Alternator Conversion

[Rineheitzgabot]

I was really gonna try to do this, without asking any questions, but I am in the middle of the alternator conversion on my 2A, and I have one. After all of the reading I have done on this subject, I have not seen this come up at all.

Is it possible to have a problem with the direction of rotation, of the alternator? I am installing a Delco 10si, and I don't know what car it came off of.

It has a V-belt pulley on it, so it was being driven by the direction of the crank, of whatever motor it came off of (rather than being driven by the outside edge of a serpentine belt, which would throw it in the other direction). I don't know if I have ever seen a GM motor, rotate counter-clockwise. My 2.25 petrol is obviously CLOCK-wise.

If it is a problem, can it be remedied easily? Is there a way to tell by looking at the alternator, if it is directional (it doesn't say it anywhere)? If I do hook it up and it turns out to be wrong, what will it do to the electrics in the car?

God bless you all for having to tolerate jack-hole questions like this.

[scott]

mine is from an early 70s nova aplication. i think they all run the same. be careful of the amp out put. i went with an 85 amp to keep my dual battery set up charged. wasn't a problem 'til i let it set for a long time. started right up but with both batteries asking to be charged the alt' internal reguator started putting out the full 85 amps and it all ran through an amp meter meant to handle a lot less. a bunch of tht lucas smoke escaped from the dash and a small fire followed. i disconnect the 2 wires going to the ampmeter and hooked them together and then installed an aftermarket volt meter

[superstator]

There should be cooling fan blades on the front of the alternator, behind the pulley. They'll be oriented to push air through the alternator as they spin, giving you an indicator of the direction the alternator expects. Which is almost certainly clockwise...

[superstator]

I don't think changing direction should hurt anything in any case - it's producing alternating current (which doesn't really have polarity), and then rectifying it to get direct current. Changing direction is usually just a matter of swapping out the fan blades and pulley.

[Andrew IIA]

You're good to go - the stock 10si needs to spin clockwise. I am installing the same unit in my 88" this weekend to replace a matching unit that quit the other day (after 8 years abusive-use), and I am not mechanically savvy. My new unit (as well as the old one) is 63 amp output.

[not sure what running it CCWise would do to the electric output, but it would cause the fan on the front to 'blow' rather than 'suck' like it should]

Good luck !

Andrew
'63 SIIA 88"

[gudjeon]

This is a good article to sort things out:

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/delcoremy.shtml

The rotation as mentioned above is right. However, the air is usually "sucked in" through the rear by the fan on the pulley. That is why the diode trio has a finned heat sink mounted at the back. [rivet counter mode off] :thumb-up:

[Andrew IIA]

The rotation as mentioned above is right. However, the air is usually "sucked in" through the rear by the fan on the pulley. That is why the diode trio has a finned heat sink mounted at the back. [rivet counter mode off] :thumb-up:

Oh yes, that's what I meant. :o Andrew

[Rineheitzgabot]

Thanks for your help. :)

[Andrew IIA]

Follow up:

My alternator replacement went smoothly; not even any Bloody Knuckles :D.

Here's the old Delco 10si unit along side of the new matching unit.

[Donnie]

;)
This is a good article to sort things out:

http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/delcoremy.shtml

The rotation as mentioned above is right. However, the air is usually "sucked in" through the rear by the fan on the pulley. That is why the diode trio has a finned heat sink mounted at the back. [rivet counter mode off] :thumb-up:

Not nit picking, just some useless trivia, well maybe not useless if it helps anyone. ;) The unit with the fins in the rear of these alts is the rectify unit itself,housing 3 pos, & 3 neg. diodes. they give off heat as they convert A/C to D/C. the diode trio is the small unit with 3 mounting tabs & an extended arm.. needs very little cooling.......

[greenmeanie]

Just for giggles here's another bit of info as I was playing with mounting an alt to my Chevy 6 pot today.

For those with a high amp requirement such as a winch a Delco CS144 fits dirently in place of the 10SI on an Ike bracket. That gives you the option of a 140A OEM or one of the higher output units (This usually comes at the penalty of reliability) can put you north of 200A.

These were the heavy duty alternators on GM trucks and vans from the mid 90's onwards. Think anything with 2500 or up in the title. I picked one up for $35 from the local truck recyclers and it came with a warranty too. It can be wired the same as a 10SI but requires a different connector plus you will need to swap froma serpentine to a v-groove pulley.

[Rineheitzgabot]

Follow up:

My alternator replacement went smoothly; not even any Bloody Knuckles :D.

Here's the old Delco 10si unit along side of the new matching unit.


I got it completed this weekend, and it works well. I was pleasantly surprised when I turned it off, and the next morning went to start it up again, and it cranked like a brand new battery. For the past four weeks, I have had to jump it everytime.

Thanks for all of your help.

[bbrigman]

Does your ammeter work with your 60+ amp alternators, or did you disconnect it? If is is still in circuit, does it just stay pinned at 30 all the time?
Brian

[I Leak Oil]

Does your ammeter work with your 60+ amp alternators, or did you disconnect it? If is is still in circuit, does it just stay pinned at 30 all the time?
Brian

Bypass the ammeter. Sooner or later it will start to burn. Also, I would think twice about using a higher amp (140 to 200) unit. You may find that you go through V-belts quicker and you may have to tighten the belt too much putting extra strain on the small series water pump bearing. One reason why later high amp alternators used a serpentine belt was to give it a larger contact patch with the pulleys to help alleviate this issue.
Jason T.

[Rineheitzgabot]

I don't have an ammeter (as a side note, what's up with that? I read everywhere about the whole ammeter thing, and when I got down to doing this job, I have no such instrument, or empty holes, in my dash. Was an ammeter an option?)

I have read in many places that it will peg at 30, and I have also read what Jason said about just replacing it.

The Lucas generator had the ability to produce 20 amps, and odds are your replacement alternator can do much more than that.

[Andrew IIA]

Does your ammeter work with your 60+ amp alternators, or did you disconnect it? If is is still in circuit, does it just stay pinned at 30 all the time?
Brian
Disconnected.

My dash, showing Amp Gauge:
http://www.eastcoastrover.com/85/8519.jpg
Best regards, Andrew
'63 SIIA 88"

[greenmeanie]

Also, I would think twice about using a higher amp (140 to 200) unit. You may find that you go through V-belts quicker and you may have to tighten the belt too much putting extra strain on the small series water pump bearing. One reason why later high amp alternators used a serpentine belt was to give it a larger contact patch with the pulleys to help alleviate this issue.
Jason T.

You can add a military water pump pulley with dual grooves and run twin belts. It's no biggie. Of more concern is that you need to update the wiring system to cope with the extra amps but I had assumed that if you are running a truck with high loads that common sense would prevail.

[I Leak Oil]

You can add a military water pump pulley with dual grooves and run twin belts. It's no biggie. Of more concern is that you need to update the wiring system to cope with the extra amps but I had assumed that if you are running a truck with high loads that common sense would prevail.
Ahhh yes common sense....some things you just can't teach! The wiring is easy. Just run a new alt. output wire directly to the battery. Any add on's like lights or fridge etc. should have it's own fused circuit seperate from the original harness.
Jason T.