Sounds like maybe-

Posted by Bob Carabbio on September 09, 1998 at 18:45:18

In Reply to: Hot Amp Meter and Starting Problems
posted by Ken Forse on September 09, 1998 at 13:20:15

The old stuck cutout running down the battery through the generator trick.
If this is the case, the ammeter should be showing a strong discharge, and the generator should also be warm.If the belt is loosened the generator would "motor".
Not to say that the battery is any good necessarily, but one of the marks of a good battery is that it will "Rebound".If you run it down, it should (if there's no drain on it with everything off) restore itself in a few minutes enough to crank a bit more.
The Hot ammeter, though says you have a pretty heavy leakage somewhere, and I'd put my money on the generator cutout. if it was a dead short tha ammeter would be history by now, and assuming the lights are O.K. then the only two alternatives are the Cutout and the coil, but the ignition switch interrupts that, so if the engine stops when you switch off, that leaves the generator cutout.
Let us know what you find.
Bob Carabbio