Has anyone changed out a generator for an alternator? I have a 60 Belair chev and the generator bearings are gone and require replacing. I have a brand new 130 amp alternator out of a vx holden commodore and would love to use it but being a body and paint man I have no idea where to begin. Please help. Timbo.
Hey Tim, did the change over in my wifes 56 Caddy last year, it`s not a car I lift the hood at shows, also it`s a stock car. got a alternator for it off e-bay, bolted right up .came with all instructions and brackets, at my door for $ 160- ish. out of the states. ill have a look see if I can find where it came from. big difference, windows fly up now, and brighter lights.
Thats what im looking to do. Its still charging fine and the batterys got plenty of juice, but Im worried its going to stop when we are out on a run / cruise night. Ours is no show pony either we just want to be sure its going to be reliable. Didnt stop to think of the other benifits you mentioned.
The Commy Alternator is most likely a built in regulator type one . How many terminals on it ? Large one for main power ( to Batt ) and will be one for the ignition lamp and probably an exiter/signal terminal . probably a ground/earth terminal on it too being a late one ... You'll need to bypass the regulator in the car too ( presuming it's an external reg generator now )
The Bel-air 100% mechanically original. (283 2 speed) And yep its a 2000 model alternator. I would love to replace the bearings but with three teenage girls (with three lots of ipods, phones and usually teenage girl stuff) I need all the power I can get. The poor old cigarette lighter socket gets a major workout as does the cd player with the latest new boy band cds. Like I said earlier its working but noisy but given the work out it gets when we do go for a run I don't think I will be doing the old girl any favours by just replacing the bearings.
If you give me the alternator number I should be able to give you the proper wiring hook ups for the alternator regulator. PM or email me the #
Yep, if that is the only problem just put new bearings and a set of brushes in the alternator and go again. If the generator won't keep up with the demands of the accessories that you have installed on the car or let the battery drain when you are out cruising at slow speeds then it's time to switch to an alternator. This link should give you links to the parts numbers for the bearings and brushes. It looks like there are two different generators for that car so you would have to know which one you had. If you still want to swap to an alternator there is plenty of info on the net that shows how to swap to a alternator. Or http://www.gener-nator.com/index.htm I don't know what the price is but he needs to be an Alliance vendor.
Did this swap on a morris as a kid. even with only a basic idea of what I was doing it was pretty easy. In my case I left the regulator box in, but essentially gutted it and used it as the place I spliced wires and such as required. You may consider going to a scrapper or auto parts place to get the plug and harness for the alterbator too.. makes it easy and tidy. Basically there should be a big terminal for battery, a small one for the "charge light" (you do need this) and liklely another for switched power. If you get the harness it will be easier to figure out with a simple diagram, either on line of from a Holden shop manual
I think it's a no-brainer to make the switch over to an alternator, especially of you really drive hard, use a lot of RPM, or have accessories that demand a lot of power. Grab yourself a standard GM 1 wire off of eBay, and a few oof the Spectre/Mr. Gasket/etc brackets and you'll have your conversion down with basic hands tools in under an hour. Worth mentioning, is your car one of the ones where a power steering pump is driven off the back of the generator? That would change everything I've said above.
No its a standard set up, no power steering. Thanks to all for your advise. I have been surfing and have found quite a few sites dedicated to this. I don’t think I will have a problem. I think I will still go for an alternator.
Ya that is a good post. I did it in hopes of helping folks doing a swap. There is a few videos and links, so check it out. any other question send me a line and ill help you out.
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