[DeTomaso] Interesting ammeter situation

Fri Feb 17 14:34:49 EST 2017

FWIW, on two separate occasions now, I was either driving or riding in yellow L-model Panteras in so-cal on the first day of ownership and they promptly broke down. The last one had an original 40-year-old water hose burst....

Mike

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On Thursday, February 16, 2017, Larry - Ohio Time <Larry at OhioTimeCorp.com> wrote:

Laurie I thought that curse was broken years ago when he got his Colonel
promotion. But just maybe he did not get his extension of service that was
due around this time....hmmmm.

Larry (holy Batman) - Cleveland

-----Original Message-----
From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces at server.detomasolist.com] On Behalf
Of Laurie Ferrari via DeTomaso
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 10:09 PM
To: detomaso at server.detomasolist.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Interesting ammeter situation

As far as helpful suggestions, the guys are giving good theoretical and
technical ideas but anyone who knows that age old legend, knows his main
issue was who he selected for the drive home.
Laurie
(me thinks he was Drewastered)
[DeTomaso] Interesting ammeter situation.
Mike Drew MikeLDrew at aol.com 
Tue Feb 14 22:19:28 EST 2017

Guys,

Yesterday I accompanied the new owner of a '74 Pantera from Sacramento to
his home in San Diego. 

We almost made it. 

As we entered the worst of the LA megopolis, the charging system suddenly
didn't. The am we had been dancing around for hours and it finally
stabilized deep in the discharge zone. With headlights and fans on, crawling
in stop and go traffic, it wouldn't be too long before the car quit
completely so we dove off the freeway into a gas station and then enjoyed a
two-hour tow truck ride (gotta love AAA premium!)

Today we started troubleshooting. The new owner is almost devoid of tools,
but we started by changing the regulator since its cheap. The result was an
ammeter that now danced violently either side of center. 

Next suspect was the alternator. Although it was new, it was a standard Ford
remain and thus probably only 50A. We took it to a nearby alternator/starter
shop where they rebuilt it and converted to 90A in just over an hour. They
said it tested good beforehand, but since we were there, why not improve it?

With the rebuilt ammeter installed, the needle swing was even more
pronounced, wider at idle, and reducing at about 3000 rpm. 

Now armed with a recently purchased voltmeter, we tested voltage at the
battery and found it cranking out 14.3-14.6 volts depending on rpm and
electrical load (headlights etc)

After a quick call to SOBill Taylor (bless him!!!!) we reinstalled the old
regulator to see what would happen. 

Ammeter jumping stopped, replaced with a constant discharge. Voltmeter
testing at the battery revealed 12.5 volts--the battery was powering the car
and the alternator was doing nothing. 

We reinstalled the new, electronic (as opposed to stock-style mechanical)
regulator, and once again had proper charging indications at the battery,
but the ammeter continued its wild ways. 

I shot a video and stupidly oriented my phone vertically. Only idiots shoot
videos like this, so my profound apologies:

http://youtu.be/lLKf2Z23P_Q

So what do you think the next course of action should be? I have at least
one extra stock ammeter and several regulators, so I am thinking of loaning
them to him for troubleshooting purposes. Do any of you have any
suggestions?

(No, don't suggest he just bypass the gauge or switch to a voltmeter--a
voltmeter would not have warned us of our charging system failure and would
have left us stranded on the freeway!)

Thanks in advance for any constructive advice (other than to learn how to
hold a phone properly when shooting a video!)

Mike

Sent from my iPhone
-------------- next part --------------
Guys,

Yesterday I accompanied the new owner of a '74 Pantera from Sacramento
to his home in San Diego.

We almost made it.

As we entered the worst of the LA megopolis, the charging system
suddenly didn't. The am we had been dancing around for hours and it
finally stabilized deep in the discharge zone. With headlights and fans
on, crawling in stop and go traffic, it wouldn't be too long before the
car quit completely so we dove off the freeway into a gas station and
then enjoyed a two-hour tow truck ride (gotta love AAA premium!)

Today we started troubleshooting. The new owner is almost devoid of
tools, but we started by changing the regulator since its cheap. The
result was an ammeter that now danced violently either side of center.

Next suspect was the alternator. Although it was new, it was a standard
Ford remain and thus probably only 50A. We took it to a nearby
alternator/starter shop where they rebuilt it and converted to 90A in
just over an hour. They said it tested good beforehand, but since we
were there, why not improve it?

With the rebuilt ammeter installed, the needle swing was even more
pronounced, wider at idle, and reducing at about 3000 rpm.

Now armed with a recently purchased voltmeter, we tested voltage at the
battery and found it cranking out 14.3-14.6 volts depending on rpm and
electrical load (headlights etc)

After a quick call to SOBill Taylor (bless him!!!!) we reinstalled the
old regulator to see what would happen.

Ammeter jumping stopped, replaced with a constant discharge. Voltmeter
testing at the battery revealed 12.5 volts--the battery was powering
the car and the alternator was doing nothing.

We reinstalled the new, electronic (as opposed to stock-style
mechanical) regulator, and once again had proper charging indications
at the battery, but the ammeter continued its wild ways.

I shot a video and stupidly oriented my phone vertically. Only idiots
shoot videos like this, so my profound apologies:

[1]http://youtu.be/lLKf2Z23P_Q

So what do you think the next course of action should be? I have at
least one extra stock ammeter and several regulators, so I am thinking
of loaning them to him for troubleshooting purposes. Do any of you have
any suggestions?

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