So I finally got an adapter harness built and installed this morning. I fired her up and all was well -- I had 11.8v at the battery without the engine running, and then when I started it, that reading jumped to 13.6v. Perfect!
I let it idle for 5 minutes or so while cleaning up the work area and then shut her down. I buttoned everything up and put on the bottom pan, and started the car again to take it off the ramps, and all the lights were lit up on the dash just like they were when the original alternator failed. I measured the voltage at the battery and it had dropped to 11.8v while running. Shut the engine down and the battery was up to 12.0v.
All the wiring was intact, and I didn't see any smoke. The alternator was quite hot to the touch. WTF?
I'm pretty pissed that I spent an entire workday morning screwing with this car just to have something immediately fail...
Is the alternator fubar, or is there something else I should check before proceeding to rip it all out again and start over. #$@%$
