Hey all,

Had my 69 cutlass delivered on Monday and have been tearing things apart and doing some work a few hours a night. The previous owner has a big spaghetti mess of wires and aftermarket splices and connectors under the hood and I need a little help. I think I have an internally regulated alternator in the car but the wiring is still set up for external. The external voltage regulator and 4 pin connector is still intact and the connector for the alternator is the original and not the same as the 2 pin connector in the alternator that came with the car. At some point someone also converted it to an hei distributor if that makes a difference in alternator size. It is an AC car as well but not hooked up. So I guess my question is should I just go get an externally regulated alternator to get it back to stock or try to work with what is there? I'll attach a few generic pics of the alternator that is in the car now as well as the connector that I have.

 

Craig the connector in the pic is for an ext regulator, and the alternator pic is an internal. First you need to figure out what you have, and if its working properly. The wiring is easy to pretty up later.


This is usually the end result for the wiring in case of a swap.

 

Thanks for the quick reply Eric. i'll check the numbers on the alternator once I clean it up. From that diagram it seems simple enough to keep the internally regulated alt and eliminate the ext voltage regulator etc.

 

If the car has been running like that for awhile it is probably a one wire alt. The conversion to 3 wire would be a good idea.

 

It hasnt run at all stellar. When i got it nothing was wired at all.

 

That diagram worked like a champ. 13.9-14.2 at the battery while at idle. Thanks again

 

The internet is a wonderful thing, glad it worked out.