TPI owners step inside please

[Teds89IROC]

I'm having an odd problem with volts. When I have my headlights on with turn signal and brake, my volts drop to about the red area. At normal idle with no lights I'm pushing 13 volts and nothing ever higher. I tried a new alternator and I have the same problem. I checked for any loose grounds and my wires along the long tubes, nothing there. I had to mess around with the stock wiring harness coming off the battery and I put in an inline 30 amp fuse to replace an existing wire that I think was a fused link thinking it would work. From the fuse holder all the way to the connector on the harness gets very hot and melts the fuse, not blow it, just melts it after running the car for a while. I was just wondering if someone could snap a pic of the wires coming off their battery and leading to those harnesses pictures below:





any help is greatly appreciated

[maroman88]

on my 88 with the tpi swap its all home made and on the 91 its all hacked up lol.

i have the same problem with the volts dropping into or near the red at idle while the cars in drive, but only in the 88

[PolarBear]

No offense but from the pictures the wiring really looks like a mess. I see you have some crimp connectors there, not the best way to do things. I would also recommend upgrading your grounds, the factory ones (if you are still using them) are not adequate for the factory system and over time there can be corrosion on the wire at the ring terminals.
I relocated my battery to the rear of the car using a ford style relay for the starter and I uase 1/0 for the battery ground, postive wire to the solenoid and 16 ft from there to the starter. For my charging wire I went with a 4 gauge to the hot side of the solenoid and a 125 amp inline fuse. The engine also got a 1/0 ground. I also relocated the big 3 to a distribution block in the engine compartment which connects to the 4 gauge to the rear of the car. With this setup I have almost no drop anywhere in the car.
For the most part with wiring bigger IS better.

[band77one]

my 88 does that too, but it only started doing that when i put my system in, and it doesnt always do it tho.

[Teds89IROC]

It is a mess when I bought the car all the wires were hacked up so I straighten them out as problems come along. That inline fuse holder/wire was a temporary possible solution; I've since found my problem and that is no longer there, but thanks for your input.