User 52121

Yeah that would have been helpful information.

Drove to work this morning, sat in traffic for a few hours. The voltage gauge, at it's lowest point today, was higher than it's highest point yesterday, and moving along for more than 30 seconds or so at 30 mph brought the needle right back up to the 14 on the gauge.

I think I now know the major contributors to my issue. Seeing that the alternator is supposed to ground itself via the alternator bracket.... my CEP bracket is anodized black, which might affect it's ability to conduct electricity a little. I also recall that the original bolts, and bolt holes, that mounted the original alternator bracket to the block were pretty corroded. I'm using fresh bolts that Dave gave me with the bracket but I didn't really do anything with the holes.

So I think I'm going to do a few things:
- Run a beefy ground cable from the alternator case to the frame and block
- Run a tap down into the alternator bracket mount bolt holes and clean all the corrosion out of there
- Grind off the anodizing wherever the bracket makes contact with a bolt, the block, and the alternator
- Install all new battery cables whenever I hear back from Robby, just for good measure

'86 - it can't hurt to string a ground cable off the alternator back to the battery, just temporarily, to see if it makes a difference.

adrial

I can say for sure, that when you Aluminum to conduct electricity freely -- you do not anodize it.

Not to say that it provides for huge resistance, but it is something.

nofalls

The surface of anodized aluminum does not conduct. To be conductive it must be conversion coated. I learned this when I designed a weld head for guide wires in a past life. I had to sand down the bottom of the wire holding fixture to get a good conductive path to the base plate.

URG8RB8

If you run a proper ground wire, there is no need to grind off the anodizing from your nice CEP bracket. IMHO that would be a waste.

nofalls

Agreed. I was mearly speaking of the conductive properties of the anodizing and what I had to do. I guess I could have run a ground wire but at the time I was more focused on getting the weld head working and the production line back up. Astetics and corrosion resistance were on the bottom of my list given it was in a clean room and we had to meet schedule.

G8tr - This was at MDTech in Gainesville Fl. I lived there for several years.

Black51

This exact case is what I'm experiencing. Glad you found the problem OmniGLH.

While I have a rebuilt Bosch, I'm thinking a Quest alternator with some new cables are in my near future.

I do happen to notice that when I get the low voltage reading on my dash, the car seems a bit more sluggish, if only a little. I'm getting ready to order up some new ignition stuff shortly, so hopefully the sluggishness is simply due to an aging ignition system.

Black51

I forgot to mention, but I just went for a drive;

The car tends to pop and burble a lot more on decel when I get the low voltage reading.