HELP!!! 396 BB Question

[bdmcgee]

I’m re-wiring my 69 GMC Stepside. It has a 396 BB in her and I’m using the EZ wire harness. No complaints so far with the harness. It’s as advertised (the guy at EZ wire talked me into the 21 circuit. He was trying to be helpful, but all I needed was the 12. My fault, not theirs) Anyway, I ran into a coule of things I REALLY need some advice with;

1. Can I just throw out the old voltage regulator out and replace it with a late model (i.e. "new") alternator with the regulator built in? I can’t see where that would be a problem since I can direct wire the new one. Where am I wrong?

2. (This is a weird one) I drop the starter because, as mentioned above, I'm re-wiring everything, including putting on new battery cables. Much to my surprise I found a SECOND "paralleled" cylanoid.. . AND it’s a Ford cylanoid!!!!! It was bolted off to one side with a homemade bracket and wired to the battery, with a jumper to the starter. I’ve heard of some race car applications with super duty strength starters, with ultra high compression engines needing something like this, but this one was wired in a paralleled manner, jumping off the starter cylanoid. Very strange!!! My motor “may” have been milled out by a previous owner, but I’m not sure. I'm the thrid owner. The guy a got it from purchased it from CA and stored it in a pole barn for a long time and never drove it. It makes for a solid truck, but little history! The truck does have a lot of “race” applications; Holley 750, Endlebrock intake, flowmasters, BIG headers, hotter ignition, . . . etc, but there’s nothing to indicate a need for TWO cylnoids. Any ideas guys? Since I dropped the stater anyway, I'm going to have it tested, or I should say, have the attached cylanoid tested. Then only thing I could think of is it didn't work and they wired on a Ford one in a half baked repair job??? I can't believe the 396 needs that much crank from the cylanoid to turn the starter. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's the only thing I could think of. What am I missing?

I'm only a novie at working on engines/cars/trucks and don't make any claims at being anything but someone who loves getting dirt under my fingernails on weekends. Any help would be greatly appriciated guys. THANKS!

PS - We got all the old wire tore out and of course, while we were crawling around we got sidetracked in doing a few other things – like changing out the alternator, pulling the radiator to have it blown & painted, changing out the belts and all hoses, etc. Paint & interior are both still a year away, but man, this ehgine CRANKS it out!

[LockDoc]

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This thread might explain #2 for you.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=206882

LockDoc