73 Silverado Short Bed

[c10rick]

Anxious to start the body work, but there are a couple issues first. (There always are . . ha ha.) One is a noise in the engine I just rebuilt, and the other is electrical. I put Vortec heads on the 327 block that was in the truck when I bought it. It had 80's, low compression heads with 76cc combustion chambers. The heads (out of a 96 Suburban) are 64cc, the same as original 327 heads. When I pulled the heads, I also got the cast aluminum brackets and all the engine accessories so I could use a serpentine belt. God bless Chevrolet for keeping the mounting holes on the heads the same over all these years. And it doesn't hurt that there are so many Vortec engines at Pick-N-Pull. I think Vortec started in 96.

That said, with the later model one wire alternator, I'm not getting 14 volts across the battery. Has someone out there gone through this? If so, any suggestions on the proper wiring for this conversion? What should be done with the two-wire plug (and wires) that came out of the old alternator?

Thanks.

[Aaron_L]

Are you checking it at idle? Most one wire alternators won't start charging until around 2500-3000 rpm.

[c10rick]

Yep, I was. Thanks.