DarrenX33

Now to figure out why that wire was added..

DarrenX33

I just checked an old 69 Camaro dash wiring harness I have here and found that it has a brown and white stripped single strand wire.. So much for the thought that single strand shouldn't be in the interior.. This is confusing. Can't seem to find any reference photos of dash harnesses for a 71 or 72 harness. Perhaps the internal regulator makes the difference in comparison to the 69 harness.

DarrenX33

Brown and white single strand crimped with orange seems to be legit. Now back to the drawing board.

DarrenX33

I have also noticed that in the past while at cruising speed. The ammeter would sometimes jump from 0 to the positive side (about +10) in about 1 second intervals. Not sure what that means. Perhaps that's normal?

irelandr

Not sure if this helps or not, I have a 72 but my diagram shows the block connector at the fuse box with a brown wire in the position you showed in an earlier picture. In my car that row has 4 wire connectors (some have two wires but same color) I show yellow, white/brown, brown (where yours is) and then green. The brown wire goes from the fuse panel to the headlight switch (so it would be in the harness) and connects right next to an orange wire but they are not tied together. At the headlight switch it is connected to another brown wire that goes to the rear body connector and feeds the marker and tail lights and from the the other side of the fuse box goes from the connector to front marker and turn signal (park) lights.

Now the wire next to it that is brown and while goes to the alternator and inside to the ignition switch. If it is solid brown I would say lights. Again from a 72 and have unwrapped every inch and it matches my wiring diagram so for a 72 that is what it is for.

irelandr

[QUOTE=DarrenX33;1592732744]Brown and white single strand crimped with orange seems to be legit. Now back to the drawing board.

Again from a 72 the brown/white goes to the connector you show at the ignition switch and is connected to an orange wire inside and outside under the hood goes to 2 connector plug on the alternator.

From the connector you are holding the orange goes back to the fuse box , top fuse and the other end of the fuse connects to a brown wire and goes to the AC/Heater connector.

Hope this helps.

DarrenX33

[QUOTE=irelandr;1592770165]Yep. That is what the schematic is telling me as well. I'm going to use a braided wire with an in line fuse in place of the single strand that melted. I'm patching everything up now. I will also give the ign switch a good look over and see if I can find any issues there. I will get the car running again with the dash apart to make absolutely sure that it is ok before putting things back together.

I must admit this interior wiring is rather overwhelming.

GUSTO14

[quote=DarrenX33;1592771436]Darren, about your 42amp alternator. It's entirely possible that at some point the original alternator went bad and a replacement was procured. It is possible to upgrade a 42 amp up to a 60 amp and that may have occurred.

Here's and excellent video on how to upgrade a 10SI or a 12SI ...

Good luck... GUSTO

DarrenX33

[QUOTE=GUSTO14;1592774485]Thank you for that.. I will investigate it.

irelandr

[QUOTE=DarrenX33;1592771436]It can be, a lot in a little space and hard to get at. A few common things help, grey is generally dash lights, light green headlights, orange generally power to something like brake lights, cigarette lighter, key buzzer, clock and courtesy lights. Once you know the general color it helps.

irelandr

[QUOTE=DarrenX33;1592775416]I bought a 10si 105amp for $64.30, fits and looks just like the stock alternator and no rewiring to do. Company is DBElectrical. Part number is ADR0336 I ran power from the horn relay where your alternator also connects to to the headlights, bright headlights now and they don't dim when I come to a stop at idle. Enough power for what I need.

Here is the description from the reciept:
NEW CHEVY HIGH OUTPUT 105 AMP ALTERNATOR 3-WIRE 65-85 10SI 7127-105-NEW CHEVY HIGH OUTPUT 105 AMP ALTERNATOR 3-WIRE 65-85 10SI 7127-105

Here is the site: http://www.dbelectrical.com/casearch...DR0336&x=0&y=0

DarrenX33

Root cause of this problem was determined to be due to me. When I replaced the wiring in the engine bay I had a heck of a time getting the bolt started. Once I took everything apart after the harness burned, that press in threaded collar with the 3 spikes on it that receives the bolt in the bulk head fell right out. It appears that when I was putting in the new harness in the engine bay I pushed it out but finally caught it and it proceed to spin wires together and short them. I did some quick repairs to get the car running and its been fine ever since. Also making sure that the threaded collar was in there good.

dan1495

Thanks for following up and letting us all know what the cause was.

BLUE1972

The ALT may be a rebuild, in which case the housing may be generic and the internals correct.

glad you found it.