Team Chevelle banner

Alternator Conversion

25K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Dave Ray 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Alternator conversion

Authored by Wes Vann, Major rework on September 3, 2001.

I've added photos showing the installation of a CS130 on both a short water pump small block and also an installation of a CD130 on a long water pump small block.

This new version of the page takes a long time to download. It's due to all the photos. Almost all of the photos are "clickable" to a larger version.


DON'T MESS AROUND.JUST BUY A 105 AMP "CS130"ALTERNATOR AND HAVE DONE WITH IT!!!!

PLEASE NOTE; Always disconnect the battery when doing electrical work on your car!

What I'm going to try to cover is the conversion from an external regulator alternator to a "SI" internal regulator alternator.In the latter part of the page, I'll cover changing over to a new "CS"alternator.

I first did the "SI" conversion on my 64 Chevelle using an old alternator that I had around the garage. The bracket configurationis similar to what is in a 69 Camaro (long water pump and the alternator mounted on the shotgun side of the engine).

After the car was on the road for a while, the alternator started acting strange and the voltage output wasn't constant. That gave me a perfect reason to do the conversion to the new style "CS" alternator! There wasn't any problem with the wiring changes, it was just that the"SI" had seen it's years.

I have to add a word of caution here, the colors of the wires calle dout are the "standard" colors and I can't swear that your car's wiring loom matches. Please blame GM and not me!

When you convert from the external regulator alternator, you no longer need the regulator that is mounted on the radiator support. You also don't need some of the wiring that is present in the loom.

The diagram below shows the original connection at the old regulator.(I'm sorry, but the wire that is colored yellow, is really white)


    • Text Diagram

  • The next diagram shows how you modify the loom at this location.

    Cable Technology Electronic device Electronics accessory


    Notice that the blue wire is jumpered to the brown wire. The white wire and the orange wire are just capped off so that they will not short out to anything.

    This next diagram shows what you have to do at the new alternator.

    Line Diagram Circle


    The wire that goes from the "BATT" terminal to the #2 terminal is a new wire that you will have to add. You can use a 14 gauge wire.

    The white wire (shown yellow) just gets capped off.

    You will need a new connector to fit the new alternator and they can be purchased at almost any auto parts shop.

    Due to my being bothered by the "extra" wire being in the loom, I totally removed the dead white and orange wires. I also wired thebrown wire to the alternator directly. It just gets rid of some extra length of wire.

    The prior paragraph has caused me a lot of e-mail feed back and hopefully the following information will clear it up. In my final wiring configuration, the "brown wire" comes from the alternator indicator light, through the firewall connector, and directly to the alternator. The result is electrically the same as the diagram at the top of the sheet, just cleaner. The diagram above would have the brown wire coming out of the connector at the firewall, going toward where the regulator was, connecting to the blue wire, then the blue wire goes to the alternator. As I said, I cleaned up the wiring (and in the process,dirtied up the wording).

    In order to ensure good connections, I recommend that you always solder the connections and then use heat shrink tubing to seal it.

    General information on "CS130" alternators;

    The one I used (and what I recommend) is the 105 amp version due to it's physical size being similar to the original alternator. As a result, you can use more commonly available brackets. The typical SI alternator is only good for 63amps and that is at a higher RPM than what the CS's need. In other words, at idle, the CS is putting out, where as the SI is just spinning.

    All of the CS alternators come with serpentine belt pulleys! You will have to swap on a stock V-belt pulley and fan.

    The flange for the tensioning bolt is tapped for a metric bolt. The bolt is 8mm and the thread pitch is 1.25 mm. You have to make sure thatyou get the correct pitch due to 8mm with 1.00mm pitch also being real common. Now you have to get one of those dang metric 13mm wrenches.

    Most of the connectors for the "CS" alternators are four wire.Don't worry!! You will only use two of them and the wiring is the same as the "SI" above!

    In doing research for the update, I went to Autozone to get part numbers and a "source" car. That's not to say that the same alternator isn't on another car, it just means that I'm not willing to spend the time researching a complete source guide! The part numbers listed are for alternators made by"Duralast".

    The breakdown of the numbers may help you out, if in a pinch!

    If we break down the code "DLG1345-6-7"; The "5" is the bracket flange attachments. The "6" is the groove count of the pulley.Now this really doesn't matter due to the fact that we are going to have to replace the pulley!!!! The "7" is the phasing of the back cover. Youcan always remove the three bolts and rotate the rear body if you have to!!!!

    On the connector that I got, there were four wires and the body of the connector had identification letters. Here are the id letters and the color wires (don't count on the colors to be the same as what you get).

    "S", this was a heavy gauge, red wire.

    "F", this was a small gauge, brown wire.

    "L", this was a small gauge, brown/red wire.

    "P", this was a small gauge, brown/white wire.

    The red wire from "S" gets connected back to the output terminal of the alternator just like in the "SI" swap.

    The brown/red wire from "L" gets connected to what is shown in the diagram above as the blue wire. It's this wire that comes (indirectly)from the idiot light and it energizes the alternator.

    The wires from "F" and "P" are not used!

    As an additional note; AC Delco sells a "conversion" wiring loom if you are changing from a "SI" to a "CS" and it is nothing but a few short wires and two connectors. One connector plugs into the existing wiring loom connector that was plugged into the "SI". The other new connector plugs into the "CS". What's real important to note is that there are two different types. One is "non-resistor"and the other has a resistance in it. You want the "non-resistor"one if you are going to keep the idiot light. Use the "resistor"one if you are getting rid of the idiot light. Be sure to read the "notes"section of this page before jumping!!

