hi Drew , your confusion is understandable for a few big reasons. I straightened out an Imperial that had been frustrating a friend for 2 years , it surprised me too ,what I found as I am EE and car guy The single wire alternators have one wire of field connected to the case and grounded by the mounting bolts. Done . No wire needed. The mechanical regulator applies 12 v from ignition on to that one F post . Important to know you can sub any two wire later alternator in same case — more common ( i use 78 dodge truck ) by jumping one F to the case . Either one is ok The aftermarket Asian electronic replacements for mechanical regulator are junk , especially the one with a red wire hanging out . Imho stay with Standard auto parts mechanical vr , amp wavering is normal. Critical to have that jumper , block to body . I now put it at motor mount ,heavy 6-8” battery cable with eye at both ends ; some you see stock manifold bolt to firewall or a 2 lead battery - wire . So later cars (still with one wire ) have a black wire in the harness from alternator frame to VR mount bolt . This is not needed . ( not even on the earlier cars ) but thinking is help avoid poor ground . Too small a gauge to do anything imho but important to know about it as follows : Some people will upgrade to the later two wire , done as above but others will want the modern VR with it ; You need the plug too . On that VR the ign feed goes to VR blue , the green VR goes to one F But the other F now needs 12 v as the new one grounds the field through the green The 12 going into the new one is so it knows the ign voltage to regulate If one does go new vr new two wire alternator ( that is reasonable ) you need a new + 12 wire from vr to alternator ( blue) tied to blue ign at vr ( colors are a specific car but same idea) . Ideally in a plastic tube for protection tied to harness or rewrap harness etc . Live 12 on blue will burn your harness if grounded = protect it The plot thickens as on this Imperial someone used the black wire ( was the ground) as the new 12 v , to avoid a new wire . That works — if not quite kosher to a purist . So later on a good mechanic changed alternator ( correct one , one wire )and grounded the black wire at alternator like book says, which instantly burned when he turned on switch. And damaged main harness . So he replaced alternator again burned again . So he has new VR old alternator and unknown to him short circuit . He gave up , called me . Original problem, no charge — w 2 wire —- was poor connection on the changes blue to black wire at VR , just twisted and taped . long story took me 3 hours to figure out . Back to 2 wire and used repaired black as 12 ran perfectly . back to stock would have been ok too but he now had two , new 2 wire alternators (3 actually!) If you do this , use a new wire…. blue ! or blue and green in its own tubing John g On Oct 22, 2024, at 7:59 PM, Drew W Carl <drew@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: -- For archives go to http://www.forwardlook.net/300-archive/search.htm#querylang --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Chrysler 300 Club International" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to chrysler-300-club-international+unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/chrysler-300-club-international/4FB11C77-AFC9-4E1B-8E57-71BAADC1D68D%40gradyresearch.com. |
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