ShopTalk Forums | Aircooled VW Tech & Restoration Help

A friend of mine restored his 74 Ghia. He removed the body, had the pan undercoated, new bushings, new motor and everything else. One item he doesn't remember is where to connect two wires from the alternator. His alternator has separate connections for the B+ and the ground, like I do on my 73 Ghia. He also has a three prong connection, one is for the D- for the warning light. The two other wires are connected to a plastic plug. These are the ones he is not sure where to connect them. Are these possibly for trouble shooting the alternator or should they connect to something?

The pictures are for his alternator.

Thanks,
Mitchell

While this reply is three months after the fact, here's an answer: you have a Motorola style alternator which uses an external regulator. The three prongs are the wires going to the regulator. The regulator is mounted where the regulator for a generator equipped engine would be mounted. This is a desirable alternator because you do not have to pull the alternator (a lot of work) to test it or to test/replace the regulator. The downside is that these are fairly rare, used for only a couple of years, so finding a replacement is difficult, resulting in most people giving up and going to the more common one terminal alternator (which, from the engine picture above, your wiring harness was expecting). The upper picture shows the correct harness for this alternator, the other end of which goes to the regulator.

Thanks for the reply. We did finally figure it out. He had misplaced the external regulator, but found it. I should have posted that information, but I forgot to do so. The car is running and the alternator is charging the battery.

Thanks Again.