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alternator conversion?

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alternator conversion?
#1
Dan Spitfire Avatar
Dan Spitfire Dan Grzybek
Buffalo, NY, USA   USA
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1976 Triumph Spitfire 1500 "The Mistress"
hey all
so i am in need of a new alternator and have been thinking about the conversion to the ac delco unit as described by paul tegler on his site.
paul tegler alternator conversion

anybody else done this? looks like it is very straight forward of a swap. only have to fab part of an upper bracket, doesnt seem real hard, and splice in a new wiring. any pics would be great...

very cheap in comparison with alternators for the triumph and much more readily avaliable. just wondering if any body has done it here following what was outlined and if there were any other concerns with going up to a 55 amp alternator.

thanks...


Dan Grzybek
1976 Spitfire "The Mistress"
Buffalo, NY

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Re: alternator conversion?
#2
cokerart Avatar
cokerart Bob Coker
Warner Robins,, GA, USA   USA
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1950 MG TD "Esme"
1963 Triumph TR4
1971 Triumph GT6 MkIII
1973 Triumph GT6 MkIII "Spit-6 Or Dr. Frankenstein"    & more
This has been discussed numerous times on this forum. You might want to search the postings. I went with a Ford Fiesta (1980) Bosch alternator that almost literally "dropped in" and accepted the OE Triumph alternator plug.


“The English never draw a line without blurring it.”
-Winston Churchill

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Re: alternator conversion?
#3
Dan Spitfire Avatar
Dan Spitfire Dan Grzybek
Buffalo, NY, USA   USA
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1976 Triumph Spitfire 1500 "The Mistress"
id be interetsed in hearing about that one ive never heard of that conversion... id be more inclined to do that one as my one hesetation has been cutting and splicing wires... figured they dont need to be cut and spliced any more spinning smiley sticking its tongue out


Dan Grzybek
1976 Spitfire "The Mistress"
Buffalo, NY

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Re: alternator conversion?
#4
carChips Avatar
carChips Victor Harnish
Kelowna, BC, Canada   CAN
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1933 MG Magnette
1973 Triumph Spitfire 1500 "Chip"
1989 GMC Sierra 1500 "Bush Truck"
I also have a bosch 75amp. I had to make a new upper adjusting bracket, that was it. I got a chrome bracket from the local auto parts store. It said " early Chevy or universal" on the package, and was about 2 feet long so I had to cut off 18 inches.


'S all for now
Vic

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Re: alternator conversion?
#5
1968triumphgt6 Avatar
1968triumphgt6 Louis Boudreault
Montreal, Canada   CAN
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1968 Triumph GT6 "Charlize"
Hi Dan, I did the switch to the AC Delco unit last fall. I just followed Paul Tegler's procedure. Very easy. Had to get a couple of large nuts and bolts to secure the alternator, but that's about it. I used the same bracket that supported the old generator. Nice DIY project.

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Re: alternator conversion?
#6
cokerart Avatar
cokerart Bob Coker
Warner Robins,, GA, USA   USA
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1950 MG TD "Esme"
1963 Triumph TR4
1971 Triumph GT6 MkIII
1973 Triumph GT6 MkIII "Spit-6 Or Dr. Frankenstein"    & more


I recall that I had to grind about 1/8" off of the cast iron bracket to allow clearance of the alternator. I used the adjusting bracket that came with the car. (Who knows if THAT's original???)


“The English never draw a line without blurring it.”
-Winston Churchill

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Re: alternator conversion?
#7
hymodyne Avatar
hymodyne james king
salisbury, MD, USA   USA
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1972 Triumph GT6 MkIII "Baby Blue"
+1 on the chevy alternator swap. I went to my local auto parts store and bought the 1978 chevy camaro alt and nearly doubled my output, from 37 amps (lucas) to 63 with the GM alt. easy swap with a little modification of the mounting bracket.

James



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-08-21 04:14 AM by hymodyne.

