Technical 57 wiring.

Hey guys, I've got a couple of things left on the wiring and wondering about some of it. Since this car no longer uses a generator and has a single wire alternator(was on car when I got it) I'm wondering what wire is supposed to be hooked up to it? There is a dark brown wire in the vicinity? Also I'm curious as to what wires I need to hook up to the Ignition switch? And on what terminals? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

 

There were a whole bunch of manufactures who made cars in 57. Maybe narrowing down what you are working with might help. And maybe some pictures of what you're looking at on the ignition switch...

 

Sorry lol, 57 chevy 150.

 

You can buy a different alternator, I like the 60s version that uses the old mechanical, external regulator. But if you really want to keep that one wire for some odd reason, it just needs to connect to the battery, usually at the big terminal on the starter, where the battery cable connects.

The ignition switch if it's original should be wired like this if you have the point ignition, or some other ignition that uses a ballast resistor. If for some odd reason you have a different type of ignition, then you may need to wire it differently. Click the pic to make it bigger.

 

I'm using a small cap hei. And thanks man!

 

You'll probably need to do some testing on the ignition switch, to find a terminal that gets power when the key is on "run" as well as "start". Might be that it has two different I (for Ignition) terminals, but I forget. They changed the design a few times in the mid-late 50s. The ballast resistor bypas was first in the ignition switch, and later on the starter.

 

With the one wire alternator the small gauge brown wire isn't used. It is the charge wire to the idiot light in the dash. If you were using a three wire unit the brown wire would connect to the #1 terminal on the back of the alternator.

 

So the brown wire just hooks to the idiot light? Is it necessary? I bought a three wire to run and ditching the one wire

 

The wire from the light connects to terminal 1 on the 1970s style 10SI three wire alternator, the one with the built in regulator. Terminal 2 connects to the battery, as does the screw terminal.