Alternator Question for 81
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8th Gear
Joined: Oct 2005
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From: Clarenville Newfoundland and labrador
Alternator Question for 81
I want to upgade the alternator on my 1981 Corvette to a chrome unit. The car has A/C and the rear defroster. How many Amps should the alternator be and is there a specific type I should be looking for. I have looked at just buying the chrome case asd transferring over the internal components. Any help would be appreciated.
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 24,125
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From: Columbia Missouri
Originally Posted by Willy899
I want to upgade the alternator on my 1981 Corvette to a chrome unit. The car has A/C and the rear defroster. How many Amps should the alternator be and is there a specific type I should be looking for. I have looked at just buying the chrome case asd transferring over the internal components. Any help would be appreciated.
Get on Ebay, and find a chrome CS130 or CS144. Both will be plenty big. The CS130 is almost a direct fit. It has a metric bolt hole for the tensioner bracket bolt, but that's an easy match. The case fits perfectly in the standard bracket. Also, the tensioner may have to be lowered, or cut to fit better but that's something you can see when you have the alt in place.
As far as wiring, a simple pigtail adapter can be bought, or you can make your own using a CS plug from Autozone or Oreilly. The color codes are easy to follow, and while I don't have them here I can post back later tonight with the correct combination.
The pulley is another easy aspect. Most CS130s will be a serp alt so the pulley needs to be swapped out. I may have a few extra chrome V-belt pulleys laying around and I wouldn't mind sending you one so the pulley matches the chrome case.
Any other details you need just some back to this thread and I can walk you through. I put a CS130 on my V-belt 350 in my '77 and I'm building a new motor with a serp system with a PAIR of chrome CS130s.
