73 Charger - Sorting out wiring and lots of questions

[levix]

Completely new to pretty much anything car related but I've managed to acquire a 73 dodge charger, and I'm learning fast.

Needless to say my car has electrical 'issues' and believe me it's incredibly obvious as to some of the reasons. I'm slowly sorting things out but I've got lots of questions.

1. Could someone point me to a site which highlights the difference between a 1 wire / 3 wire alternator.
2. Where can I order high-temperature wiring sheathing?



3. What is (A)?
4. Is (B) voltage regulator usually mounted up here?
5. My ballast resistor (C) is nice and cracked which can't be good, the bottom two wires are spliced together which I'm assuming is wrong.
6. I'm not quite sure why I need a voltage regulator AND a ballast resistor. My understanding is that the voltage regulator is for the instruments / cluster, and the ballast is more used during starting...


7. What is the motor looking thing (D)?
8. I'm assuming it's bad to have that ridiculous mess of wires all going together like that.  Ideas?
9. Does an ammeter have more components to it other than the actual gauge itself? i.e. is there something I should be looking to remove.

Thanx in advance.

[nascarxx29]

You have the right ignition ballast for your year car.same goes for the voltage regulator.the IVR known as the instrument voltage regulator is for the dash gauges .And not for the charging system .D looks like a supressor?.A some kind of a relay maybe for the AC
The dash amp gauge monitors charge and discharge condition. Delivered from properly working charging systems alt regulator good battery and ground .You can upgrade to 1 wire alternator with built in voltage regulator.In some cases you need to upgrade existing wiring to carry the extra load