It’s a common scenario. You’ve just added a larger radiator with a pair of performance electric fans to help cool that hot small-block. Everything is working great until you take your Camaro out for an evening cruise at the local hangout. That’s when you notice that at idle with the headlights on and both fans running the voltmeter is sitting on 11.5 V instead of the 14 it used to read at idle. Plus, the headlights get brighter when you rev the engine. Something is amiss.
In the early days of muscle cars, alternator output was in the range of 40 to 60 amps. There just weren’t that many electrical accessories that required more than perhaps 30 amps. But today, we have a ton of electrical components that place an increasing demand on the charging system. Today’s new vehicles are commonly equipped with 140- to 160-amp alternators. The same is true for modern muscle cars running items like electric fans, a high-pressure fuel pump, A/C, electric vacuum pump for power brakes,
