I finally caught a break in the weather today and had some time to install a new 140 amp alternator. The installation was very straightforward and went quickly. The only issue I had was with the upsized battery charging wire from the alternator. When I first wired it, I took the original charging wire that ran from the alternator to the solenoid out of the circuit completely. However, nothing would happen when I tried to start the car, I figure there must be other wires spliced into, but that was all hidden beneath tape on the wiring loom. So I put the original wire back into place, and ran the new 4 gauge wire from the alternator charging post, to where the battery cable attaches to the positive battery post. Everything worked fine after that. There is a NOTICEABLE difference in the headlights, heater fan, etc at idle with the new alternator in place. Here is a link to the alternator on eBay, along with a couple pictures. Please let me know if you have any questions.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Black-GM-Chevy-140-amp-1-or-3-wire-alternator-Rat-Rod-Race-Car-Street-Custom-/231493038296?vxp=mtr
(http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h109/brilliantd/kammback/IMG_20150302_133008_zps9v4ytgzl.jpg) (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/brilliantd/media/kammback/IMG_20150302_133008_zps9v4ytgzl.jpg.html)
(http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h109/brilliantd/kammback/IMG_20150302_133013_zpsj7j18lhx.jpg) (http://s62.photobucket.com/user/brilliantd/media/kammback/IMG_20150302_133013_zpsj7j18lhx.jpg.html)
Dave, I could be wrong, but I have a feeling you may have bumped the wire that comes from the key and goes to the S terminal to the solenoid which caused your no start issue and then when you reinstalled the old charge wire, you may have bumped it again causing it to work again. I had an intermittent no start issue I was trying to track down a couple years ago and it was a bad connection at the S terminal.
May have, sounds like something I would do lol. Everything seems to be working good now.
I was wrong. There are 3 wires that are spliced into the charge wire that comes off the alternator. I was working on my Eagle to day and realized that I cut off the wire that connects to the alternator at the splice. You keep one side of the wire that connects to the solenoid and that will supply power to those 3 wires. Keeping it attached to the alternator won't cause any issues, though.