Spritenuts answer to electrics

[jlaird]

Items needed:
1 Mitsubitshi alternator
1 GM swoop alt. bracket
6'' of 3/8 id steel pipe
3/8 X 8" bolt and nut
3/8 drill bit

This conversion allows the use of halogen headlamps, cd players, and ends your generator worries for good it also eliminates your Lucas voltage regulator. 2 hours is all the time it should take after you aquire all the needed items.

1st pick up a good used mitsubisi alternator from your local bone yard, be sure it has a vee belt pulley and not a drive belt pulley, the pulley should look like the one on your generator. Late 80s mazda or mitsubitshi.
Next, while at the bone yard pick up an alternator bracket from a GM car or truck, it is curved, not straight like your generator bracket.
Stop at a hardware store and pick up a 3/8 X 8 inch long bolt, nut, and lock washer. Also ask the clerk for a 3/8 ID X 6 inch long galvanized pipe nipple, and a new sharp 3/8 drill bit if you do not own one.
Back at the Sprite, remove the generator and bracket from the front of the engine.
Hold the alternator up into position and site the curved bracket for length, you may have to cut it down. Keep the slotted part towards the alternator, cut the other end where it bolts to the engine.
Now you may have to drill a 3/8 hole in the bracket to fit your mounting point on the front of the engine, be sure your stock size fan belt will fit before you drill. Now drill out the 5/16 " hole on the waterpump ear to 3/8". Also drill out the rear mounting bracket hole to 3/8".
Insert the 8" long bolt through the rear bracket into the alternator and through the waterpump ear. ( this replaces the 2 5/16 " bolts from the gen.) do not put the nut on yet.
With the long bolt in place measure the space between the rear bracket and the alt., cut a piece of pipe to take up the space, this is better then a lot of washers, next cut another piece of pipe to fit in between the alternator. Run the 3/8 drill bit through the pipes so that the bolt fits snug inside the pipe.
Mount the alternator tighten the fan belt check clearance at the right shock it should be close but not touching it.
Now for the wiring

The large wire from the generator now goes to the large lead of the alternator.
The small (field) wire goes on one of the small terminals, this will be your indicator warning lamp wire.
At the voltage regulator remove the wire from terminal ( F ) remove both wires from terminal ( D ) connect the smaller of the ( D ) wires to the wire from ( F ).
Connect the larger of the ( D ) wires to the wires from terminals ( A ) and ( A!) The only wire left on your regulator should be ( E ) the ground , it's not needed.
Start up the car and check for smoke leaking out of your wiring harness, if no smoke you are successful.
You can remove your regulator or use it as a junction box for the new wiring . If you use it as a Junction box you will have to cut out the guts, just be sure that the large brown, brown with blue, and brown with yellow wires are connected together, and that the small brown with yellow is connected to the small brown with green ( field to indicator lamp.)

 

[Boink]

Nice description! 'Course, the tach will need changing (for early Sprites), but I've seen conversions that change-out the guts but leave it looking the same. I think I'll wait until my dynamo starts to go (and/or the gear-drive poops out). This is a conversion I've done on all my previous Minis and is a first rate improvement in the charging system (and, as you say, allowing for all sorts of ancillaries).

 

[jlaird]

Wonder what a GM swoop alt. bracket is/from.

 

[RichBall]

The swoop alt. bracket is/was a standard bracket used on a number of GM engines to hold the upper mounting ear on the GM alt. It has a long slot in it that allow for belt adjustments. It can be found on the shelf in most auto parts store in the chrome go faster isle, or of course off any number of GM cars at the wrecking yard. Most any early Chevy 350 could have one.

Here are a few examples.


https://www.thefind.com/computers/info-universal-alternator-bracket

 

[jlaird]

Thanks and I see it is spelled Zoops.

 

[Sarastro]

Another alternator conversion. It's really worth doing, unless there's an originality issue. Modern alternators are soooo much better than the old generators, and they give better battery life, too.

 

[BlueMax]

You can also use a Saturn 100amp alternator, very simple to install. You even use the bracket thats on the back side of the generator as the back side support to the alternator. You use the main battery wire and the ignition wire for the exciter wire and thats it, ready to go. "Oh" I almost forgot for thoughs that are a positive ground you will have to change polarity of your battery.

 

[taskadog]

Spritenut, Frank Clarisi, will be remembered as a man who loved Spridgets and helping people fix, restore, and modify them.
It was inspiring to see his family at Midget 50 this summer and to see that another Spritenut (Frankie 5) will be inspiring our grandchildren.
RIP Frank, Drive it like you stole it, and pay it forward!

 

[bug_sixty]

I'm visual... Does anyone have pics of the Saturn Alt installed?

 

[Boink]

So, why hasn't anyone come up with a simple, mechanical solution to the tach loss problem (when switching to an alternator)? Beyond going to a modern tach, surely there might be some clever way to continue to re-use the gear-driven thing.

 

[regularman]

About any alternator with work since the 1980 as long as it is internally regulated. You don't need a 100 amp alternator, 40,50,60 would work fine.
Alternator ratings are not for continuous load. The 100 amps is for about 5 minutes before the alternator starts to overheat and will burn up. They are made for short cycle batteries that charge back up within a few minutes.
The normal load on a car with everything turned on is no more than 30 amps.
The spridget battery is not that big, so even if it were in full discharge it would not take that long to charge it back up and you might not want to put 100 amp charge on it because it might heat up. The regulators won't usually let that happen anyway. The closer the battery gets to normal, it starts cutting back on the amps.
I used a Subaru 50 amp alternator because I already had a couple of them.
On my 77 it has the Lucas one and I see nothing wrong with it. It seems to be quite adequate for a spridget. There is a lot to be said for using an A/C Delco alternator because they are on the shelf at advance or autozone.
I ran an extra set of wires to the back in my 71 midget with the subaru alternator and power a 300 watt stereo amp and this extra load is still handled well with that alternator.
Some here had used the festiva alternator. My wife has a festiva and we had hers lose the internal regulator. It was $140 to replace that alternator and we had to wait a week to get it. Not a good choice if you want to have a alternator available on the road.

 

[BillW103]

I used the GM but it is not thr easyest to install and it is a bit large. I like the fact you can find one anywhere.