Hello to all the people out hear I have a question if any body can help me it will be nice thank you My question is should use the generator ( Wich I like or changed to a alternator. I have a 1938 panel chevy and I would like to keep the look of and old truck it has a 250 chevy inline cuz the 216 was stuck and 1992 camaro 5 speed trans. And a ford 8.8 rear diferencial with break disk from a ford truck I put on airbags ifs suspención notch the rear frame and do all the bars for the back. So any comment will be appreciate...thanks and have a great day...
If I was doing this I would just go with a 1 wire GM alternator. Easy hook up and will carry the load better than the generator.
Depends on what your using the truck for and the look you want. With air suspension compressors and any other big amp draws you might be putting on this truck I would go with an alternator. on the 250 it’s mounted low in the side if I remember right, paint it black and it will basically disappear.
I have read on this forum, there is a alt. out there that looks like a gen. Might do a search and see what you come up with.
Powermaster: http://www.powermastermotorsports.com/ An alternator that looks like a generator. Ive been running one on 2 of my cars without a problem, on one car for over 11 years. Theyre not cheap
I have a '54 3100 that was a daily driver for 10yrs., with the stock 235". I did a one-wire alternator mounted in the same location as the generator. Kept the stock appearance by just running the one wire up to the "Bat" terminal on the regulator, and taping up the Field and Gen wires down by the alternator. Couldn't be easier than that, and that was 20yrs ago. Bob
I go along with the paint it black and no one will notice it anyhow theory. Generators max out at about 65 amps for the biggest ones that were on ambulances in the 50's. That most likely won't provide the amps to keep the batteries up the snuff on a bagged rig and if it has a sound system to boot the sound system will probably have more drain than the generator can provide. Unless you are converting an old farm tractor with a magnito to 12 V I just flat don't see the need for a one wire alternator as that is what they were invented for and used on for a number of years before street rodders decided that they wanted to hide all of the wires under the hood and one wire was easer to hide than three. I've installed one one wire alternator in the past 50 years. That was on an Oliver tractor that had a mag. The reason for the one wire was that it had no ignition switch to turn on to put power to the exciter wire. On the 20 or 30 cars I have put alternators on I have never seen the need to use a one wire as they weren't street rods with hidden wires.
With airbags a high amp 12SI alternator is the only way to go. Hook it up in a 3 wire configuration, properly hermano. Put the sense wire where all your main electrical loads are connected to. This will allow the alternator to quickly and properly keep the voltage at the proper level. http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/onewire-threewire.shtml
Alternator is the way to go, I'm running a generator on my V8 A but it has lights and the ignition, 60's Ford generator is good for 30 amps so wont carry much load. I have a one wire on my 29 A and a three wire on my 30 A and prefer the three wire since the one wire takes more rpms to start charging. The one wire is easier and cleaner to wire, painted black most people will never notice it..
or use a 1960s type alternator, with the external regulator....they still work. I have one on my Chevy II, never any problems with it, and it looks natural on a 1960s engine.
The 10 DN alternator with separate voltage regulator is the best system, it will give the longest battery life.. This is perfect for a hands on guy who likes to adjust things to make them run as best as they can.... I don't see what the big deal is about connecting a couple wires to a little box.. I like to mount the regulator on the radiator support.. I've often wondered about mounting them in the trunk, by the fuse box or mounting a couple of them in parallel... Look on you-tube for a video explaining the difference between a generator and the alternator, you will defiantly want the alternator once you understand how they work..
If you are using an electric compressor for the air for your bags you need an alternator. The generator will not make the AMPS you need to drive the compressor and everything else.
1 wire alternator are for people who don’t want a pesky charge light or those who like to wait for parts . Also a generator with a radio and halogen headlights is pushing it.
It should be noted that those fake generators also don't output much if anything more than a real one because of the difficulty of adequate cooling in the 'generator' case.
I am a big time generator guy. I have many recent daily driver miles on my 57 with the gen. With that being said it sounds like you made a few major modern upgrades that put you in the alt category. Then taking in to account what squirrel mentioned it looks like it’s time to upgrade. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The external regulator Delcotron units are tuff I have seen more than one where the battery was hookup backwards, fried the wiring between the battery and the alternator and lived to charge again.
I wired a few of them up wrong back in the later '60s and rewired them until it worked. They are real forgiving. I intend to run one in the future. They were a cool upgrade when I was a kid and that works for me in my old age.
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