1973 Mach 1 Electrical Question

JiminDallas

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Feb 3, 2016
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Brought my car into a local shop a couple of months ago to replace shocks and of course got the whole 9 yards of what needed to be done, including supposedly a rewire from 9 volts to 12 volts. Huh? The car does run and drive, it does seem to lack power but doubt it has to do with this. Dash lights are extremely low and really cant even see them at night, tried replacing with halogen bulbs which didn't work at all so put old bulbs back in. Could there be something to what I was told and how would I know for sure if I'm operating on 9V or 12V, is that even possible?
 
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I think they are talking about the ignition system. If you still have points then you likely have an inline resistor to cut down current to the distributor. If you run unresisted you will burn up points unless you switch to an electronic ignition so I'm guessing that they want to convert you to an electronic ignition?
 
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Brought my car into a local shop a couple of months ago to replace shocks and of course got the whole 9 yards of what needed to be done, including supposedly a rewire from 9 volts to 12 volts. Huh? The car does run and drive, it does seem to lack power but doubt it has to do with this. Dash lights are extremely low and really cant even see them at night, tried replacing with halogen bulbs which didn't work at all so put old bulbs back in. Could there be something to what I was told and how would I know for sure if I'm operating on 9V or 12V, is that even possible?
first of all you need a alternator upgrade to one wire or 3g alternator for at least 130 amps. then get rid of the point distributor for electronic one of your choosing then use a relay and a true 12 volt coil. If you go to DocUsn , read the posts and it has the info for your much needed upgrade. I would also put LED lights in all your dash lights, they are much brighter. All the guys helped me when I did the same for my 72 mustang convertible. their advice was outstanding and listed in their posts to me. I had fun doing exactly what they said and had a fantastic result.