dstaley

Hey guys,
I was over at a friend's house looking at his duster, and he has upgraded his old alternator to a modern Denso one from a Toyota Fourrunner. It is considerably smaller and has a higher output at idle than his old one was rated for at a maximum. It's basically the same alternator as Powermaster starts with.

I bought one from a boneyard and will start fabrication on brackets this weekend if the weather is bearable. Have any of you tried this? Most of all, I'm interested in seeing what you did for brackets.

69427

How much does it weigh? I've looked at a lot of OEM alternators and it seems most manufacturers have gone the route of increasing the amperage rather than reducing the weight.

How about a picture?

dstaley

They have, but they have added electric fans, electric fuel pump, rear defroster, butt-warming seats, HID lighting, 800 speaker stereo systems, electric antilock brakes, electric windows, holographic instrument panels, electronic transmission controls, rear view camera, 137 different control modules, etc etc etc...

Most of us still have 1970's technology for the most part, so we don't have ever-skyrocketing electrical demands that they have. I don't even have functional A/C, electric fans, or an electric fuel pump. I'm hoping the alternator I bought arrives today, and I'm looking forward to tinkering around in the garage with it this weekend. I'll post pics once I get it and have a chance.

Here's a pic of it on a Mopar:

mrvette

Anything is a improvement over that old Mopar POS alternator....

then we get into fabbing mounts, and I annoyed I didn't get one of them for the Motor Home project....have a CS144 on there now, fits the old '71 SI series mounts perfectly....but the belt I see above, drags/squeels on the 144 I have now....just can't get enough grip to flip.....and yes, it's tighter than whale puzzy and that's waterproof....

which makes me wonder about when I rolling down the road drawing a steady 120 amps or so, running a inverter and fridge...will the alt or the DRIVE stand up to the demands???

centralcalvette

Now we're gettin' off subject, but doesn't your M/H generator work ?

Richard454

I'm running a Denso Alternator- It's off a 92 Geo Storm w/ AC- 75 amps -
I did a lot of research when looking for a small-high output- reliable and not crazy expensive one for my application. New ones are around $100.

HOWEVER- I don't think my brackets will fit your application!!!

I'm using stock BMW parts- tensioner-pulley & serp belt



BMW air-cooled 140A Denso Mini Corvette Stock 63A(on a good day rating)


Here's a bracket idea...

mrvette

YES< but under idle to sudden acceleration, it seems to slip the belt a bit....premature wear?? so looked at it this afternoon, and it's going to be tough to change over...dooable but going to have to be creative, keeping the water pump the same direction rotation...

and the p/s and a/c belts the same....

mrvette

POINT TAKEN, CASE CLOSED.....

noonie

How big a charge wire you running

427Hotrod

Here's a couple of shots of mine. I originally got it out of a Pick a Part for $8. I wanted internal regulator and sized small enough to clear my big valve covers and the inner fender. It came off a GEO Metro 3 cylinder thingy. It worked killer for about 12 years before it died. Found an exact replacement at O'Reilly auto parts in stock!

To mount it, I drilled the lower hole out slightly to accept a 3/8" throughbolt...and bolted it to a stock iron Big Block alternator bracket like early Camaro's and Chevelle's used. Then used an aftermarket universal upper mount. It works great!

JIM

Richard454

To me- it looks like you have room INSIDE the valve cover for the Alternator...

dstaley

I got it done. Using 6061 aluminum bar stock, I made some new brackets for the Denso alternator and I think it came out pretty decent. The belt alignment appears dead on, and so far no issues, but I have unrelated engine bugs to work out with the new valvetrain. Here are some pics:

sokoloka

Looks very clean, nice job!

Richard454

WOW- that looks great!!!

If needed- there's several guys out there that rebuild that alt w/ some ridicules output numbers- 200-400A using and external rectifier(s)!!!

Richard

dstaley

I sure hope that's never needed, but thanks for the tip. I have pulled the A/C equipment and hardly ever even drive it at night or in the rain, so the electrical loads are limited. A modern stereo system and ignition system are pretty much the only loads it sees. I really don't want to overload the ammeter in the dash. It would have been nice if the ammeter wasn't a concern, I like the 75A one.

RickyBerg

I do run one of those small alternators.

However im also running a Meziere electric waterpump so i use Moroso:s bracket constructed for this aplication.

I think its nice to get the alternator down a bit lower than the original "over the valvecover" position.

//Ricky.

Snoopysvet

Where is the distributor?