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Re: alternator conversion?
#8
69MkIII Avatar
69MkIII Darrell C
Richmond, USA   USA
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1968 Triumph Spitfire MkIII "Spitwad"
1968 Volvo Amazon (122) "Rollsie"
Its way too much amps and the coil will fry if you don't knock it down to about 3 amps at that point. why would you need that much electricity?
Well I can see we've all got a big charge out of this thread so I see all the pictures but I still like mine the way it is. Some people blow them out with an air hose and lube them. Tighten the screws. Paint it, even. As long as it makes it run. Sounds like AC D got the most votes for those with a conversion but you don't hear about too many people switching from a generator because you can always push start the car even if it has only 6 volts on the battery where as an alternator needs almost the full 12 or its happening. And the idea is to not make you walk.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-08-26 06:24 PM by 69MkIII.

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Re: alternator conversion?
#9
rhodyspit75 Avatar
rhodyspit75 Ernie Connor
Cumberland, RI, USA   USA
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1951 MG TD
1960 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite "Ivy"
1975 Triumph Spitfire 1500 "The Cardinal"
Darrell, the alternators job is to charge the battery. You can't knock down amps. The larger alternator will charge the battery quicker and keep it charged while you are drawing a lot of current. Like when you have all the lights, radio and heater blower on at the same time. An alternator upgrade will have no effect on the coil. The only recommendation I would make would be to increase the size of the wire from the alternator to the solenoid if you often run a lot of current suckers. BTW I have the delco and did not change the wire and have no problems. Ernie


Ernie
1975 Triumph Spitfire

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Re: alternator conversion?
#10
triumphguy Avatar
triumphguy Dave Roberts
Loveland, CO, USA   USA
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1961 Triumph Herald 1200
1964 Triumph Herald 1200 "Haunted Herald"
1964 Triumph Spitfire 4 (MkI)
I did this swap to a 1500 I owned about 20 years ago. Easy and cheap! Tho sorta unrelated, I swapped in a 140 amp alt (from a Caprice) onto my brother's '72 Chevy truck. The original setup had the external regulator and an output of about 20 amps. He gave me a call when got home afterward. He was exstatic that his headlights didn't dim evertime he stopped at a traffic light. The Delco alt swap is the way to go!

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Re: alternator conversion?
#11
Falkon Avatar
Falkon Al Martin
Appleton, WI, USA   USA
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1971 Honda Z600
1972 Triumph Spitfire MkIV
1988 Lincoln Continental
I also did this years ago on my second Spitfire when I got tired of buying expensive alternators. Worked very well. Stuffed in the biggest battery I could and it started in winter w/ no problems.

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Re: alternator conversion?
#12
wildwood Avatar
wildwood Rick Howe
Wayne, NJ, USA   USA
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1971 Triumph Spitfire MkIV
1972 Triumph Spitfire MkIV
I bought a GM Delco from Summit auto cost me $95.00 a number of years ago very easy swap and still kicking.grinning smiley


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Re: alternator conversion?
#13
spitfire50 Avatar
spitfire50 Paul Mugford
Rochester, N.H., USA   USA
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1966 Triumph Spitfire MkII
In reply to # 837031 by rhodyspit75 The only recommendation I would make would be to increase the size of the wire from the alternator to the solenoid if you often run a lot of current suckers. BTW I have the delco and did not change the wire and have no problems. Ernie

Hi,
I recommend increasing this wire anyway. You don't need a lot of "current suckers" to overload this wire, just a dead battery. When the alternator charges a dead battery it will send a lot of current through this wire.
All the best,
Paul


TRF# 10423

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Re: alternator conversion?
#14
1968triumphgt6 Avatar
1968triumphgt6 Louis Boudreault
Montreal, Canada   CAN
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1968 Triumph GT6 "Charlize"
Please excuse my ignorance but how exactly does an alternator differ from a generator ?

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Re: alternator conversion?
#15
Falkon Avatar
Falkon Al Martin
Appleton, WI, USA   USA
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1971 Honda Z600
1972 Triumph Spitfire MkIV
1988 Lincoln Continental
http://www.rowand.net/Shop/Tech/AlternatorGeneratorTheory.htm

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