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Author Topic: Chrome-plated alternators, anyone?  (Read 2328 times)

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Offline Henrius

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Chrome-plated alternators, anyone?
« on: August 20, 2014, 09:46:14 PM »
I am dressing up my 1973 by plating a bunch of parts. My alternator is on the fritz, and I thought, "Why not have a chrome alternator as well?"


Trouble is, most of the chromed ones in catalogs are high-output units.


Anyone know of any chromed alternators available that fit the stock mounting lugs in the Pinto?


Don't know much about the various sizes of Ford alternators. A 2.0L without A/C sure doesn't need a huge one!
1973 Pinto Runabout with upgraded 2.0 liter & 4 speed, and factory sunroof. My first car, now restored, and better than it was when it rolled off the assembly line!

Offline dick1172762

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Re: Chrome-plated alternators, anyone?
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2014, 12:09:08 PM »
JC WHITNEY
Its better to be a has-been, than a never was.

Offline JohnW

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Re: Chrome-plated alternators, anyone?
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2014, 05:54:29 PM »
Powermaster makes alternators that bolt right in. I bought a 100amp one a few years ago and love it. Just add a heavier gauge (4AWG) charge wire and you can still plug the idiot light in. The voltage sensing wire does nothing on it though. It has an internal voltage regulator.

I believe the ones on the top of this page are the same as what I bought:
http://www.jegs.com/p/Powermaster/Powermaster-Ford-Alternators/1558365/10002/-1
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Offline Henrius

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Re: Chrome-plated alternators, anyone?
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2014, 09:03:02 PM »
Powermaster makes alternators that bolt right in. I bought a 100amp one a few years ago and love it. Just add a heavier gauge (4AWG) charge wire and you can still plug the idiot light in. The voltage sensing wire does nothing on it though. It has an internal voltage regulator.

I believe the ones on the top of this page are the same as what I bought:
http://www.jegs.com/p/Powermaster/Powermaster-Ford-Alternators/1558365/10002/-1

Thanks for the tip. I don't understand something about alternators. If you don't need the high capacity, does it give the engine extra load in normal use?

What happens if I don't thicken the charge wire? When you use this alternator, the normal Pinto voltage regulator is not used? I am hazy on alternator charging circuits.
1973 Pinto Runabout with upgraded 2.0 liter & 4 speed, and factory sunroof. My first car, now restored, and better than it was when it rolled off the assembly line!

Offline JohnW

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Re: Chrome-plated alternators, anyone?
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2014, 10:05:29 PM »
Thanks for the tip. I don't understand something about alternators. If you don't need the high capacity, does it give the engine extra load in normal use?

What happens if I don't thicken the charge wire? When you use this alternator, the normal Pinto voltage regulator is not used? I am hazy on alternator charging circuits.
As far as I know, there's only additional load if you're using the extra capacity.

The factory charge wire was borderline with the 65amp alternator. Plus it's well over 30 years old. You run the chance of fire/melting. If you're not drawing any extra load you would probably be fine, but why risk it for $15 worth of wiring and 15 minutes of your time?

And no, you do not use the Pinto voltage regulator at all. You take the green signal wire (from the idiot light, kicks the alt on when you start the car) and hook it to one of the 2 spade terminals on the internal voltage regulator (listed in instructions) and leave the other alone. Then you hook a 4AWG wire to the main terminal of the alternator to the battery side of the voltage regulator to connect it to the electrical system. Just those two, much simpler.

The other spade terminal next to the one you use was originally for the remote voltage sensing wire to sense voltage drop over a length of wiring and has no function, the terminal is simply there to allow an original GM harness to plug in. The internals of the alternator are a clone of the 70s/80s GM 12si style and the voltage regulator is almost identical to the GM ones except for the lack of the remote sensing wire, as far as I know you can buy a GM voltage regulator from any parts store as a replacement. With the one it comes with you can use it as a 1-wire alt that ONLY uses the charge wire, but it won't kick on til you rev the motor up to close to 3k RPM. It's not recommended, but tons of companies offer 1-wire alternators because of lazy hot rodders that don't know how to wire anything. Hooking up the idiot light is highly recommended as it both kicks the alternator on when you start the car and gives you the low voltage warning when something goes wrong.
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Offline PintoMan1

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Re: Chrome-plated alternators, anyone?
« Reply #5 on: September 03, 2014, 06:46:02 PM »
here's one on e-bay right now that I run on my 2.0 with no problems. bolted up and wired up with no problem. in fact I have one on the car now and one for a spare. the e-bay number is 400767902602   good luck!
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Offline Henrius

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Re: Chrome-plated alternators, anyone?
« Reply #6 on: September 04, 2014, 09:12:17 PM »
here's one on e-bay right now that I run on my 2.0 with no problems. bolted up and wired up with no problem. in fact I have one on the car now and one for a spare. the e-bay number is 400767902602   good luck!

Thanks for finding that! I put it in my cart today! E-Bay is really handy for finding Pinto Parts.
1973 Pinto Runabout with upgraded 2.0 liter & 4 speed, and factory sunroof. My first car, now restored, and better than it was when it rolled off the assembly line!

Offline PintoMan1

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Re: Chrome-plated alternators, anyone?
« Reply #7 on: September 05, 2014, 04:24:09 AM »
glad to be of some help!   :)
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