Inliners International Forums General Discussion Electrical Alternator Upgrade

Gentlemen,
I would like to upgrade my stock 3 wire 10si 63 amp alternator to a higher amp output such as 75 or 80+ or 93 amp. Is there a 3-wire amp that will "bolt up" to my stock 250 chevy inline bracket (driver side below the water pump.)with a higher amp rating? I am planning to install and electric fan and a stereo amp.
Thanks for your help.
Ken

You might check out Powermaster, they have some high output stuff available.

Marshall,
Thanks. How's the two-part timing cover progressing?
Ken

It's coming along good Ken, tlowe has also given some insight to this project with some of the things he has encountered using the Clifford 2 pc. cover on the 292 dyno testing.

I don't know if they still carry it but JC Whitney used to sell a kit to upgrade the stock alt to 105 amp.
I put one in a truck of mine and I still have the alt somewhere but the truck is gone.

Bear in mind I'm in AK so my underhood temps may not get as high as yours.(Dunno if the convesion woul last as well with less cooling)

El Viejo, the update is easy. My 1992 GMC pickup has a stock alternator that the output is 105 amps. Just go to a wrecking yard and buy one "off the shelf" and you have about 40 amps more charging.

We need to collect part #s for these kinds of things and get them into the Tech Tips. So many of these up grades would be so easy. If you were closer I tell you to pull your alternator and bring it to the store and we'd go through boxes till we found one! Beater

Dear BOP;

Perhaps you could get the Lester
Software & borrow/buy an older
(out of date) version of it etc.

Covers Alternators, Generators &
Starters too.

Good luck.

Stroker and all,
I used the info on Mad's alternator pages (the Lester number), ordered a 12SI in the 90 amps range, and got just what I needed from a local alternator distributor. From my experience we can have confidence in the info on Mad's website.
The 12SI fits the same as the 10SI with the excpetion that the boss on the top of the alternator is tapped for a metric bolt, no big deal. I needed to move the alternator away from the heat from the headers and could not get there with the stock slotted tensioning bracket. So I got two 5/16" rod ends and a 4" long coupling nut (mcmaster carr catalog)and used them in place of the stock top bracket. I was able to use a longer v belt and effectively move the alternator away from the headers.
Thank you all again.
Ken

Gentlemen;

Patrick's has the brackets for
using an Alternator in place of
a Generator.

Remember; you don't need an Alt.
unless your running A/C or a lot
of lighting etc.

A 1955-60 Generator is 12V & the
Regulator is all the same as the
6V (orginal) units in size and
look etc.

You can 'push start' too and @ 12
volts the current is half as well.

Good luck.

Larry, That is a great site. Thanks for posting that. Tom

Amen, Larry. That site is useful. i learned a lot.

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450

Just be careful, 105 amps into small gauge wire will melt it ASAP! I did this once, in a car upgraded from an old 30 amp Motorola to a 60 amp 10si. Left the headlights on drained the battery in cold weather. Jump started OK, ran at fast idle for 15 minutes, then a bad smell... wires melted! The alt was happily pushing 40, 50, 60 amps into the dead battery, though skinny wires meant for 30! HOT!

The JC Whitney kits that Nexxussian mentioned were sourced from Quick Start.
http://store.alternatorparts.com/repair-kits-and-upgrade-kits-2.aspx.
If you simply want to rebuild, they have that for you also.
http://www.alternatorparts.com/
Their web site is huge and can be hard to navigate, but if you've heard of it, they've got it.

Richard, good to know.

Thanks.