Help me fix my dash !!!

[Canadian1968]

So I have just upgraded my Electrical system to a 65 Amp Dual field alternator and the electronic voltage regulator, with an electronic ignition.

I have been reading threads about upgrading or by passing ammeter, or put in a voltage meter..... my head is starting to spin !!!

All I want is to keep the dash looking pretty much stock ( change volt meter if I have to ) And keep it safe with the upgraded alt. I am using.

From what i have the quickest and easiest thing to do is by pass the ammeter and run a wire from the alt. to the postive battery terminal . That will get me up and running safe

If I put in a voltmeter do I still need to do wire upgrades??? I am confused as to what the real reason for the modifcation is.  And is the best place to get a factory looking one with out sending my dash to redline gauges , which I am not doing.

BUt I am wondering if I should go ahead and refresh more of the dash panel. I have been looking at this site http://www.chargerspecialties.com/gauges.htm.
Before I pulled the dash out all the gauges were working, but seemed to be inaccurate  would purchasing a new  circuit board be a good choice??  They also advertise an ammeter of taking 60 amps, but that doesn't change the fact I would still need to upgrade wires?

I just want a reliable, trouble free dash, hopefully not spend $1500 to get it done.

This site has a  ton of information but can be over whelming at the same time !!

Thoughts , suggestions???

[Ghoste]

If you are using the 40 year old wiring designed for a lower amperage system and putting a higher amperage through it with greater demands (modern sound systems and so forth) the loads on the wiring make it susceptible to overheating and potential fires.  These problems are compounded by the fact that few people seem to do much maintenance on the bulkhead connector and all of the alternator output passes through a single point there to pass through the factory ammeter.  Again, if it is clean and dealing with the stock parameters it was designed for, it is fine but if you are modifying things then it obviously becomes a risk.

[Canadian1968]

I just installed a brand new wiring harness and bulkhead from evans wiring, so everything on the engine side of the fire wall is brand new. The as for the dash they are all orginal, they appear to be in good shape though.

[W4ATL]

If you want to keep the ammeter then you can run another wire from the starter relay (where the existing wire with the fusible link is) to the ammeter and then out to the alternator. This will essentially be in parallel to the existing wire. Just run it through the bulkhead with no breaks or if you decide to put some connectors on the new wire make sure you do a good job with it. The old bulkhead connectors have trouble handling a full load so they get hot. Running the wire in parallel keeps the load off that connector.  You might have some trouble getting the wire through the bulkhead. I just found an empty slot in the bulkhead connector and used that.

An alternate way is as you described and run that parallel wire directly to the alternator and not through the ammeter in the car. But then the ammeter will not work and you will need a voltmeter to see what is going on.

I like the ammeter since it tells you a lot about what is going on with the charging system. If it goes far to C and then just a little above center after cranking then your battery is in good shape and the charging system is operating normally. If it really goes over to C and stays there, or varies to C with engine speed then you have a voltage regulator problem (not regulating the voltage.) If it stays toward D then you have either a alternator or voltage regulator problem.

I noticed that my ammeter was charging slightly more than usual for a while. The system was trying to give it an extra charge. My battery was getting ready to go and it eventually did a few days later.

You can monitor the voltmeter and tell if the system is working but you just don't get that good feedback by just monitoring voltage. All you know is that at ~14 volts the system is working and at 12 volts it is not (engine running.)

That being said, I did change over to the voltmeter when I had my cluster out being refurbished since I didn't want to run that heavy gauge wire through the bulkhead. The cluster was out so I just pulled the trigger and had it changed. But on my Roadrunner I think I will run the bypass wire to the ammeter just to keep it stock looking and so I can get that extra information.

Study this writeup by Nacho.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,33574.0.html

Either way don't forget to add a fusible link to the wire you add.