Alternative Alternators

I am pleased to hear of success. You are correct... it is a milk run. Ray

 

just picked up a cs series alt. at the local yard for 20 bucks its a 120 amp piece theres 4 wires on the weatherpack type connector on the link from above responses the s wires is the one to use i guess the plug has 3 wires one larger wire and 2 smaller the plug says FLFS assuming the S is the charging lead any info is greatly appreciated...thanx

Rich Martel
70 GS 455
BPG #1599

 

On a Turbo Regal the only wire hooked up on the weather pac connector is the brown wire which goes to the idiot light/field exciter.

 

I believe the plug should say PLFS. "S" is the sense or remote sensing terminal. There are 4 terminals on the alternator, but the connector is usually only populated with 3 terminals. "L" is for lamp or light (as in idiot). "F" is for field, leave it alone.

 

so i guess my real question is should the "S" lead be hooked up to the BAT terminal?? something has to be used to turn on the regulator??? are there asny wiring problems i should be aware of?? don't wanna fry anything!!!

Rich Martel
70 GS 455
BPG #1599

 

Good thread Brad! I did a search on alternator upgrades yesterday (cause mine quit on me) and today I also have the AC-Delco 321-266 installed. The whole deal cost me ~$55 at Auto Zone. Thanks.

 

I installed a self excited single wire alternator and it works much better then the contact point type. AL

 

Re: 1 wire cs-130 is the way to go

Rising this from the way back when....
Looking to replace my sons alternator and external regulator, as the regulator is shot...
Thanks!

 

Wow - twelve years later!

My setup has remained flawless. I did notice a mistatement though in my earlier addition to the thread. Alternator model is a Duralast DL7194-6-3.

 

I will google that part number, and see where I get with it.
I also sent a PM to Jamie Maclinton, asking if he still rebuilds/sells the 140 amp models.

Edit: that part number shows it has a 5 rib pulley, not a v notch.

 

Latest update:
A new alternator!
We weren't going to spend the money on a new external regulator, when the alternator was only a 43 amp unit.
Searching through some old threads, we were able to find a sweet deal on a 140amp alternator, which had the internal regulator, aaaaaaaand the wiring adapters to make it a truly, "Plug & Play" operation!

A huge thank you goes out to Jamie, "65specialconver" for taking the time to build us an awesome alternator, that was just as easy as installing a chrome air cleaner!

Here are some pictures of the new unit:

 

And the install pictures:



Check out the clearance between the valve cover, and the back of the alternator! Awesome!!!

 

I just worked with one of those, in a Sanden AC bracket building exercise.

I had two concerns which caused me to advise my customer to go back to the Si series alternators.

1. the lower thru bolt hole is 10mm, not 3/8, so a sleeve needs to be installed in the alternator housing to properly center and support the unit via the lower bolt.

2. The unit I had was narrower across the lower mount, than the early unit, about .100. You had to reef down the bolt to flex the lower bracket, to get it to tighten up. This issue is magnified by the larger thru bolt hole.

Last year I saw a car with this alternator on it, and the same mount shown above.. that the front ear was broken off of.

I would assume that all CS-130 alternators share the same housing dimensions.

What say you Jamie?

JW

 

In our case...no pun intended...the bottom bracket to alternator fit, was a snug fit.

What broken off ear are you referring to? (On the alternator?)

 

The front bracket ear, was broken from over tightening and flexing it, to snug up the alternator...and that is great that you had a snug fit..

I noticed when was installing an alternator on my Mom's '02 Sububan, that the bottom bolt has a bushing in the bracket, that slides to tighten the hold on the alternator, when you tighten the bolt. I recall seeing that a few times now.

Makes me wonder if this is designed to compensate for alternator mount variation.

There was no doubt that the one I had, was considerably too narrow for the early Aluminum AC/Alternator lower mount I was working with. I could fit a .065 thick washer between the mount and the alt, and there was still wiggle room.. and the sloppy lower bolt to alt mount issue, as discussed earlier.

JW

 

The lower hole is in fact 10mm not 3/8.I have never noticed or experienced any mount or belt alignment concerns,it would be something to consider on a multi-groove belt application or the newer clutch pulleys but not a V-belt application.

My housings are all new,remans are used & some I've seen have considerable wear in both the mounting pivot and threaded adjusting area.Mass builders either don't care or overlook it.

The sleeve Jim is referring to is used by the mass rebuilders to compensate for that wear.

As far as the top adjusting ear,I'm guessing the housing had wear as well but without seeing it.....

And remember all GM alternator mounting holes were 10mm starting in mid 1977,so the chances of getting a "true" 3/8 diameter hole are very,very,slim.

Jim the tolerance & clearance details you work with are much more critical than mine.:Brow:

 

Yes - must swap pulley.

 

Some confusion going on here..

We are clear on the bolt size deal.

Not sure where the upper adjuster ear on the alternator comes into play..

The alternator I was working with was brand new, and it was no way wide enough to properly fit in the 67-70 Aluminum Alt/AC bracket. you would have to cinch the bracket tighter, via the bolt, to get it to tighten up.

Doing this is why I had a car here last year with this alternator, and a broken lower Alternator mount- the non AC mount as shown in the picture above.

Then I started thinking about the factory applications and brackets.. and remembered seeing these..



Highlighted are what they call the "bracket spacer" which actually go in the holes for the lower mount, provide what is essentially an adjustable width lower mount. The lower bolt goes thru these, the shoulder of that spacer hits the head of the lower bolt, which snugs it up against the alternator, and adjusts the lower bracket width.

I wondered out loud if this was because those CS-130 alternators were not super consistent in the width of the lower mount, which would explain why I had a brand new one that was easily .100 too narrow.. probably more like an 1/8 inch..

I know GM has adopted something called "net sizing" which put simply, opens the tolerances up quite a bit for a given part. It's why most of the 5.3 motors out there have piston slap.

Then again, it was probably because the engineers had to fit two different manufacturer alternators onto the same bracket, or two different output units, which I know to be the case with that vintage truck.. and those different units had slightly different lower mount widths.

I am going to investigate this further at a later date, and see if the sleeves shown (#5 in the diagram) can be retro-fitted to our early bracketry.

A CS-130 alternator upgrade is on the list of projects for the TSP test car.

JW

 

Your diagram is a CS130D which is different as night & day
than my 2nd generation CS-130 and housings do vary depending on application.

Not to mention the bracket in your illustration is rocket science compared to our older Buicks.p

1/8th of an inch on the pivot ear is excessive & something is worn or wrong application.

I get what your saying about the hole/sleeve but it just isn't that important on our older cars.As a matter of fact rebuilders actually will drill the pivot hole out on older housings so they will fit on both pre 77 & after 77.

There was one manufacturer that casted a 10SI housing with the large 10mm hole & some funky threaded ear that would accept both metric & SAE thread adjusting bolts for "universal" application .uzzled: