm models of the same era. Many resources show the same or similar regulators however every picture I find of the pigtails shows a unit with 4 wires and mine has 5. I did try to remove it to inspect how the connections worked and the plastic crumbled in 20 pieces

You should be able to use the four wire plugs that are available. In looking at the 63 wiring diagram it is different than the 64 and up diagram

as far as the regulator wiring is concerned. You still have four terminals on

the plug, but two of the terminals have a pair of wires going to the prong on

the regulator instead of just one like the later models. That isn't a problem,

just cut off the wires further back in the harness where they are in good shape and crimp the single wire on the replacement pigtail to the pair of wires

that went on the old plug by stripping the two wires back and them twisting the ends together to make one wire to go in one side of the crimp connector

and then crimp them to the single wire on the pigtail. The wiring diagram for

the 63 actually shows seven wires going to the regulator.....two singles on

the plug, two doubles on the plug, and a yellow wire going from the side of the regulator to the ground stud on the back of the alternator. This wire shows to be a ground in the diagram. You also have the radio interference condensor plugged into the side of the regulator, for a total of 8 wires altogether. For some reason the diagram doesn't show the condensor wire.;

Does your car have the yellow ground wire going from the side of the regulator to the alternator ground post? I don't see it in your picture. If you have lost track of which wire goes where on the regulator because of the plug crumbling let me know and I'll tell you

which prong feeds which wires on the plug.

Thanks for the info. I found repro harness tape and I am going to try going with a solid state unit retrofitted into an original housing.

The only outward difference between the solid state and the OE regulator is the use of rivets instead of screws. They don't want you inside the solid state ones. Anyone who notices is being too picky. Unless you're headed to Amelia Island or Monterrey for a concours.

Ed

Your right it is picky but I think it will be a fun little project .and I like the idea of modern electronics that are completely hidden in an old component. The current may issue of hemmings muscle machines has a tech article outlining how to retrofit an original Delco remy housing to the new solid state unit. It even happens that the article is being performed on a sixties buick. The new unit has a very shallow cover with no markings.

Looking through some pics and realized I never posted how my new voltage regulator turned out. I decided not to go with the solid state conversion when I found this new in the box original. The only difficult part was I was unable to find a new connector with the proper amount of wires. And the wires in the harness the double wires hook to run in two separate directions. So it was hard to make a T that fit in the harness and still look good.