Having some issues with the charging system after putting a new engine in this winter. I also changed to a march serpentine system so I had to take the alternator to a shop to get it pressed on. They broke the original front housing so they put another on. This may all be a grounding issue as I only have the ground from the battery to the aluminum head. Checking continuity from anywhere on the engine to the regulator appears fine. The only other thing that changed is the addition of an aeromotive fuel pump and the relay is triggered from the 12v going into the ballast. The ignition is triggered from the original 12v coming out of the other side of the ballast.

Here's where the fun starts..

Took the car for a ride and it appears to charge fine until I stand on it and around 4K it would absolutely peg the amp gauge out until I pressed in the clutch and let the rpm's come down quickly. After doing this a few times I decided to put my multimeter on the battery and strap it to my windshield. Slowly going to 4K it would reach that point or close and then bury the ammeter again and also run the voltage to 18-19 instantly (full field basically).
Went and bought a new regulator and wire brushed the firewall to ensure a good ground as well. Another ride still had the same problem.

I then decided to try changing the fields and took it for another ride and slowly took it to 4k and it didn't bury the ammeter. I decided to step it up a bit and when I hammered it the ammeter this time completely went to discharge and basically killed the electronics and the engine died.. pulled both fields and drove it home. Took the alternator back to the shop where they changed my melted brushes from the full field runs. They then tested the alt with a new reg on the bench and ran it up to the fastest speed that the bench would do and it held steady at 14.5 volts or so.

Brought it home and hooked it back up again and took it for a ride and still the same thing. Driving around normally everything is great but once you step on it the thing discharges fully and cuts the ignition/lights out.

I'll try running another strap from the block to the firewall to be sure but what really baffles me is why does changing the field wires make it either completely charge or discharge?

Sorry for the novel. Help..

It was an interesting novel .Pull the brushes again & see if they're good then take off the VR triangle plug and the 2 alt field female leads and use jumper(s) to connect (1) either alt male field terminal AND the "blue wire" male pin on the VR both of them to the batt positive post and (2) connect the other alt male field terminal to the "green wire" male VR terminal then take her out & if not good might also connect the batt positive post to the alt batt terminal. You've replaced the alt/reg and the ground circuit appears to be OK so this will check the positive half of the circuit.

When an alternator goes on full charge, its because the field is grounded. The only thought I have is that you when go to high revs, something in the alternator "flies out" and grounds the field. When the shop tested it it didn't rev high enough and did not have the vibration associated with being in the car. Coupled with their crunching the front of it and getting into the internals might point to the alternator is at fault. Just got a rebuilt one at Advance for $55 which may be a cheaper and less aggravating fix than going through ballast resistors, regulators, etc. My , I'm no expert. See how others weigh in.

Agree the alternator is highly suspect. The serpentine pulley would be a lot easier with a bolt on type pulley set-up. Autozone could change the pulley for you. Just takes a calibrated impact wrench. Depending on your engine combo, the Powermaster small case Delco Chrysler replacement alternator may work.

Or just find a better shop to press on the pulley and a new alternaotr. I believe the alternator is supposed to be disassembled for pulley press so only the shaft takes the force. No effect on the housing at all. Your guy apparantly didn't know this. Who knows what got bent/screwed up.

Called another shop in the area today and he couldn't believe that the other shop had broken the alt. Said that sounded like BS. He also stated that even though it sounded like it was spinning fast it probably wasn't going anywhere near as fast as it would be on the engine.

In his opinion the first thing he said is that he's had to replace several that the tolerances were off on some of windings and at high rpm they'll short out inside the case. So before I shell out for the March Alt. I'll let them have a look at this. This one actually might not even be 60amp as a rebuilt unit. Either way they'd fix me up with at least an 80amp unit that won't short out etc.

Fingers are crossed.