'64 Not Charging

[Michael O.]

I've read almost everything on the board and still can't figure out what the cause of my problem with my Corvette is.

I have a '64 with a F.I. engine that I had to put a carb on. When I worked for Cadillac in the 70's, I replaced the rotor and stator with 56 amp ones. Everything worked great until last week when the system decided it no longer wanted to charge the battery. At first, I thought it was the alternator so I took it to my local auto electric shop and he said that it was charging fine. Then I noticed that the battery was 7 years old and figured that I had to replace it anyhow but that didn't solve the charging issue. Next, I figured for the $20 that the voltage regulator would cost, what the heck, let's eliminate that. Still, the ammeter goes down to the neg. 20 position and when I run the idle up to 2,000 RPMs and disconnect the negative battery cable, the car stalls which tells me it isn't charging.

I stood in front of the car this morning and begged it to tell me what was wrong but it didn't answer back. If anyone has any other ideas as to where to look, I would be deeply grateful.

I once told my wife that in a Corvette, you have electrical and then everything else. At the time, I didn't realize how true that was.

[Domenic T.]

Re: '64 Not Charging

Michael,
Try a test light at the field wire in the back of the alt.

With the key in the run position the light should be on.

If you want to see if the amp guage shows a charge just connect the test light to a 12 volt source and touch the field for a moment and it should energize the field and cause the alt to charge.

Yes, it is in series and will also light the test light but I find this way less threatning to the inerts of the alt.

DOM

[Frank K.]

Re: '64 Not Charging

Just a couple of suggestions: As a test take a booster cable and connect it to the alternator bracket and the battery negative post and cable. Before you do anything connect a voltmeter to the battery posts. Your looking for 14.2 volts ideally. By the way is the battery going dead. I say this because your ammeter may be at fault. Good luck!