1974 L bug Voltage Regulator

1974 L bug Voltage Regulator,

G’day I’m running an alternator (out puts D+, D- , DF and B+ post) with external regulator , I had the generator light show its working so I thought Id better have a look at what’s happening.

I found the heavy gauge wire giving the battery juice had burnt the insulation off !!!! 🤪

I had to have the alternator re built as the stator had fried and bearing were very sad. I though id checkout the voltage regulator, I found that some time in the past the regulator had been replaced with a bosch RE55 with wiring different to the wiring diagram for this car.

The diagram showed three wires coming from the alternator D+, D-, & DF these wires go straight to the regulator under the back seat (RE57 three pin I think this is correct for the car) , what I found was the RE55 regulator (only two pins) had the D+ & DF wire connected with the D- wire earthed to the body.
Has any one heard of this done before, should it work? and how can I check all is well to avoid frying my fresh alternator and wiring?

Any help is appreciated

Cheers AL

That's OK.

D- should be brown and it's just an earth. It is better to be connected to the alternator as well.