[Teej]

I've read through all the posts I could find on the Gen-Alt swap and was really grateful for the information. But, as it happens, some things don't always go as planned or as other peoples experience.

I built brackets and it fits nicely, although I'll have to probably put different valve covers or at least turn mine around. The pulley is nicely lined up and it looks quite orthogonal to the crank.

It's a Delco 12SI, 94amp, internally regulated unit from a chain store and is the 3 wire piece. I removed the external regulator, and spliced in a new wire (10ga) from the alternator main output to what was the Bat terminal. If I read everything correctly, this should run things through the amp-meter in the dash. (And it seems to..)

The #2 terminal on the alt (red wire from the plug) is the sense wire, so I ran another new wire from it and tied it in at the junction block near the brake booster. I has wires coming from the firewall and then going to the battery. My + battery cable goes directly to the starter and I thought this would be a good spot for the sense wire. Doesn't appear to be as I get some fairly low output as measured at the battery with this setup. (~13.3v). However if I simply jumper the sense wire to the alt output, I get a pretty solid 14V at the battery.

Also, since the '58 does not have an 'idiot light' I'd like to put one in but did not get around to it as there are no convenient firewall pass through points on the '58. (They did a nice job sealing everything up back then!)

I did test run the car (obviously if I was measuring output..) and while its a good start, I also noticed that the alternator seemed VERY hot. I was only running this in place and it did run long enough for the valve covers to get hot, but I didn't think the alt should be that hot.

So after all this, my questions are:
1) Where should I use the #2 terminal to sense? (At the point where I joined to the Bat connection? At the battery +? At the starter? )
2) Do I have to use the #1 terminal if I don't want an 'idiot' light at this point? Can I tie into the wires going to the coil as a switched supply?
3) How hot is normal?
4) Would it be beneficial to run a wire directly to the bat +? (In addition to the one through the amp-meter. I know it wouldn't be completely accurate, but it would be better than nothing..) I'll eventually probably put a volt meter in there, but till then...

[aldbeir]

as far as tying in to the power to the coil . i tried that as power to a fan relay coil. it was handy and i thought how much power can a relay coil take. i installed a petronics the car developed a strange miss. when i got the right motor mounts so i could use a belt driven fan and did away with the electric fan the miss went away.

go to madd electrical web site he has good info on engine electrical.

[PRC]

You may get more responses by posting in the '61 and older section. There are some guys there who are knowledgable about '58s.