Charging system voltage high

and by the time it put out 18volts, the alternator was junk..

Actually.......

In the early '70's you could buy a little box, had a switch and electrical outlet on the box

You would throw the switch and here's what it did.....

The switch "full fielded" the alternator, as well as disconnecting the output from the battery, and switching the output to the electrical outlet.

Then you plugged in your 120V trouble light, etc, and revved the engine until the lamp was "bright enough."

I'd love to see specs on how many people....

blew up their alternator

Cooked that stupid switch trying to handle 50-60 amps

tried to run AC motors or transformer powered devices

or just "in general" became stranded......