Everything back in - IT all works !!! small question about Ammeter though.

[Canadian1968]

So I had pulled out ALL my dash wiring.  Laid it on the floor and unwrapped the 40 year old tape. Inspected lines for breaks splits ect.

I ened up replacing all the wires that come off the ignition switch, as well as the wires that go to the ammeter.   The factory splices were duplicated, all new wires for the splices as well.

Everything put back in the car and EVERYTHING works !! I mean everything, even the little ignition key light I didn't even know was there !! hahah. Dimmer switch works and all dash lights.

2 Small quesitons though.

My ammeter is reading acting backwards its reading - charge, when I rev the engine it reads more - charge.  Couple mins of run time and it centers itself out.  If I simply hooked the wires up backwards on the guage will it give me this reading?  The battery reads 13.5V at idle so pretty sure I am not actually discharging.

And one more question. The little red light that comes on in the speedo gauge.  This is to inditcate HI-beams only ? or Just that your lights are on. Mine comes on as soon as you turn the headlights on , no change with hi- or low beams.

[MaximRecoil]

The red light on the speedometer is the high beam indicator; it should only come on when your high beams are on.

If I remember right, there is a black wire and a red wire that connects to the ammeter studs, and it is labeled on the back of the instrument cluster which color goes where; so you might want to double check that.

[K9COP]

Re your headlight high beam indicator. I put the wrong bulb back into the wrong socket when I put mine back in, hence the high beam indicator was always lit with lights on. Took me ages to work out why one of the dash back lights was flashing when I put the high beams on and off....

K9

[myk]

Great work man, but if I were you I'd ditch the ammeter-it's a fire waiting to happen...

[Big Sugar]

I agree.

[Canadian1968]

I know I have read the threads about the ammeter. The car has no addition electrical items at all right now . Actually there isn't even a radio. The meter does not worry me to much right now. When I start adding things I will look into changing it.

Good call on the dash light in the wrong spot I will have to double check that !?

[elacruze]

The real problem with the ammeter is not your accessories, but the times when your battery is deeply discharged and your alternator is working hard to recharge it. The entire battery charge load runs through the firewall plug and ammeter. Do you really want 40-60 amps in your dashboard wiring harness? Even if you are careful to keep the battery up, the day will come when the battery fails and the alternator goes wide open trying to keep up. Ten minutes can kill it all.

[Pete in NH]

Hi,

If you stay with the stock alternators which are under 45 amps or so, you might want to consider the "fleet bypass" wiring modification the factory used. This modification bypasses the bulkhead connector pins and uses heavier gauge wire. This modification plus replacing the fusible link with a more modern fuse type does a lot to upgrade the charging circuit path and retain the dash board ammeter.

[cdr]

it sounds like the wires are backwards on the amp gauge but i do agree about the wiring upgrade that pete mentioned .

[Canadian1968]

The wires were simply backwards.  I just got finished switching them around the gauge reads correct now. I upgraded to a 65amp alt last year, and used Nachos piggy back wire setup which runs a wire from the alt. threw a grommet in the fire wall and up to the ammeter and them back to battery. To help take the load off the weakest point in the system which is the connection at the bulkhead

[cdr]