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I thought it might be worthwhile to mention that it is rather easy to upgrade our old style alternators to internally regulated units that deliver strong voltage at idle.

I went through this exercise when I found that my alternator could not deliver voltage reliably at low speeds especially when my electric fans kicked in. The solution was to purchase an alternator for a 1988 Chevrolet Caprice with the Olds 307. You will have to reclock it to move the terminals to the correct place so you do not get interference, but this is an easy task accomplished by loosening the through-bolts and turning the housing to match.

This upgrade ensures that you have maximum charging voltage no matter what your engine speed is and it significantly increases the reliability by eliminating the external regulator. I highly recommend this upgrade and it is indistinguishable from the original alternator from what I recall.


http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/USL0/3351103/01468.oap?year=1988&make=Chevrolet&model=Caprice&vi=1037089&ck=Search_01468_1037089_2538&pt=01468&ppt=C0330

You will need a conversion kit to wire it up but it is simple to implement. Here is one option:

http://www.madelectrical.com/catalog/cs-130.shtml

xgecko wrote:I thought it might be worthwhile to mention that it is rather easy to upgrade our old style alternators to internally regulated units that deliver strong voltage at idle.

I went through this exercise when I found that my alternator could not deliver voltage reliably at low speeds especially when my electric fans kicked in. The solution was to purchase an alternator for a 1988 Chevrolet Caprice with the Olds 307. You will have to reclock it to move the terminals to the correct place so you do not get interference, but this is an easy task accomplished by loosening the through-bolts and turning the housing to match.

This upgrade ensures that you have maximum charging voltage no matter what your engine speed is and it significantly increases the reliability by eliminating the external regulator. I highly recommend this upgrade and it is indistinguishable from the original alternator from what I recall.


http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail/USL0/3351103/01468.oap?year=1988&make=Chevrolet&model=Caprice&vi=1037089&ck=Search_01468_1037089_2538&pt=01468&ppt=C0330

You will need a conversion kit to wire it up but it is simple to implement. Here is one option:

http://www.madelectrical.com/catalog/cs-130.shtml

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I recommend it as well. The new alt will also eliminate radio interference
from the reg arcing contact. I don't use a conversion kit; the old reg and much
of its wiring can be scrapped. The main output wire might need an upgrade
to a heavier gauge, depending on the alternator. The wire from the GEN
indicator light now goes direct to the alt start connection. And the alt sense wire
goes to wherever the main battery wire starts splitting into individual circuits;
again that connection may be left over from the old reg. Bruce Roe

I used a kit mostly out of convenience as it provided the connector I needed to connect the wire to the alternator. You bypass the regulator with a simple jumper if you don't want to do much rewiring. It is working great for me, my fans kick in and there is no voltage drop whatsoever.