First off, I've driven Vegas, in various driveline configurations, for many thousands of miles over the last 20 years. I've never had to be towed in a Vega before.... until last night.
Background:
My mostly stock '73 has a swapped in HEI distributor by the previous owner... been like that since the '70's, probably.
The alternator is from my old parts car that sat in a junkyard for 20 years (been installed for a couple years now).
I've had a battery drain for the last few months. Not bad enough to do anything about it. If it sat for 4 or 5 days, the battery would be too low to crank... hindsight now has me thinking I shouldn't be so lazy.
I charged the battery yesterday for an hour or so with 50 amps. Got the car running and headed out for a 40 mile trip to Knoxville. Made it about 10 miles. Running 80 on the interstate, it just died. Got fuel, as the accelerator pump squirted fuel, but after 2 attempts at starting, the battery got too low to crank.
After calling a ride, I took a battery booster pack with me back to the car, suspecting an electrical issue.....
It got the car started enough to get it driven up on the trailer.
I've unloaded the car in my basement now, and I'm trying to get enough juice to start the engine to test the alternator.... what am I looking for?
I seem to remember there used to be a magnet on the back-side of the alternator that would indicate it was charging, but what voltage should I be seeing with a multi-meter? (I'm not too lazy to google it, just curious what you guys might think the issue might be?)
Does the ignition module and/or coil ever go hit or miss? Maybe dies with heat? Cools down and works until hot again? ????
Could it just be a bad battery?
Then there's that stupid, annoying battery drain issue..... I hate troubleshooting electrical..... I know, start pulling fuses until I find the culprit circuit, then narrow it down from there.
But this dying at 80 mph and leaving me on the side of the road is the real kicker, now. Never had that happen before.