Hi friends.

Just started my restoration. F-250, 1973 with a original 360 in it. It’s registered as a special vehichle here in Norway. Meaning I need to keep replacementparts as close to original as possible. And I cant afford an upgrade for more amps right now. Just need steady charge

Going to swap the old dynamo and regulator this week. Sadly I’m nor that good with the electrical on cars. Can someone advise me how to wire this up? There is a big mess in the enginecompartment, with old wires and stuff that needs to be removed.

This is the new dynamo, with a red, black and white connection. New regulator is original, getting it with mail tomorrow.

 

Just recived the regulator

 

Electrical parts all tend to look identical, but the quality varies widely. They cost more but NOS would be recommended. That looks like a junk overseas regulato. Unfortunately name brands are not an indication of quality in 2020.

 

Do you have gauges?
this may help a little

 

Nice!

So, the white connection on alternator is for electronic choke? I use heat tube today. I drive C6 automatic, where can I find that ”NSS”, and what is it?

Can you explain what those two things are: ”ammeter” & ”capacitor”.

Gauges? In the engineroom? Not sure what you mean:/

But otherwise that was a great & simple diagram for an idiot like me, thanks

 

The capacitor in near the voltage regulator. Sometimes mounted on the inner fender. Ours was on top of the regulator. It is the cylinder shaped thing in the photos.

The NSS is the neutral safety switch. I think the switch itself is located in the steering column.

The ammeter wire feeds your alternator gauge on your dash if equipped. I don't know for sure if it is connected if you have an indicator light.

Our dash has lights instead of gauges for the alternator (dynamo) and oil pressure.

Capacitor on top of regulator.

Capacitor on top of regulator

Warning lights instead of gauges

 

Ah!

Thank so much for the explaining! Yes, I have a voltmeter in the gaugecluster. So just have to trace that wire and keep it ”alive”.

Not sure if I’ve seen my capacitor yet. Will take a look and make sure it’s still connected

NSS, never seen or heard about that one either. A third thing to make sure to be connected. Have a manual here that I bought online. Might be smart to have a look at the wiringdiagrams, trace the colouring of those wires? Might not be original...but pretty sure my truck is near to standard and not many mods so will be worth a look into

Thanks a bunch guys. Very thankfull!!!

 

Those capacitors were installed on various components over the years as part of a "noise suppression" kit, used to reduce RFI (radio frequency interference). Typical locations were ignition coils, generator and alternator armatures, and voltage regulators. Both spark plugs and spark plug wires were also eventually of the noise suppression type. The capacitors should also help mechanical point type voltage regulators last longer, due to reduced arcing.

Now noise suppression or RFI isn't simply about making the engine safe for the in-dash AM radio, though it does that. The idea is actually to avoid external radio frequency interference of all sorts - whether a garage door opener, modern computer engine controls, or the neighbors radio and TV etc.

The earliest wireless radio stations were "spark gap transmitters", with a long enough antenna they could be received around the world, in morse code. Highly illegal today, the historical radio groups will get special permission from the FCC or the like to fire them up on special anniversaries to commemorate.

I remember vaguely when I was a little kid the over the air TV broadcast would conk out for about 10 or 15 seconds whenever the neighbor hot-rodder drove by our house in his Flathead, Dad would say bad words, etc. Solid core spark plug wires, maybe? It's amazing how far the ignition energy can travel. The only thing with the capacitors, is they are old by now and hard to find, make sure they aren't shorted out before using them.

 

Hey Swede,
If you can ONLY start the truck in P (park) or N (neutral) then you currently have a working NSS. If you can start it in any gear then it's either gone or has been bypassed. I'm envious of how much you're getting done!

 

Hi friend.

Good to know, sadly I cant test that NSS right now. I dismantled the upper steering column the other day. Changed the big plastic switch for the blinkers(common fail?) Got all new wires through and pices together BUT the column is spring loaded from the bottom, the 2 small screws on top is A PAIN IN THE.....For those who have done it before.....you know....:/

(pic is not mine, just for illustration)





Actually I’m done with the hardest jobs on the truck. Yesterday I prepared the cabin for cutting/welding. As always, the rust in the floor were much worse then imagined....