    CS130 on a small block with "short" water pump;

    This section covers the installation that Carl Casanova did on his 68 Camaro. The photos and almost all of the information is from him. (I did some changing of the "brightness on some of the photos.) His web site can be found at "http://www.geocities.com/casanoc".

    Auto part Automotive alternator
    Auto part Automotive alternator Automotive engine part Automotive starter motor Engine


    These two photos (all photos at this point will be "clickable") show the alternator that Carl used. It's a Duralast "DLG1345-6-7" (available at Autozone) and if you say that you have a 91 C1500 Chevy truck with 350 TBI engine and AC, this is what you would get. The Duralast catalog lists the flanges as being at "2:00" and "6:00".

    Carl swapped on a"deep V" pulley from a Z-28.

    Auto part Automotive alternator Automotive starter motor Automotive engine part Engine
    Auto part Vehicle


    Here are photos showing the alternator mounted. The lower bracket is G.M. part number 14015510 and the upper is G.M. part number 460755. The upper bracket required modification (I've got to get the specifics). The lower bracket bolts to the head and this requires that you have heads with the accessory attachment holes.

    The final three photos show the finished installation in the car.

    Auto part Engine Vehicle Pipe
    Engine Auto part Vehicle Car Automotive engine part
    Auto part Engine Fuel line Vehicle Pipe


    On a personal note; I really like this installation due to it's keeping with the "vintage road racer" look. (read that as no-billet) About the only thing I'd do would be to rotate the alternators rear cover so that the plastic cover plate is downward. Now isn't that picky!!

    CS130 on a small block with a "long" water pump;

    This section covers what I did on my 64 Chevelle.

    I picked up my alternator from a local rebuilder however, the Autozone part number for it is DLG1346-5-11. It may be embarrassing, but if you tell them that you have a1988 Olds Firenza 2.0L engine with EFI and AC, you will get the correct one. (I wish I could tell you that it's for something exciting!!)

    I had the alternator on my car for around 2 years and the bearings went out on it. When I talked to the rebuilder,the first thing that he asked was if I had the rear support on it. I had to say no. So, this section also goes into the fabrication of the rear support that I now have.

    Auto part Automotive alternator Automotive starter motor Engine Automotive engine part
    Auto part Automotive alternator Automotive engine part


    These two photos show the alternator that I used. Notice that the mounting flanges are directly across from one another. The Duralast catalog (at Autozone) lists the flanges as at; "6:00" and "12:00".

    Auto part
    Drawing


    As I recall, I got this upper bracket from a 69 Camaro. The photo where I'm pointing to a hole shows where I had to lengthen the bracket. I don't know if this was required as a result of changing over to the Edelbrock manifold or not. The hole in question is for a stud that goes on the thermostat housing.

    Auto part Automotive alternator Tool accessory


    In the first photo above, you can see the lower bracket and spacer. The long bolt goes through the bracket, through the alternator, through the spacer, and then into the head. It's the pivot point for adjusting the belt tension. What is rather hard to see is that there is a flange and bolt hole on the spacer that would go into the rear of the original alternator.

    In the second photo, I'm pointing at the bolt hole in the alternator that I want to adapt the spacer to bolt to.

    Auto part
    Auto part Engine Automotive engine part


    In the photo on the left (above) you can see that I cut off the flange on the original spacer. I made up a piece of flat steel to go from the bolt to the spacer.

    Now you might get a laugh out of this. I have both a MIG and gas welder set-ups. I didn't want to use the MIG for tack welding the revised bracket together for fear of smoking the diodes inside the alternator. So, I used the gas welder. Well, it doesn't take much heat to start melting that plastic back cover!! No damage was done, it just doesn't look like new any longer.

    The photo on the right shows the finished bracket after painting.

    The final three photos were in reality shot prior to making the support piece shown above.

    Auto part
    Auto part Vehicle Engine Car
    Auto part Engine Vehicle Car Automotive engine part


  • NOTES;

    Why go through the trouble?
    Well, the "SI" alternators are easier to get and have a higher out-put. The"CS" alternators are even better!

    What about those "single wire" alternators? From what I have heard from some very knowledgeable people, they tend to overheat and are not as durable. I also would question if the alternator light would function. Hey, it may be called an "idiot" light, but I'd rather it warn me about a problem then sit at the side of the road crying. While in an automotive electrical rebuild shop buying my new CS, the man said that the one wires really didn't have any overheating problems. So, I really don't know who to believe. He also said that it's possible to make up a "single wire" CS alternator.

    And what about the idiot light? Well, the electricity that goes to energize the alternator (through the brown wire) comes from the idiot light. This leads to an interesting tid-bit, the alternator needs to see some resistance in this line. That resistance is the bulb! If you try to be "custom" and use a LED, there isn't the correct resistance and the alternator will not work correctly! You can't just by-pass the light!

    Why can't I turn off my engine? You wired up the alternator wrong!Hey, it's only two small wires but you can swap them. What happens is that the output of the alternator feeds it's self and even though you turned off the ignition, as long as the alternator is spinning, it feeds the car and keeps running.

    tecref14.html
 

Attachments

See less See more
38
#2 ·
94 ampere Citation/J2000/J6000 12SI alternator is easier to use, and less prone to failures, problems, and wires up as easy as shown on one diagram above. 12SI is shown on the left. The 12SI alternators can easily be "re-clocked" to 3:00, 6:00 and 9:00 positions for alternate mounting brackets.

692639


692640


692641
 
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top