Just got my camaro's engine rebuild completed (or so I thought) and got a nice enough day to take it out for a while. Got to my in-laws house to show off the new engine. When I got there I noticed my amp gauge was reading between 13 and 8 (closer to 8) with the car still running, I shut her down. When I went to restart the car she wouldn't crank over. The starter just sputtered a little then the battery died colmpletely (as in not even a dome light on).

Obviously if I'm getting some charge from the alternator, that should mean I'm just drawing too much power. I'm running an electric water pump, the cooling fan, a tach, and a high output coil in the distributor. Besides, I want a one wire alternator.

I don't no what the stock alternator amperage output is (tell me if you know). I was wondering if I should go with a 80 or 100 amp alternator. an 80 amp will save me almost $60 over the 100 amp, but I want to be able to run a stereo and all headlights at night.

 

It's also possible that the alternator is damaged and not able to generate full current.

FWIW, my stock alternator on the '86 is 108A.

 

Or it could mean its dying, I've never personally seen an alternator just die- they alway seem to slowly put out less power. I believe I'm running a 105A stock replacement alternator.

 

So I should just try rebuilding it. What all is involved in a rebuild anyway?