Overcharging issue

[135sohc]

My 79 B-van has had several issues all probably related to its 'extended rest' it took for the last 3 years. Got most of them worked out but this last one has gotten me stumped.

Alternator was crapped out (did a manual override putting it to full field and it put out 11 volts..) and so it was exchanged at pepboys for probably the 5th or 6th time by now (crappy chinese remans going back 20 years)

Fresh (remaned) alternator and the old voltage regulator it put out 12.5 volts. manual overide the voltage regulator and it put out 17+ volts. So the old VR was crapped also.

New VR from napa and its now putting out 15.5 volts at idle. Everything including the VR is throughly grounded to the chassis & battery. Just to rule out a possible bad VR I bought a second VR from advance. Same deal, its very much overcharging the battery. The green signal wire going from the VR to alternator is good with less than 1 ohm of resistance. Everything else checks out good with the meter also.

Out of ideas here Would take it back to pepboys but with all the BS and hassle it was just getting this one and telling me the old one was "A-ok" according to their testing stand.

I really want to get this thing registered and driving again Kills me everyday seeing it sitting and rotting away in the corner of the driveway.

[turbovanman²]

They do charge a little high but check the firewall connection by the battery, they carry the amperage to the gauge inside and have mega high resistance.

[135sohc]

Does that gauge inside actually 'control' the charging circuit or is it there just to show whats going on ?
I have heard about that issue before, mostly with the older ones that were outfitted as cop/fleet cars with the huge alternator.

[turbovanman²]

No, buts its a source of resistance, which is very bad, of course.