I go with Jeff on this one. If you want to keep it economical, you need to
find the true source of the problem. This is more likely to be a bad ground
in the lighting circuit than the generator. Adding an alternator won't fix
that. There are procedural checks in all the repair manuals for generator
output voltage and voltage regulator settings. Brushes are very cheap too
if their worn. I'd make sure that that is set up properly before diving in
to an alternator. You can get original late model Lucas replacements from
the usual parts stores. That will be your easiest installation. Other
conversions require modifying the water pump ear and making custom
brackets. I think David Riker's alternator is the cleanest, easiest
alternator modification, though not the cheapest.
Gerard
At 8:14 AM -0500 2/7/02, Jeff Boatright wrote:
>Trish,
>
>If you are motivated by minimal costs (who isn't?), and if the only
>real problem is that your headlights are dim, the cheapest things you
>can do are:
>
>1. Wash the fronts of the headlights. You'd be surprised, especially
>this time of year, what a difference the road film makes.
>
>2. Check all of the connections in the lighting circuit. Gently pull
>the connectors apart (I usually spray a little lube in them if
>possible), wipe off any lube, and use a Scotchbrite pad to shiny up
>the male connector. I have not found a good way to clean the female;
>possibly others on the list have. Then, though not absolutely
>necessary, I put a tiny bit of conducting grease (e.g., Kopr-Shield
>from Eastwood's) in the female and on the male and then insert.
>
>If your generator or your voltage regulator are truly on the fritz
>(the garage did check your regulator, right?), then 1 & 2 will not
>provide much relief. However, when I bought my car, I thought that
>the lights were too dim. Doing 1 & 2 helped a lot. Five years later,
>I'm still running with the original equipment. Daily (and nightly)
>driver.
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>Jeff
>
>At 11:41 PM -0700 2/6/02, Trisha wrote:
>>Having a generator just stinks! My lights are very dim, I've already had it
>>fixed once, and it again seems not to be charging the battery, so my question
>>is how difficult/ involved/ etc. is it to swap for an alternator? What I've
>>got is a 1098, positive earth, and a mechanical tach- can I do this with
>>minimal cost? and minimal changes? The positive earth isn't so important to
>>me- but I'm cheap (and broke) and really don't want a huge project.
>>TIA
>>
>>Patricia
>>'59 Bugeye
>>"Rene Descartes was a drunken fart 'I drink therefore I am"
>
>
>_____________________________________________________________
>Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
>Assistant Professor, Emory Eye Center, Atlanta, GA, USA
>Senior Editor, Molecular Vision, http://www.molvis.org/molvis
>mailto:jboatri@emory.edu
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/spridgets
|