I am considering the alternator bypass trick on my Cuda. It should have a 50A alternator but is an aftermarket unit and I am going to have to check online for its output.

The problem is that I am running an MSD and a Jegs (Holley type) electric fuel pump and I am melting wires. The black wire from the alternator was melted off at the Bulkhead when I bought the car. I spliced in a new piece but it melted at the splice. Not good. I need to get an Aux circuit breaker block with a relay for the pump but that will be another post.

With the bypass method it seems most of the Alternator output goes through the starter relay and would greatly cut down on the amount of juice going through the bulkhead. Correct?

The FSM shows a 12G wire from the alternator to the Bulkhead connector. Should I use a 10G with a 14G fusible link from the alternator to the starter relay?

Lastly, any dangers with this bypass?

Thanks

Bypassing the firewall is a very wise move on the older Mopar vehicles. The only downside is that then your ammeter no longer provides any useful information. Low buck solution is to install a voltmeter somewhere, bucks up solution is to send your dash panel off and have the ammeter converted into a voltmeter.

10 ga should be fine, or use 8 ga. A little overkill doesn't hurt in this area.

An alternate approach is to run a 2nd wire (10 guage) from the alternator through the firewall in/out of the amp guage and back to the starter relay. Also you should add an in-line fuse holder and fuse. The benefit is that now you have added a heavy wire link in parallel to the factory harness while keeping the OE amp guage.

This will work fine for systems up to 60 Amps, but if you have many high draw components connected such as a subwoofer amplifier, electric fans you better bypass the OE factory harness.

Additionally, it is a good idea to kleen the bulkhead connectors, titen up the female tab terminal crimps and lube them up with dia-lectric grease.

Just my $0.02..

Thanks for the tips