faustoii

I went to the parts stores and I saw electronic volt. reg. for the '71 on up Chryslers, "flatpacks" I think some call them. I see a HP version made by Borg/Warner ($40) and it was compared to the Niehoff ($12-$15). Any difference besides the cost? They look the same but fancy paint on the B/W. Technically, the casing is part of the ground circuit if I understand the schematics. That means I would have to scratch off some of that fancy gray paint before mounting the unit (with star washers, maybe)! In looking at their distributor caps, for example, the N brand had what looked like dull plated steel, while the B/W unit had what I always thought ought to be in the plug wire sockets: copper. Me no expert, though. [[bTW, a big "Thanks" to all of you who responded about my alternator always charging. I will check the battery prefessionally, check the wiring on both sides of the ammeter, test with a real amp gauge etc. Thank you. You guys ROCK! :-)]]

RecentlyPurchased 66-300 with 78Amp+ALTand oldMECH regulator. Corrected regulator with flatpack; did ALL mods, recommendations on ALLPAR website (wiring/piggybacking to AMP meter, fusable link , parallel A1A, A1, R6, R6A wires with new auto wire and one up larger gage - except ALT Fields are 12 AWG). Yes. Firewall connections were found overheated before me mods. Even replaced the battery ground with a 2 AWG, cleaning all painted surfaces, screw threads in block; added another ground strap to firewall from back of valve block. Reset/cleaned ground strap off transmission. Cleaned all firewall connector blocks (A-Z). Checked resistance of battery to GND when all sytems off/at rest greater than 1K ohms. There are no shorts that I can find. Took out all non-functional fuses for running the engine. She does not run hot (on the highway, temp around 180+ F). Slight cam upgrade. All wires soldered where there was crimping and heatshrink wrapped. Wire loom neatly dressed; there are no stressed wires. Problem: Alternator needle discharges at 900 RPM idle. 1000RPM starts to center and above RPM always charging. Always. Took her for a ride down 405 for an hour and still the needle is charging. Not as much, but in the 14.2Volt range (meter attached for the ride). Battery was replaced but not before all the wire mods but after the flatpack. The engine runs fabulously. There are no misfires and it's reeeeaaaaal smooth all the way up to 7000. The distributor is a Mallory 27, with a Pertronix (I) module (ML-181), with a regular Mallory coil; coil connected through std ballast resistor that still measures just under the one ohm. No other device on board. No electronic ignition, etc. Even the electric choke (Edelbrock) is off. 'Have not checked flatpack regulator case temperature, but it's attached neatly with three 1/4 head, 3/8" screws just as original style. What did I miss? Does the needle ever meet/stay at center? I assume/d that eventually, there would be minimal battery charging. Will this kill/burn my battery or other parts? Do I need a ?performance? flatpack? Could it be my alternator itself can?t be regulated or just not charging enough(huh?)? The needle does dance a little when I first start it up, in the charging mode. I don?t know how many levels of field control there are in the electronic regulator (Three in the mechanical, right?). Thank you for your time! :-) <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> [color:"blue"]