Ok, after a long wait for the replacement shroud along with having to remove the paint on the replacement part and some R&R on the shroud and fan I got everything back together and installed the new Interstate battery. I tested the voltage on the battery at 12.4V.

I then fired her up, first crank. The little cigarette lighter volt meter was showing 12.1-12.2V. I pulled out the volt meter and measure 14.5 volts at the terminal in the engine compartment, the red wire to the right of the blue fuse. The wire below it is switched and measured 12.2V

http://mhackney.zenfolio.com/img/s4/...48939833-3.jpg

I then measured the battery while the car was running at 12.2V. With the car off, the battery is 12.4V.

So I still have some sort of charging issue. So let me quickly recap what's been going on the last 3 weeks when this started:

4th of July weekend we pulled the engine to replace a transmission seal

7th of July I drove 400 miles to Rochester, NY all fine

8th of July I drove 400 mile back to MA and that's when the charging issue started showing up and I started the other thread to get some diagnostic help. My battery was very old so I decided to replace that. My alt seemed to be having a problem so I decided to replace that too. The 83 alt has the built in voltage regulator so in essence I replaced the battery, alt and VR. Today I got it back together and am still having the issue. Any recommendations?

Mystery solved...

So, it turns out that when we dropped the engine we had hand tightened the two wires on the + terminal of the starter motor. Somehow the boot got pulled over the leads. In the process of diagnosing this issue I discovered that the wires were very loose and when I removed the boot discovered that the nut holding the wires was so loose I removed it by hand. One of these wires is the red (thick) that goes to the alternator. The other is the huge black wire that goes directly to the battery + terminal. My understanding now, is that when the starter is activated, current flows through that big wire to energize the starter. Once started, the battery is charged through that big wire and the current from the alternator comes through the smaller red wire. I *think* that's how it works anyway! When I cleaned the terminals and installed the wires properly the voltage at the battery jumped to 12.40 and so did the reading on the cigarette lighter meter. I measured everything with my volt meter and it all seemed in order so I went for an hour drive and things are looking good.

So, it seems that the battery and alt were not (completely) at fault. But, my battery was quite old and needed to be replaced sooner or later anyway. And, removing the alt I discovered the broken shroud which really needed to be replaced too. And the fan and shroud cleaned up nicely so it was worth it all in the end!