Alright here goes.... My friend and I just recently rebuilt an 88 305 TBI. The only thing we added to it was an Performer RPM cam by edelbrock. Our problem we thought was the alternator not charging the battery, so i bought a new one. Also had the battery charged again. The car was hard to start though we are still working a bit with the timing. When the car did start though, the battery meter you could watch just slowly go down. As far as we know we hooked everything up the way it should be. I have one wire connecting on the back side of the alternator (red) and a big plug on top. Is there any other wires that should go into there? We are now thinking that it could be a ground somewhere. I know there is one that grounds from the firewall to one of the heads then there is another one from the battery to the side of the block. Our block is painted but we did rub off the paint to get a better ground. Is there another ground we should look for or maybe there is a blown fuse for the alternator. Either way we did test it when it was running by disconnecting the battery and it immediately shut off. I dont know what do to, so please leave some answers.

Where did you get the alternator from? I work at an auto parts store and I can tell you that the only decent ones are Autolite or Nascar. The rest of them have a 30-60% percent return rate due to defects...Especially the lifetime ones from A-Zone.

Start by metering the voltage right at the alternator output stud.

Yes, i did buy my alternator from autozone, it was the rebuilt one for 79.99. Where can i get the others you were talking about at? Vadar, what part do i check the output on.. where the single red wire connects on the back or the plug on top? Is there anything else it could be besides the alternator?

Check the output voltage at the large stud on the back of the alternator. There is only one wire connected there, usually red, or black with a red tracer.

Go to your local Checker/Shucks/Kragen. Or possibly Advance or NAPA. I dont have a pep boys around me so I'm not sure if they would. They can also throw their tester on it and check out the whole charging system for no charge.