1. Do it matter which (square back) alternator field terminal the green wire and the blue wire from the (70 up) VR connects to?
2. What are the consequenses of having them in the wrong place?

I am still having an overcharge problem with the 70 cuda. I have tried
-New alternator
- 2 new Voltage reguators
-3 screws into the firewall and a ground wire to the voltage regulator
-Bypassed all heavy wires on the bulkhead connector with soldered and heat shrink connections
Any other suggestions? This one is going to haunt for a long time

Happy Thanksgiving
Glenn

doesn't matter on the wires, but I always put the green at top (12:00 o'clock)

you getting more than about 14.5-14.75 volts?

Since you seem to have done a lot of 'connection' work I would still be suspecting the regulator. Do all of them that you tried produce the same charging voltage???

Batt cables/terminals cleaned? Do you have another known good(fully charged) battery you could toss in real quick? At a fast idle what(voltage) readings are you showing at the batt & the alt & the blue field terminal? EDIT try jumping from batt positive terminal to the blue field lead both to the male field terminal on the alt & to the(blue) wire that plugs onto it.

I'm not sure. The meter I was using a month ago was analog and topped out at 15v. With the new digital meter. There's a fairly constant 15.25 (+-.05v) no matter what the RPM is.
Yesterday was the first time I fired it after a month of pulling and repairing the underdash harness (Big black Alt wire was fried at the bulkhead) I really thought I had it. When I started I had 15.1 v constant with the new digital meter. I thought maybe the cold weather drained the battery a bit, so I charged it up and tried again...ironically the voltage went up to 15.25.

Rapid.. I bought the battery to a local parts dealer for a load test. He said they don't load test anymore and he used this fancy new hand held smart tester that performs a bunch of test. Any way the batt checked out perfect. But I will try another battery
Glenn

Those hand held jobbies ain't as smart as they think they are, they cannot load(test) a battery properly & have OK'd alot of bad batteries. Do you have a jumper wire made up that you can try real quick(batt to blue field)?

OK, I tried some of the test suggested here- see if this makes any sense
1. Ign on but car not running:
-Voltage at the battery- 12.3v
-Voltage at the VR-11.8v (.5v drop)

2. Engine running:
-Voltage at battery-15.2v
-Voltage at battery with jumper from battery to voltage regulator- 14.85
-Voltage at battery- VR disconnected- 12.2v

Rapid et al- what do you think?

I also ran another ground wire to the VR. Thats 2 ground wires and 3 screws into the firewall... and Its my 3rd VR

Could you jump from the batt positive to the VR blue AT the VR AND from the battery positive over to the male terminal ON THE ALT that has the blue wire on it(keep it plugged in) AND jump from the other male field terminal ON THE ALT that has the green field wire on it(keep it plugged in too),jump it over to the VR green terminal(again at the VR) AND jump from the battery positive over to the alt big battery terminal. This will feed full battery voltage to the alt field, the VR & connect the batt & alt directly & with your good/clean jumper wires/alligator clips will eliminate the bad connection issues and I almost forgot(one more) run a jumper from the VR case to the batt negative post.Were going to get it all this time! Run it at a fast idle & see what ya got.

Thanks Rapid- I appreciate your help- it will probably be saturday before I get a chance....but I will get back to you
Glenn

What Rapid is trying to tell you is this:

There needs to be a GOOD SOLID ground between three things:

the battery neg
the block (alternator)
the body/frame

This is not always obvious, because cables can become corroded inside the insulation and still look good.

Second, the battery POSITIVE MUST be the same voltage potential as the alternator blue (ignition / power feed)

Some things that can cause this path to be low are:

Poor/ loose connections at the ign switch, or deteriorated contacts in the switch itself

Poor loose connections ANYWHERE in the rather roundabout path from the battery positive, through the firewall, through the ammeter, to the ign switch, back through the firewall, etc.

Rapid gave you some good advice, but you can confirm "the problem" without jumpers by doing the following:

With the car at "low cruise" (good fast "boulevard" idle, and check BOTH with battery fully charged, all accessories off, and again, with lights/ heater on

Take a digi meter, and with the veh. running as above, stab one probe right on the batt neg post, and stab the other right into the regulator case.

You want a VERY low reading, just a few tenths of a volt, if it's over 1/2 volt, you have a 'ground' path problem, I.E. poor ground between the block/ frame/ regulator

NEXT stab one probe into the top of the batt pos post, and connect the other right at the regulator blue. ONCE AGAIN, you want a very low reading. Anything approaching 1/2 volt or more indicates a "path" problem from the blue, back through the firewall, ign switch, etc, etc, and back out to the batt positive.

Since you've tried several regulators I DOUBT those are the problem, unless you are buying from some low quality and the same source.

I doubt VERY much that the alternator itself is the problem. IF pulling either field lead drops the charge to nothing, then the alt is OK in this particular case

440six- when you say stab the meter probe into the VR, you mean into the plastic coated back? Will this hurt the VR?

Rapid/ 440six:
Here's an update on what I did so far:
1. Replaced the VR...twice- first with a napa then a better quality
2.Have 3 screws and 2 ground wires (clean rust free connections) to the VR
3.Rebuilt Bosch Alt
4.Tried a 2nd- 4 month old battery -fully charged
5.Both under hood wiring harnesses are brand new MH pieces
6. Pulled the dash harness, replaced all the heavy current wires and bypassed the bulkhead with soldered connections on the heavy current wires
7. Batt neg cable connects to alum water pump- all connection cleaned, plus extra jumper from bat neg to clean spot on rad yoke
8. New wire from batt pos to start relay
9. Tried 2 fusible links from start relay to "batt to dash harness" wire
10. Ground wire from alum head to fire wall

The ignition switch is one place I didn't look

I forgot to mention:
-I bypassed the dash ammeter with a soldered slice(new wire)
-I ran a 2nd wire (#10 with 6" #14 fuse link) from the Alt Bat post to the Start relay.
-The new under hood harness is a 4 post ballast type. I just use the 2 primary connectors with a 2 post ballast. If I use the 4 post ballast I end up with 3 volts at the coil

Glenn I see why this is haunting you, with all the work you have done on this & it's still acting up, this is the charging system from hell but we're going to get it He did not mean stab into the plastic on the back of the VR, stab the probe into the wire RIGHT AT THE VR to penetrate the insulation. The ign sw(or the bulkhead) is looking like a likely culprit. OK lets do this. (1)A short jumper wire with 2 alligator clips from the alt batt terminal several inches to the alt field terminal w the blue lead. (2) a longer jumper wire w 2 alligator clips from the same alt batt stud over to the blue lead right at the VR, either bare the blue wire & clip it with the alligator end or use a metal probe on that end instead of the alligator clip & stab it into the blue wire to make continuity.