so I dug into it today. immediately recognized the problem. when I took the alternator out the power cable that bolts to the back was hanging on by a thread. when I undid the wire loom the wire was melted about 3 inches up. my idiot self now remembers when I took the alternator out in the first place the connector that connects the wire to that bolt I took one out of my toolbox I didn't even think about wire guage. I'm not sure what guage that one was rated for but I bought a new one rated for 6 guage.
I ended up upgrading the alternator anyways to a 145 amp since I thought the alternator took a dump I went out and got that one at a junkyard and was an oem part not a reman. so far so good. voltage is back to normal. the voltmeter shows lower voltage than I'd like at the battery at 11.6 or so. when idling the voltage at the battery is 13.6 or so.
so for now another 4th gen ls1 is on the road hopefully the car needs to be driven a bit more to get the voltage up on the meter.
