Jim,
With a little research here's what I turned up. It seems that there
were
two types of alternators fitted. The regulator in some units sensed the
output terminal to control field current, others were fitted with an
external sensing input directly from the battery. Either unit will work.
The most likely scenario is that your vehicle at one time had an alternator
with this external sensing regulator which was later changed for the other
type alternator, and the sensing wire was taped back into the harness. I
can't specificy the reason, why the battery went dead when connecting the
sensing wire, but I suspect that the internal sensing regulator fitted is
not compatible with the extra brown wire. I have included links to several
good articles about the Lucas alternators from the VTR website. I hope this
satisfies your curiosity.
http://www.vtr.org/maintain/alternator-overview.html
http://www.vtr.org/maintain/alternator-repair.html
http://www.vtr.org/maintain/alternator/conversions.html
Regarding the gear oil, I suspect you are right it sounds overfull if
you
are checking it on level ground. Mabey the previous owner filled it when
the car was not on the level.
Just my impressions, maybe someone with more TR expierience has some more
insight.
Best Regards,
Joseph Garruba
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