Reminds me of Mike Potter's Sabre.
Ok. You are operating in a target-rich environment. One at a time, undo the nut
and clean the connector and terminal. I would replace the lock washer. Scrub
the connector clean and hose it and the post down with contact cleaner, polish
it with a toothbrush. Move onto the next until you've done them all.
Let's hope it's not resistance
inside the crimp of the connector. That is generally
a problem with dissimilar metals ... to save weight, Piper used aluminum wire
from the battery which was a disaster. It cycled over time, and developed
corrosion inside the crimp. You don't have that problem - you will have good
old copper wire. Metallurgically speaking, copper is the magical metal. Better
than silver or gold IMHO. If you see resistance in the crimp, if possible entirely
replace the wire, with a new one with new connectors on both ends. It's kind
of ghetto to replace the connector on an old wire (but we've all done it). That
old insulation is due for replacement.
I would replace the discrete components. See the wiring diagram, order new
replacements (eg for those electrolytic capacitors that I see).
PS I know I'm strange, but I would
have to diagnose that with a voltmeter.
Measure the voltage at the regulator across the black and the red wires,
then chase the hot side upstream. Look for a sudden voltage increase. That
will identify the connection with the resistance causing the voltage drop.
DC is like plumbing. There's a lot to it, but you can learn it all in one day:
1) poop runs downhill
2) cold goes on the right
3) payday is on friday
Just need a shop
Ok, that's the first thing to work on. You need light, a bench, 120/240V power,
someplace for your tools / parts / supplies. A bench grinder. A vice. Maybe
even a drill press? Couple of angle grinders (one with a stone, one with a cutoff
wheel). A MIG welder. First things first. I was a weird kid - I started collecting
tools before I was 10 years old. I couldn't afford much at first - mostly screwdrivers,
pliers, wrenches and a crappy little toolbox. 50 years later, I still have some of
the tools, and more screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches and sockets than you would
believe. I personally love my 3/4 inch drive, four foot breaker bar:
I remember putting a prop on a Harvard. It needed 8 million foot pounds of torque
or something like that. You needed an 800 lb gorilla on the end of a 40 foot bar.
There was a dumb movie recently, these cops were looking around the house of
a pilot who had been killed. They said, "Where's the workbench? The gun safe?"
