MAD Bypass Question

Bookmaker said
OK, I've been reading through a bunch of old postings on this subject, and it seems that many have run an 8AWG wire with a 12AWG fusible link from the alternator directly to the battery terminal on the starter solenoid - essentially running parallel wth the stock bulkhead wiring as I had proposed in my first post in this thread. I haven't seen where anyone is running the 2-wire/4-fuse setup that Dan proposed. I don't mind doing it that way if that is the best way to go.

Q: Is the 8AWG wire with a 12AWG fusible link really insufficient? What is the risk?

It depends on the load. The load in your scenario is the current needed to maintain the battery. Unless your trying to charge a dead battery with the alt or running battery power only, the highest load it normally sees is at start up. For reference, a '67 A-body, the factory wiring was just 12 gage on the alt side and 10 ga on the battery side of the ammeter. These carried almost all the loads placed on the Battery and alternator (almost because starter motor and horns have direct wires).

Q: If I am taking load off of the bulkhead connectors by running a parallel bypass, how then is the bulkhead still a problem (assuming it is in good condition)?

Everything else is still drawing from the main junction inside. However, with a headlight relay system installed, another big load has been removed from that junction, and therefore the bulkhead.
Here's a diagram I recently made for my jeep, which is similar. Even though the connections are not drawn in, the junction between the ammeter and the ignition switch also feeds the headlights, ignition, and everything in the fusebox! So each of the changes you are proposing takes a load off of the connections. You can see that if you weren't adding the direct wire from the alt to the battery, then it's best to hook the headlight system to the alternator output.