Frankie the Fink

I should have clarified...a have a supply of 'hot swap' parts (for typical failure items) for my '61 that are rebuilt and tested: voltage regulator, fuel pump, starter motor, ignition coil. I want to add a rebuilt tach drive generator to the stockpile but that price was a bit much for something that would sit essentially unused.

If I didn't have a correct generator at all that price would certainly be one to consider.

John S 1961

Perform this test: Take the generator to the nearest large body of water and toss it in, if it floats retrieve it because it is good. If it sinks replace with an alternator. Problem solved. See the guys at Madelectrical.com, I converted to an alternator and never missed it, I didnt notice if you do concourse judging or not with your car that could be a factor. An alternator would be a step way up to 1963 technology. Just imagine how carefree that would be.

Roger Quintero

I know the routine. I have put more alternators in cars than you can believe. I have been building streetrods for awhile, hotrods i.e flatheads etc. and threw a bunch of generators in the Gulf. But when it comes to vettes, and you are shooting the bull with your buddys or trying to sell the car; it never fails = quote: Didn't a 61 come with a generator not an alternator, thats not original is it?". You either loose the sale, or loose the integrity of have an old orginal. Once you get the generator working as designed you never have to mess with them again, and normally there is no big advantage to an alternator unless you need the amps for your boom box, or looking for the modern 1 wire look without regulator. Unfortuately thats my problem, always used altenator, didn't care about orginal, and now I am going through the learning curve again on generators. Once I get through this learning curve problem I will bet you I will not go through it again.
It is always easy to update; however it is alot harder to restore, particular when someome else started the restoration process.
Always fun to converse.

Frankie the Fink

There is not a single thing wrong with a generator and I haven't touched mine in the 4 years I've owned the car. That's a pretty good definition of "carefree".

Roger Quintero

I am with you. I forgot to mention; I had a generator and tach drive distributor on my 61 for a long time and never had a problem. When I decided to go back to the 61 orginal tach drive generator is when I started to have problems. Once I get it straighten out I would bet there will not be anymore problems.

Hey, Frank
I just started using this forum and cannot figure out how to post a picture to this post? Obviously you know how. Could you send me in the right direction.
Thanks

Frankie the Fink

The 4th "sticky" post at the top of the forum web page is about posting pictures "101".
Or you can "pays your money" and become a contributing forum member at some level then you can easily upload attachments without quite so much of the hassle.

John S 1961

I bet you like your drum brakes also.

Just bustin *****, to each his own.

Roger Quintero

My story keep getting worse. The generator over heated, burnt aremature! What a deal this turned out to be.

Frankie the Fink

I have disc brakes in front, Pertronix ignition, repro radio, Tremec 5 spd and radial tires. If the generator was a problem for me it to would be gone - just never given me cause.

Sorry about the generator Roger sometimes **** just happens...

jim lockwood

The generator on my '60 is a junque yardde piece I bought and installed 30+ years ago without first rebuilding. Never a problem.

In fact, can't think of any generator problem I've ever had.... other than wearing out brushes once in a great while.

Jim

John S 1961

[QUOTE=Frankie the Fink;1576921865]I have disc brakes in front, Pertronix ignition, repro radio, Tremec 5 spd and radial tires. If the generator was a problem for me it to would be gone - just never given me cause.

Ok, I thought you were one of those "drums work fine if everything is perfect" kind of guy!

Glad to see you are more sensible than that! I need disc brakes, HEI ignition, power steering and I am envious of a 5 speed set up everytime I get on the freeway! I think thats next for me.

Roger Quintero

The generator that keeps on giving. The Idiots that rebuilt my generatorin the first place are the problem not the generator. The old generator guy I know just took it apart and showed me the problem. First the armature wasn't that good to begin with, the first rebuild folks took the field coil wire and taped it to the housing so it would not touch the generator housing bolts. The generator housing bolts had heat shrink on them so they would not short out on the bolts. Actually the field coil wire should have been on the other side of the bolts so they would not touch. Guess what? They did touch and shorted out my generator. Soilder was all over the place. I got my old generator on the car with the old VR and it runs and charges great. Since I have a Pertonix distributor I dont have a tach, so one way or another I am going to get this tach drive generator fixed.
By the way I would convert to disc brakes, however my drums work fine. I just dont like the single master cylinder setup; so in the future I will proably convert. There sure is a market for corvette drums. I had a complete 61 vette front suspense and rear drums I just sold on ebay. I also have the aftermarket Ipod radio, even though my wonder bar worked good on AM.

Roger Quintero

K-2 Wins!!!!!! The bolt that runs through the housing holding the two end plates together was touching the field coil contact wire creating a short, and made the generator run wide open and burnt the armature (i.e. Soilder all over the place). Lucky I had another armature. The generator works great now with the new armatura and without the short.

The generator that keeps on giving i.e. Now the generator tach drive reads twice the RPMs.. I read a few threads about this with numberous observations and suggestions. I have a 7,000 RPM tach. Could the problem we as simple as changing the gear in the tach drive? Any suggestions out there?

1snake

1. New armatures are still available for about $100 if you ever need one.

2. It's not the tach drive that's the problem. If your tach is reading twice the engine speed, it is designed to be driven off the distributor, not the generator. It's a simple fix but you'll have to send your tach to a repair facility.

Jim

Roger Quintero

Any recommendation who can repair it? I am getting ready to pull my cluster i.e. paint, new glass etc and that would be a good time to send the tach out. I sent off a wind shield wiper motor once and I could have bought 3 for what I ended up paying. If you know of anyone half way decent that can re-calibrate it let me know.
Thanks
Rog

John S 1961

are alternators looking any better yet?

K2

Stewart Warner makes inline cable speed reducers. Might be cheaper and simpler than recalibration of the speedometer. Find a speedo shop and they can probably help you get the correct one.

Roger Quintero

I will check it out. By the way good call on the generator short.
Rog

Roger Quintero

I got the generator fixed. The field terminal inside the generator was touching the bolt that went through the caseing and shorted out the generator.
Everything worked for awhile.
Now the generator works occasionaly i.e. charging and not charging.

I did a couple tests again.
Disconnected all the wires to generator.
Check the field terminal and get about 1 1/2 OMS and when RPMS go up so does the OMS.
Grounded the field wire and the Volts go up to (12+); however I cannot tell if volts go up with RMPS since my meter is limited at 12Volts.
Checked grounds.
Attached an additional wire from the VR to Ground and it did not make a differences in charging.
Checked and cleaned all ground connections to the generator and they are grounded.

I am leaning toward a bad VR.
Any suggestions on brand or place to buy one? I used NAPA last time around.

stellar

Old generator men win. I fit in this category. When you get the new reg,(why don't you ask the old gen guy to get you one) have the old gen guy set it up for you. Just because it will be new doesn't mean it will be set properly. I always fine tune the settings on a new reg. I will bet the old guy knew as soon as you told him it charged with the field wire off that the field was grounded in the gen and there was a good chance the armature melted the solder. Sorry I didn't see this thread sooner so I could have told you sooner.