I’ve got new panels for floor, cabincorner and doorcorner. Luckily I found a good garage here nearby, the will do all the rustremoval and patching for me, since I don’t have a weldmachine at home. Altough, I will use 3M bondo body glue for some parts and do it myself. Fun to try

 

Hi SwedeinNorway. I did not see it mentioned, but is your truck equipped with an automatic transmission, or manual transmission? If a manual, you will not have the Neutral Safety Switch. Back then only the automatics had them.

Do you have pictures of your carburetor and other areas of the engine compartment? I believe '73 was the first year that some trucks got the electric choke, so it's possible your truck was not equipped with one if yours is with certain options? I'm not sure.

Does your instrument panel look like the one John posted, with the FUEL and TEMP gauges, but with only lights for the OIL and ALT? Or are the two upper locations also gauges like the lower ones? Ford had two ways of wiring the dynamo/alternator (originally called an "AC Generator") regulators, depending on which gauge cluster you have.

Good luck! Look forward to seeing more of your truck. And yes, rust is almost always hiding more than expected in these old trucks!

Paul

 

Hey there.

Got the C6 auto here. Don’t have the truck at home and doing all the work outside in both cold and wind(Norwegian winter is snowy).
So toady it’s supposed to be a little less cold. Gonna do some work on it. Have to finish the steering coloumn and mount all the hardware on the mirrors.





Iv’e got the hot tube choke on mine. It has been deleted a long time ago, cause of rusted pipes. Today it’s all put back together by me. New pipes, fittings, holes in the manifold but the spring in the chokehousing wont expand....So I have to manially twist it back. Thinkin of just making the choke manual.

Yes, i do have a gauge in the cluster for the alternater, saying ALT. Just going to trace the wire back to the enginebay.

Everything takes a lot longer for us living in europe. Have to order nut, bolts, wellnuts and parts fron abroad. Finding hadware takes a lot of work when we us mm and not inches...Have learned that it takes planning and thoughts before I start with something new on the truck. I really envy you guys in the US. There isn’t ONE scrapyard here with these trucks. Starting to realize this project is becoming VERY expensive

 

Since you have the ammeter/amp-meter your regulator will use only the three wire positions, as HighGirl showed in the diagram. Instead of all four, like cars and trucks with indicator lamps use.
Of the F S A I designations (or I A S F depending on how you are looking at it), the "I" location is not used.

The wires and their functions are as follows:

1. A - Yellow wire with battery voltage at all times.
2. S - Green w/red wire with 12v only when the key is ON.
3. F - Orange wire between the regulator and the alternator's FLD terminal. Is this the White one? I believe so, but look for the letters cast into the aluminum case.

Additional wires to make it complete are:

4. The large Black wire (could be Black w/yellow) from the BAT terminal (Red) of the alternator directly to the battery side of the starter relay/solenoid/mag-switch.
5. A very small gauge Black ground wire from one of the GRD studs (ground, or earth) on the back of the alternator over to one of the regulator's mounting screws.

If you are using the original alternator harness from Ford, this ground wire is encased in the rubber strain-relief and is shown as the metal mounting tab sticking out of the side of the molding. Simply bolt this to one of the grounding/earthing studs so that it does both grounding and securing the wire harness to the back of the alternator.

Hope that helps.

Paul

 

Thanks Paul. For an idiot like me when it comes to electrical, everything is helping. I will use all information I get here and at least give it a try. My goal is to clean up the enginebay from old, britle and non-functional wiring.

If it wont charge or start after trying, the solution is to have it towed, and have proffessionals repair it. As I mentioned...pretty much everything on these old trucks are both rugged and easy to understand. But electrical.....gaaahh!

 

Most fell that way about electrical work!
If you do end up taking it to a pro (but let us try to help first please!) make sure to remind them of the two ways to wire the voltage regulator. Even seasoned experts in Ford around here don't always remember, or many just never knew that Ford used two wiring schemes for the charging system.

Paul