First some feedback on the alternator testing. I brought the car up to temperature since the computer only learns when it is warmed up (coolant temp has to be over 140 F). At that point, I removed the alternator belt and went for a drive powered only by the battery.
Results: Still no learning by the computer and I still had an IRM count. The IRM count MAY have been less than before, although it is hard to tell because I do not know what conditions cause the error counts. My drives vary due to traffic and some slightly different routes, so it is hard to tell if they really did go down. As an example, I have never seen the IRM count go up due to the car sitting idling - it is always while driving. I may try to do two separate drives (at least with identical routes) and do one drive with the engine at high RPM the whole time and the other with the engine always at low RPM. Maybe this can give me a clue...
I know you've been thorough , but I might just toss out the thought that you can never have too many grounds. battery to body and block , block to body , and I even use stand alone grounds to the ecu and VR. I would check and clean every ground at every light to body harness, the dash frame and dash harness
This is a great thought. I say this myself to so many people. Grounds are very overlooked and are really important. With the restoration, I did very carefully address every ground when I installed the wires, for example either sanding down the paint and/or using toothed washers to ensure a good ground. I did need to clean up my tail lights, but all other circuits seemed to work right off the bat. I do have a large ground strap between the engine and body, and toothed washers to help ensure a good ground with the dash. I don't have a separate ground to my voltage regulator, so I could always throw an extra one on just to be sure.
Having said the above, I shouldn't be so sure. I really should measure the resistance to ground at some of the major areas of the car and see what I get. This is a prudent thing to do...
this is very true; especially of a re-painted vehicle.
i can't add a constructive comment here but it's my belief that these dinosaurs can only be brought up to "modern" standards to a point. after that just let them be what they are. if you think about aftermarket throttle body efi's you need to think about throttle body efi being obsolete in modern vehicles for decades. one also needs to think about the complexities that auto makers have to go thru just to make an efi work well with just one engine combo; least wise trying to make a "one size fits all" unit for everybody.
if it were me i wouldn't cancel my trip because of this. just take it off, get a carb (you have time to tune it) and move on. personally, i don't like msd's. i don't think the reliability factor is what people think it is, capacitive discharge adds nothing to reliability, and from experience that the coil stand offs can be a can of worms. i'd dump it too, put a mopar electronic on it (something easy to get parts on the road), and enjoy the trip! best of luck!
I agree the "one size fits all" might be hard. If the learning part of the ECU was having trouble adapting itself to my car then I would understand that better. In this case, it is never even entering its learning mode due to noise sensitivities. This system is expensive, and made and sold for the purpose that I have installed it, and I have followed ALL of their installation instructions, plus taken other steps beyond that to try and isolate the noise. Obviously, I haven't found the issue, but if this the ECU is that sensitive, then I question if it viable to do the job at all. Electrical noise exists in many situations, and there are any number of ways to address it, mostly by various filters. These should have been built into the ECU to make it viable to work, in my opinion.
Putting a carb back on this car isn't so easy. Beyond the fact that I have no interest in throwing out an over $3000 investment, this FAST system was built in with the car very carefully, and pulling it out will require the entire windshield, dash and other areas to come apart. Then I would need to re-modify my harness for the Chrysler electronic ignition. Can it be done? Sure, but I want to figure this out...
Hawk
