ANOTHER alternator question....

So much has been posted in the last few weeks on alternators that I felt one more would just add to the confusion, for me that is. I am convinced that I need to upgrade the Lucas alternator on my 73 TR6 to a Delco and I have a dilemna. EVERY big box vendor in my area (Advance Auto, Auto Zone, Bumper to Bumper, O'Rielly and even NAPA) no longer handle Delco. Can you believe. They all have gone to off-the-wall names that are not familiar to me. They are all Delco bodies but with after,after market names.
What's an enthusiast to do! I even considered Bosch through the Ebay site that caters to, amongst others, LBC's and come up with no help. The guy that "handled" that department quit. So no tech advice was available. Does anyone out there have a name that I can call that can give me what I need Delco 55amp clocked to 9, preferably chromed
(no comments, please). Bummer. Don't laugh. I am stuck out here in the country and running all over creation looking for someone to talk tech with me is virtually impossible. I just want the UPS driver to pull up one day with the correct unit that I can wire up, rig up and crank up. Frustration.....

Bill

My best idea Bill, is to go to a junk yard and get a Delco, then just have it rebuilt.

Bill,

I've got the bosch alternator that you need, but it needs a bearing. You could probably take it to a local shop to get it fixed for next to nothing, and while you have it apart, get it chromed or polished (I prefer polished actually).

If you want it, you can have it for shipping costs.

Here is a good article on Delco 10SI & 12SI alternators that includes at the end a small chart of amp rating, clock, and part number. For a 63amp in the 9:00 position you want Lester number 7127-9, which is the same numbering system AutoZone, Advanced Auto, etc use.

Great, Hayden! Now I've got some really good bathroom reading. Better than old National Geographics. Seriously, just what I was looking for. Thanks.


Bill

Hi,

You may or may not find an actual Delco-labelled alternator. But, the "no-name" brands you are finding are probably fine. They are simply rebuilt alternators and, if done right, will do the job. Before the rebuild it might have been an actual Delco item, or from a variety of other manufacturers, all roughly the same quality.

Maybe it would be more accurate in our discussions if we referred to these as "Delco-style" alternators. They might say "Delco" on them or the box, or they might not.

Rebuilding is always an option and can usually be done locally for relatively little cost. Rebuilding becomes more important after an alternator's mountings have been modified slightly to make it fit (as is often done on TR2/3/4 applications, don't know about other Triumph applications). A sharp-eyed counter person at the parts store might reject the modified alternator trying to be turned in as a core. Even if they accepted it, the new item it's exchanged for would need to be similarly modified meaning some extra work. So a local rebuild might be simpler and a little cheaper.

The reason most folks go to an alternator exchange is probably just to put the car back on the road as quickly as possible. A rebuild might take a few days or even a couple weeks if the rebuilder needs to order any parts. If your Triumph is like mine, it's a second or third car and can be out of service for a few days without any concern, waiting for an alternator rebuild. (What am I talking about... My TR4's been "out of service" since 1986!)

One thing to be wary of on rebuilt alternators is worn mountings. The #7127-3 "Delco-style" alternator I just put on my TR4 had a worn bottom mounting that's got a steel shim/sleeve insert installed to bring it back to size. Trying to mount and unmount it while doing the fitting, that sleeve was making me crazy and kept jamming the bolt, which was extra tricky because the approx. 6" long bolt can only be removed rearward and the headers need to be loosened to get enough clearance. The job would be easier with three hands, but I only have two at last count.

I finally modified the sleeve by re-shaping it to have a flange, which keeps it in place while I slide the bolt in and out. Works fine now. But, it would have been easier to just get an alternator that didn't have the worn lower mount and didn't need the sleeve, or one with a thicker sleeve installed that wouldn't bend and tangle with the bolt. Likewise, if one of the upper mounts were worn and shim/sleeved, it wouldn't be a big deal since they are easy to get to and they don't leave you holding the weight of the alternator with one hand, while fiddling trying to get the bolt in or out with the other.

Hope this helps!

Alan

OK, I finally purchased a Delco-style alternator (a new Duralast Gold 63 amp Delco knockoff) and really am not sure where to go next as far as mounting. The hole in the alternator is larger than the hole in the cast bracket bolted to my short block. There are no sleeves in the alternator. It seems to me that simply taking the bracket off the engine and having it bored to fit the bolt that will slide through the alternator casting would be better than sleeving the alternator hole. Make sense? Plus, I could end up with a sturdier bolt. The pic shows the alternator just flopped over in place with the stock "Lucas" bolt just holding it up. Too, when this all transpires, is that all that will hold the lower part of the alternator in place? Will have to fabricate the adjustable upper arm as the stock arm is way too short. Is any other bracketing needed to keep this baby stable? There is a threaded bolt hole on the back side of the alternator that might hold a bracket if I keep the alternator clocked at 3 (the only one they had in stock at Auto Zone), if I reclock to 9, that threaded hole will be way up out of the way. The pulley seems to line up ok, although I think I will have to change to a larger one. This one looks like a 3/8". Am I on the right track???

Bill

I try and make any such conversion "reversible". I don't like drilling things out or re-tapping things. The existing bolt will be plenty strong whether you sleeve the alternator's hole or not. My preference would be to take a piece of thin wall tubing and make a sleeve for the standard bolt to bring it up "close" to the size of the Delco mounting ear hole. After you tension the belt, thoroughly tighten the through-bolt. You aren't going to shear the bolt with belt tension.

Sidebar: I had an old Honda Accord as a daily driver. I always had trouble getting the alternator belt tight enough to prevent it from squeaking when the weather was cold and damp. Finally, after 185k miles the alternator died. When I fit the replacement, I discovered that a previous owner had NEVER fitted the top pivot bolt. The alternator mounting ear had been wedged against the block while the belt tensioner pivoted the unit "out" and held it in position. Any bolt is better than no belt... but my point is you need surprisingly little to hold the alternator in place.

To be brand new, it just does not seem to be well polished or chrome platedwell. What happened to shinny go-fast alt.?

Just a rough-casting new, VD. As an aside, the darn thing is clocked at 3 as I mentioned above. Contacted Auto Zone home office and he said just order one clocked at 9. Well, AZ's computers show that this baby ain't available in that config. So, found an old saw at AZ that helped me reclock to nine; had to reseat the brushes, took about an hour. His fingers were so big that he couldn't get down into the darn thing. I ran to the office and got some dental tools out and did it in a snap. (I will sterilize the tools tomorrow) Tested it on their brand-spankin new alterantor tester and all is well. Found a bracket on the web at a specialty shop, along with a 1/2 inch pulley. All is good.

Still might bore out the TR bracket. Little things like that drive me crazy. OCD. Does anyone out there need or want a 4-year-old Lucas alternator off a 73 TR6 (TRF rebuild) that works to specs? Free. First one to offer the $10 shipping costs (lower 48), pulley and fan included. I won't clean it up, though. And the winner is....

Bill