DetSon
Active Member
Ok, I’ve been reading archives and posts and anything else I can get my hands on for the last two weeks to try and figure all of this out because I don’t like to be uneducated but forgive me if I’m behind on things. This is my first classic car and things are a little different. I was hoping to get some input and advice because everyone on here has incredible knowledge.
As some quick back ground, 69 Roadrunner with a 440, MP Orange box ignition, bought the car, drove it home an hour, the car was great for a months. I took it on a 2 hr trip, then on the way home, 5 miles from home I lost power, gauges, tach everything dropped and WhaBAM! huge backfire out the tailpipe, I thought I was shot. At the time I thought a wire burned on the header but it was a burnt connection on a poorly sized wire coming off the starter to connect to the wire going to the starter relay. It ran ok but always seemed to lack power, however, I had nothing to gauge it against. Next came a dead battery which I thought was just a battery… then I developed a starting problem which I misdiagnosed as a fuel problem. It would crank a lot before it turned over but for some reason every time I opened the choke plate up it would start.. coincidence? Then, at the beginning of this season, a No-start situation in spring.
My orange box system has a four prong ballast resistor, which I bypassed and nothing. I have a new coil, new pick up, new reluctor, very new appearing wires from when I bought it, new plugs that aren’t fouled. From my forum education I have found that the wires coming off the voltage regulator to the alternator are not hooked up correctly to my knowledge. Only one wire is hooked up and that is the purple wire. I believe they both need to be hooked up, Purple and Green. So I pulled the alternator and the connection for the other “alt field” did not have a tab. I hope this is right but I pulled the screw, which was attached to a clip that had a brush going into the alternator. I fabbed up a male clip so I could plug my Green wire into that. I'm worried that I'm not connected to separate fields but it looks like a dual field alternator although it's not a square back. From my reading, I believe this situation is what caused that wire connection to fry, my tach to fry, and the battery to go bad right? Before I get to the twist, I’m wondering what else has more then likely went bad before I attempt to start it. Is it safe to say the voltage regulator and or orange box has went bad?
The twist, so I fix that alternator connection and want to check my ballast resistor wires to determine Start/Run wires, hook up the battery and nothing. No horn, no fuel pump, lights, whole nine yards. Checked from battery Neg to ear of my voltage regulator, to my chassis, and body, all came in at under .3V. I made sure the Volt Reg and Orange box are grounded to the sheetmetal, checked and cleaned connections. The only thing I’ve been reluctant to fully do is open up the wire harness because it appears to be very new as the wrapping looks superb. It’s an M&H harness but only for the engine components like alt, horn, and ignition boxes. The batt ground strap is new but the positive is a poorly crimped one that I am going to change. I have power going to the starter and to the starter relay. I’m trying to figure out where the power travels from there but I know I have no power going to any of the wires at the ballast resistor. When I checked at my ignition switch, at least one of the wires looked a little cooked/old/maybe all of the above so I reconnected that and prettied up the rest of them. And that’s where I’m at. I’m looking at the Amp Bypass scenario and other articles about no power. I feel like I’ve covered the “it’s probably something simple” situations but I am open to any and all information. Sorry it's lengthy but I'd like you to know everything up front.
Thanks in Advance!
As some quick back ground, 69 Roadrunner with a 440, MP Orange box ignition, bought the car, drove it home an hour, the car was great for a months. I took it on a 2 hr trip, then on the way home, 5 miles from home I lost power, gauges, tach everything dropped and WhaBAM! huge backfire out the tailpipe, I thought I was shot. At the time I thought a wire burned on the header but it was a burnt connection on a poorly sized wire coming off the starter to connect to the wire going to the starter relay. It ran ok but always seemed to lack power, however, I had nothing to gauge it against. Next came a dead battery which I thought was just a battery… then I developed a starting problem which I misdiagnosed as a fuel problem. It would crank a lot before it turned over but for some reason every time I opened the choke plate up it would start.. coincidence? Then, at the beginning of this season, a No-start situation in spring.
My orange box system has a four prong ballast resistor, which I bypassed and nothing. I have a new coil, new pick up, new reluctor, very new appearing wires from when I bought it, new plugs that aren’t fouled. From my forum education I have found that the wires coming off the voltage regulator to the alternator are not hooked up correctly to my knowledge. Only one wire is hooked up and that is the purple wire. I believe they both need to be hooked up, Purple and Green. So I pulled the alternator and the connection for the other “alt field” did not have a tab. I hope this is right but I pulled the screw, which was attached to a clip that had a brush going into the alternator. I fabbed up a male clip so I could plug my Green wire into that. I'm worried that I'm not connected to separate fields but it looks like a dual field alternator although it's not a square back. From my reading, I believe this situation is what caused that wire connection to fry, my tach to fry, and the battery to go bad right? Before I get to the twist, I’m wondering what else has more then likely went bad before I attempt to start it. Is it safe to say the voltage regulator and or orange box has went bad?
The twist, so I fix that alternator connection and want to check my ballast resistor wires to determine Start/Run wires, hook up the battery and nothing. No horn, no fuel pump, lights, whole nine yards. Checked from battery Neg to ear of my voltage regulator, to my chassis, and body, all came in at under .3V. I made sure the Volt Reg and Orange box are grounded to the sheetmetal, checked and cleaned connections. The only thing I’ve been reluctant to fully do is open up the wire harness because it appears to be very new as the wrapping looks superb. It’s an M&H harness but only for the engine components like alt, horn, and ignition boxes. The batt ground strap is new but the positive is a poorly crimped one that I am going to change. I have power going to the starter and to the starter relay. I’m trying to figure out where the power travels from there but I know I have no power going to any of the wires at the ballast resistor. When I checked at my ignition switch, at least one of the wires looked a little cooked/old/maybe all of the above so I reconnected that and prettied up the rest of them. And that’s where I’m at. I’m looking at the Amp Bypass scenario and other articles about no power. I feel like I’ve covered the “it’s probably something simple” situations but I am open to any and all information. Sorry it's lengthy but I'd like you to know everything up front.
Thanks in Advance!
