No power at ignition switch in a 1969 charger

[NFrank89]

So a customer of mine has me fixing some of the wiring in his 1969 resto project, he actually has the 1969 Factory Service Manual so i'm using the factory wiring diagrams which is pretty sweet! those are rare aren't they? we've got the whole cluster out and disconnected from the vehicle and i got the car started by running a wire from the red ammeter wire to the red(b+) on the back of the ignition switch. the black ammeter wire is actually spliced into several wires including the red/white wire which provides constant power to the fuse box and the red wire which provides power to the ignition. the black wire actually starts at the BAT terminal on the alternator and runs directly to the ammeter although it is spliced like i mentioned before. the only other wire on the BAT terminal is a violet wire that is supposed to power the horn.

when i connect the red and black wires for the ammeter together they get hot even with the ignition in the off position but the car starts and runs like this. resistance test to ground on the black wire shows perfect continuity. red ammeter wire tests 12v constant. which explains why they get hot when i connect them.

now that i've written this all out im wondering if the alternator is shorting out... i should have removed the wire from the bat terminal on the alternator and checked continuity. anyways, second question is, is the battery+ supposed to be connected directly to the bat terminal on the alternator? or does it only connect to the battery via the ammeter?

[NFrank89]

okay im going to try to answer some of my own questions then you tell me if im right or wrong. the bat output of the alt DOES only connect to the battery through the ammeter because the ammeter shows the amperage output of the charging system. the b;ack and red ammeter wires should be able to be connected directly together without a problem. the alt is probably shorting to ground.

i do have an easier question. what kind of voltage output should i be looking for from a rebuilt oem alternator? i know on new cars its 14.5 but how about these older ones?

[John_Kunkel]

I wouldn't assume that the alternator is the source of the ground, the ammeter itself is often the source of spurious grounds (shorts) that's why so many are eliminating it and going to voltmeters.