Alternator Fitment

[mark030358]

Gents,
I am considering fitting am alternator.
Can anyone tell me which type to fit? What car they come from and what is involvef? Any help appreciated.

Cheers
Mark
ps I have been looking at a site in the US RD enterprises and they sell a kit for ?135ish

[flyinggellyfish]

Mark
The standard Lucas alternator fitted was a 17ACR , but seems a little light duty from what most owners say . I have fitted a Lucas alternator off a Ford Fiesta . It is a straight fit and has the V belt pulley and is 35 amp rated . I cut off the Lucar block and soldered on ring terminals as this is what the new alternator uses . I am yet to try it as the car is not running yet , but a +2 owner I know has fitted a similar alternator with improved charging results .

Rick

[david.g.chapman]

I have also replaced my weedy ACR15 alternator with the next generation A133 alternator from a scrap ford fiesta. It is bigger, but fits in my +2 without a problem.

The A133 has a v-belt pully and produces 55 amps. Some modification to the top slotted bar mount is required - I had to bend a step in it to align the pulleys. The good news was that it only cost me ?20.

Dave Chapman

[type26owner]

Whatever alternator you decide to install you should beef up the wiring to take the extra current load. Add another heavy gage wire which goes to the starter feed for instance. Suggest you also patch-in a suitably sized current-rated fusible link in case the alternator shorts out and this will help prevent a total meltdown, possibly saving your car from burning up literally.

[Frank Howard]

Mark,

Got my Mitsubishi alternator out of a 1988 Mazda 323. Fabricated the brackets myself. The pully is the correct size and it works great!

Frank Howard
'71 S4 SE

[mark030358]

Frank,
What type og connections exist on the back of the alternator, plud s etc and where did you get the bits.

Thanks

Mr type 26 owner what do you mean by starter? the cable that connects to the battery via the solenoid?

cheers
Mark

[jrmdir]

Not sure about this option, but I heard that Moss have a new alternator that is built inside the standard Lucas generator body. If true, this would eliminate any new bracketry and retain the original look. Does anyone have knowledge of this set up?

[Frank Howard]

Mark,

When I yanked the alternator out of the Mazda, I took as much of the Mazda wiring as I could, about 3 feet of it along with the Mitsubishi connectors that connect the wiring to the alternator. As Mazda doesn't use the same wiring colors as Lucas does, and I wanted to preserve as much originality as possible (despite the fact that the generator has two wires and the alternator has three), I went to the trouble of switching the main heavy gage Mazda wire (black, I think) with a brown wire that a friend of mine (Mr. Esprit, Keen Young) donated. He took if from a Jaguar harness.

The alternator worked great for two years and then suddenly it would not charge the battery. After much frustration, the problem was traced down to, you guessed it, the broken brown Lucas wire that had come from the Jag! So much for preserving originality!

Frank Howard
'71 S4 SE

[dlbarnes1]

My Mitsubishi alternator also came off a Ford Fiesta (US). It is 45 amps. After fitting it, the first thing I noticed was the directional signals now flashed at idle.

David 72 Sprint DHC

[type26owner]

Mr type 26 owner what do you mean by starter? the cable that connects to the battery via the solenoid?

Yup, that will do it nicely. You might also consider installing a master power cutoff switch too. It should be the type that cuts off the field current to the alternator when switched to the off position.

[type26owner]

Oh hey, another great thing to add to the dashboard is a Smiths 50mm voltmeter. This will save you more trouble then you can possibly imagine. It does this by showing you the charging system has failed and you can drive to safety usually before the battery goes completely dead. Relying on the idiot light is fraught with danger.

[type36lotus]

I second the voltmeter. They are very simple to install with none of the high current carrying issues ammeters have. By observing the voltage you can quickly tell if things are good, bad or in between. It is also nice to be able to immediatly tell the state of charge of your battery before you actually attepmt to start the car. If it's flat, there will be very low voltage. All an ammeter can tell you is if you alternator/generator is charging. I could not live without mine.