N9TE Posted September 13, 2010 Report Share Posted September 13, 2010 I just pulled the alternator on my 86 turbo... It was a GM unit. Not stock, but worked great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted September 13, 2010 Report Share Posted September 13, 2010 I had no idea it'd work in a turbo too! Great post Koll - I'll be checking this out ASAP. 80 A are the cheap easy ones, but for a few more $$ it's easy to upgrade that to 100 or even 130A units... Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted November 12, 2010 Report Share Posted November 12, 2010 Hi Koll, Can you do a close up pic of that bottom alternator mount? I tried to fit a GM alt into my 89' when it stopped charging, but the lower mount was quite a bit longer and would need to be shortened up some for it it to drop into place. (Tried it on the spare motor on the stand before tackling the 89') I'd prefer not to change the alt housings, and would prefer to mod the mount instead so that future replacements would just be bolt in. So I'm curious if it's a different application for the GM alternator - or if that lower alt mount was changed to fit. In the end it was a broken wire that was causing the charging issue, so I soldered a new connection in it and it was good to go. Be nice to have a solution for the GM alternator for when the alternator finally does go. Thanks! Rabin BTW: I split this topic out as I figured it'd be a good resourse for others in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan68rs Posted December 24, 2010 Report Share Posted December 24, 2010 Hi Koll, Can you do a close up pic of that bottom alternator mount? I tried to fit a GM alt into my 89' when it stopped charging, but the lower mount was quite a bit longer and would need to be shortened up some for it it to drop into place. (Tried it on the spare motor on the stand before tackling the 89') I'd prefer not to change the alt housings, and would prefer to mod the mount instead so that future replacements would just be bolt in. So I'm curious if it's a different application for the GM alternator - or if that lower alt mount was changed to fit. In the end it was a broken wire that was causing the charging issue, so I soldered a new connection in it and it was good to go. Be nice to have a solution for the GM alternator for when the alternator finally does go. Thanks! Rabin BTW: I split this topic out as I figured it'd be a good resourse for others in the future. I just put one on mine, I went to the junk yard and measured every alt i could find in a gm and all of them are i think 1" 1/2 on the larger mount, and the peugot was 1", I just got one that had the extra width on one side and cut it off, working good so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrethx Posted December 24, 2010 Report Share Posted December 24, 2010 Better still is to just get a GM 2 wire altenator and with minimal wiring you get a GM alternator with internal regulator that's at 80A unit for cheap... I make it a point of doing this upgrade on all my XN engined cars. Best bang for the buck upgrade for these cars. Rabin Rabin, I have a question about the GM alternator swap. I remember reading somewhere that the third connection on the GM alternators isn't really needed, even on some GM cars (IIRC it is a connection to a the ECU that sends the alternator RPMs or some such). So I'm thinking that the number of wires is not the critical factor here. Does the reason the 2-wire alternators work in this swap have something to do with the physical dimensions of the 2-wire unit (size, mounting points) as opposed to the 3-wire units? Thanks, Andre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bean Posted December 24, 2010 Report Share Posted December 24, 2010 From memory there are 3 wires connected, but it has a 2 wire connector that is part of the three wires. The B+ stud has the heavy gauge wire (6 ga maybe?) that connects to the positive battery connection on the starter, one of the wires on the 2 wire connection goes to this stud (12v battery), and the other wire connects to the signal wire from the car... This is how I've hooked it up on all my cars, and they've worked flawlessly. Not sure if there is such a thing as the 3 wire, I just know the generic GM alternators fit OK, and work awesome. By OK fitment - they are about 1/2" out on pulley alignment, but they're so far away from the crank, that the slight misalignment is negligible. Oh - and the top adjustment rod needs to be tweaked in a vise to reach the top mount on the GM alternator. Nothing drastic, but needs to be done so it fits properly. Rabin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan68rs Posted December 25, 2010 Report Share Posted December 25, 2010 From memory there are 3 wires connected, but it has a 2 wire connector that is part of the three wires. The B+ stud has the heavy gauge wire (6 ga maybe?) that connects to the positive battery connection on the starter, one of the wires on the 2 wire connection goes to this stud (12v battery), and the other wire connects to the signal wire from the car... This is how I've hooked it up on all my cars, and they've worked flawlessly. Not sure if there is such a thing as the 3 wire, I just know the generic GM alternators fit OK, and work awesome. By OK fitment - they are about 1/2" out on pulley alignment, but they're so far away from the crank, that the slight misalignment is negligible. Oh - and the top adjustment rod needs to be tweaked in a vise to reach the top mount on the GM alternator. Nothing drastic, but needs to be done so it fits properly. Rabin that is how i have mine wired up and works great, i can get the number wire that goes to the car sensor wire when i get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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