bypassing the starter junction to battery...

[1974dodgecharger]

I was visiting someone with a 66 belvedere and noticed his wiring was different.  He had: alternator to positive battery and a wire from pos. stud of battery to the starter relay stud to power the interior stuff.  I asked him why he did this and he just said that's how he bought it from previous owner.

So my questions is why cant we just bypass the junction of the starter stud from alternator straight to battery and a wire from bat to the junction to give it power?

[Pete in NH]

Yes, you certainly could do it that way as well. What this change, either way, leaves you with however, is a nonworking ammeter that may only read a steady discharge if other changes are not made. It still leaves the electrical load of the car flowing through one bulk head connector pin. If the car has a stock size alternator on it , I would prefer to keep my ammeter. I would do the "fleet bypass" modification that would take the bulk head connector pins out of the path.

[MaximRecoil]

I was visiting someone with a 66 belvedere and noticed his wiring was different.  He had: alternator to positive battery and a wire from pos. stud of battery to the starter relay stud to power the interior stuff.  I asked him why he did this and he just said that's how he bought it from previous owner.

So my questions is why cant we just bypass the junction of the starter stud from alternator straight to battery and a wire from bat to the junction to give it power?

A lot of people do do this, though it is usually done simply by running a heavy wire (e.g. 8 gauge or larger) from the alternator stud to the starter relay stud (the way it was in the Belvedere you described is electrically the same, but would result in a wire running across the car in front of the engine which is kind of messy looking because it isn't a factory wiring path). This connects it with the 8 gauge factory wire which is already going from the starter relay stud to the battery, and removes the load of the charging circuit (which is the heaviest load in the car) from the bulkhead connector.

As Pete in NH said, doing this makes the ammeter inaccurate, and if you don't mind that, you might as well also just bypass the ammeter by e.g. connecting both of the wires to one of its studs (which will make a more robust/reliable circuit in the process).

[1974dodgecharger]

thx guys 

It was odd seeing this on his 66 and questioned it, but he told me he didn't know the correct way, but it gave me a idea about mine which now Iam gonna do. 

[1974dodgecharger]

Welding wire 000-3 size very huge handles 385 amps routed to pos. Battery.