OK, not many want to come out and play so I'll spill the beans.
Short story 1st.
Like Jerry 1st thought, I started looking for something putting a large electrical load on the system. SOP for this truck over the last 22k miles is once the battery is recharged after starting the ammeter stays at "0".
1st I disconnected my 12v step-up circuitry, no fixie.
I then started tracing out the wiring which is still mostly the OEM cloth covered insulation. No obvious shorts or shiny breaks in the cloth.
Thinking what would be drawing power while running I reached down around the coil and dist wire and got japped before I actually touched it. I'm talking about the low voltage wire. My coil is still mounted upside down in it's original position so both the high and low volt leads from it to the dist are pretty short and there was a tiny gap of exposed wire where it crimps onto the spade lug that connects the low voltage wire to the dist.
Shining a light down at the coil and dist cap they both shined back at me, kinda like they had a coat of wax on them but in this case it was a coat of oil film.
Apparently there was enough oil film on the coil and dist low voltage wire to cause an intermittent short between the high voltage and low volt terminal on the coil and cause an intermittent short on that tiny exposed wire at the crimp on the dist to dist ground.
I wiped them all dry and the problem nearly disappeared and I was getting zapped no more.
Wiping dry the high voltage connection at the starter terminal completed the repair and the electrical system returned back to it's SOP.
Now during all this the engine ran fine, no miss or lack of power. The only indication I got of the electrical system's problem was the erratic ammeter. How or why it wasn't stalling out the ign system is a mystery to me.
Oh and the cause of all the oil film? Excessive blow by out the 3 valve cover vents and a leaky valve cover gasket directly over the coil.
The permanent fix is sitting on a make shift run stand collecting dust, the temp fix is to keep it wiped down better LOL.
Dave
