[DeTomaso] Interesting ammeter situation.

[Mike Drew]

And then there are the jokers who say it happened just because I was sitting in the passenger seat! :)

Mike

Sent from my iPad

> On Feb 16, 2017, at 07:34, Charles McCall <charlesmccall at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>   It's like Polio or Smallpox - people thought that it had been
>   erradicated but is was really just dormant... when people relax and
>   forget about the danger.... boom! It was never really gone
>   completely...
> 
>   On Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 4:15 PM, Paul Rimov <[1]rimovp at gmail.com>
>   wrote:
> 
>     So is this to warn others the dreaded Drew Flu is still pandemic?
>> On Feb 14, 2017, at 7:19 PM, Mike Drew via DeTomaso
>     <[2]detomaso at server.detomasolist.com> wrote:
>> 
>> A  A Guys,
>> 
>> A  A Yesterday I accompanied the new owner of a '74 Pantera from
>     Sacramento
>> A  A to his home in San Diego.
>> 
>> A  A We almost made it.
>> 
>> A  A As we entered the worst of the LA megopolis, the charging
>     system
>> A  A suddenly didn't. The am we had been dancing around for hours
>     and it
>> A  A finally stabilized deep in the discharge zone. With headlights
>     and fans
>> A  A on, crawling in stop and go traffic, it wouldn't be too long
>     before the
>> A  A car quit completely so we dove off the freeway into a gas
>     station and
>> A  A then enjoyed a two-hour tow truck ride (gotta love AAA
>     premium!)
>> 
>> A  A Today we started troubleshooting. The new owner is almost
>     devoid of
>> A  A tools, but we started by changing the regulator since its
>     cheap. The
>> A  A result was an ammeter that now danced violently either side of
>     center.
>> 
>> A  A Next suspect was the alternator. Although it was new, it was a
>     standard
>> A  A Ford remain and thus probably only 50A. We took it to a nearby
>> A  A alternator/starter shop where they rebuilt it and converted to
>     90A in
>> A  A just over an hour. They said it tested good beforehand, but
>     since we
>> A  A were there, why not improve it?
>> 
>> A  A With the rebuilt ammeter installed, the needle swing was even
>     more
>> A  A pronounced, wider at idle, and reducing at about 3000 rpm.
>> 
>> A  A Now armed with a recently purchased voltmeter, we tested
>     voltage at the
>> A  A battery and found it cranking out 14.3-14.6 volts depending on
>     rpm and
>> A  A electrical load (headlights etc)
>> 
>> A  A After a quick call to SOBill Taylor (bless him!!!!) we
>     reinstalled the
>> A  A old regulator to see what would happen.
>> 
>> A  A Ammeter jumping stopped, replaced with a constant discharge.
>     Voltmeter
>> A  A testing at the battery revealed 12.5 volts--the battery was
>     powering
>> A  A the car and the alternator was doing nothing.
>> 
>> A  A We reinstalled the new, electronic (as opposed to stock-style
>> A  A mechanical) regulator, and once again had proper charging
>     indications
>> A  A at the battery, but the ammeter continued its wild ways.
>> 
>> A  A I shot a video and stupidly oriented my phone vertically. Only
>     idiots
>> A  A shoot videos like this, so my profound apologies:
>> 
>> A  A [1][3]http://youtu.be/lLKf2Z23P_Q
>> 
>> A  A So what do you think the next course of action should be? I
>     have at
>> A  A least one extra stock ammeter and several regulators, so I am
>     thinking
>> A  A of loaning them to him for troubleshooting purposes. Do any of
>     you have
>> A  A any suggestions?
>> 
>> A  A (No, don't suggest he just bypass the gauge or switch to a
>     voltmeter--a
>> A  A voltmeter would not have warned us of our charging system
>     failure and
>> A  A would have left us stranded on the freeway!)
>> 
>> A  A Thanks in advance for any constructive advice (other than to
>     learn how
>> A  A to hold a phone properly when shooting a video!)
>> 
>> A  A Mike
>> 
>> A  A Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> References
>> 
>> A  A 1. [4]http://youtu.be/lLKf2Z23P_Q
>> _______________________________________________
>> 
>> 
>> Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
>> Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
>> DeTomaso mailing list
>> [5]DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
>> [6]http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>> 
>> To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe,
>     etc.) use the links above.
>> 
>> Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward
>     any message posted here to all past, current, or future members of
>     the list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an
>     archive or approve the archiving of list messages.
>     _______________________________________________
>     Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
>     Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
>     DeTomaso mailing list
>     [7]DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
>     [8]http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>     To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe,
>     etc.) use the links above.
>     Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward
>     any message posted here to all past, current, or future members of
>     the list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an
>     archive or approve the archiving of list messages.
> 
> References
> 
>   1. mailto:rimovp at gmail.com
>   2. mailto:detomaso at server.detomasolist.com
>   3. http://youtu.be/lLKf2Z23P_Q
>   4. http://youtu.be/lLKf2Z23P_Q
>   5. mailto:DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
>   6. http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>   7. mailto:DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
>   8. http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
> Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
> Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
> http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
> 
> To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links above.
> 
> Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive or approve the archiving of list messages.