I heard once that if you put a switch in line from the alt. to the battery you can turn it off an gain HP. Is that true? I'm down to the wiring and thought I would do that if it would make a differance.
Dean

A friend of mine has a switch on his alt,but you have to flip it everytime he starts his engine so it will charge.I think you might get a few more horsepower,but not alot.Any VW engine i've ever seen never ran real strong just off the battery.If your running MSD ignition,you will need more amp's to run it.

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IF YOU CAN'T MAKE IT IN A LITTLE BUGGY,IT CAN'T BE CLIMBED

The gain would be very minimal. Yes, you can wire it so you can turn it off and you will get an extra 2 horsepower but that is very minimal. I wouldn't worry about it. There are other ways to gain that precious horsepower. Like ralston said, you need full voltage going to your ignition system for it to function correctly. Keep the alternator and keep your electrical system running on 14 volts all the time.

Roy

Dean,

Are you running a MSD box on your car? If you are not, install one. There is your gain you are after! You will be amazed how much better it will run and you will feel the extra HP by the seat of your pants. I recomend a 6AL.

Roy

I agree, I run the 6Offroad box and love it!

Blake

I don't have one yet. I should do it. I had a magnito once and it was awsome.
dEAN

I like the 6AL box because you can plug in a rev limiter chip right into the box. It is built in. Some of the other ones you have to add components to use rev limiter capabilities.
Talk about bang for the buck, you are really missing out!

Roy

I will look into it. The buggy is about done and I really havn't put to much money into it this year. Just LOTS of time
Dean

We're having a wiring problems with my son's buggy. The buggy is wired for a built in regulator. The wires going to the alternator has a bolt-on terminal and a female plug. The alternator from Advance has the same terminals but it doesn't charge with both wires hooked up. My brother figured out the alternator needed juice to it at start up to make it charge. Well he ran a wire from the selanoid to excite the alternator but that caused the starter to run all the time. I'm not sure how the PO excited the alternator the way he had it wired. Are there two different alternators with built in regulator with one that needs an exciter and one doesn't?

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WvvW Life really is an adventure! Covered with bug junk

Dave,

There are a couple of different internally regulated alternators that they used. BOTH of them need exciter voltage to get them going. This voltage is usually provided through an idiot light circuit and the terminal on the alternator is used as the ground point for the circuit to complete itself. If you have a photo of your alternator, I can point out which terminal you need to use.

Roy

I don't have a picture but someone explained it and I think I understand now.

Thanks

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WvvW Life really is an adventure! Covered with bug junk

mine wouldn't work if run through the switch...so I just hooked up a light to the alt and works fine now. Also check the resistance of the wire from starter to batt. I changed mine to a larger gauge wire and it with a combo of hooking idiot directly to alt solved my issue.