I hope it wasn't the same place - where did you go, Rick? I went to
John Kipping in Coventry, UK - they seem to know what they're talking
about (well, the telephone operators don't, but they're happy to put you
through to someone who does...)
BTW, I've called them back since (I've already received the alternator,
so it's too late to cancel it now!) and they tell me that all
alternators have the same connector, if there's extra wires going in to
the back of one they'll be joined together, and that the current owner's
brother-in-law was talking crap. So I guess I'll just have to go and
have a look - the worst it could possibly mean is a wasted trip if
they're wrong.
Thanks, guys!
Dean Dashwood
------------------------------
>----------
>From: jak0pab@jak10.med.navy.mil[SMTP:jak0pab@jak10.med.navy.mil]
>Sent: 05 February 1999 09:35
>To: Dean Dashwood; 'Spitfire List'
>Subject: Re: Unusual alternator?
>
>Dean I don't have your answer, but please don't go to the same parts place
>that Rick went to.
>
>"You want a distributor? for what? ya mean those things had distributors?"
>
>Patrick
>
>At 08:45 AM 2/5/99 -0000, Dean Dashwood wrote:
>>Good Morning listers,
>>
>>I am just about to buy my first ever Spitfire - '77 1500. Problem is
>>the alternator is completely gone. I told the current owner I need her
>>to get it fixed before I can buy the car, because I don't know if I'll
>>be able to get it home otherwise - and she didn't seem to have a problem
>>with this.
>>
>>Yesterday, she phoned me to say it would take two weeks to get a new
>>alternator delivered. No problem, I said, I'll see if I can get one any
>>faster, and 15 minutes later I'd found a Triumph specialist who said
>>they'd send me one straight away.
>>
>>So I phoned the owner up again - and that was when she told me that,
>>according to her brother-in-law, who's the family Spitfire expert, this
>>car doesn't have a standard alternator. He had asked her to look at the
>>wires coming out the back of the alternator so he could work out what
>>alternator it was, and she'd told him that it had two thick wires and
>>two thin wires - and that was how he knew it wasn't the standard
>>alternator.
>>
>>Does this mean anything to anyone? It sounds like I may have ordered
>>the wrong part, but I really don't think I can phone up the parts place
>>and ask for an alternator with two thick and two thin wires! I don't
>>know if this alternator has a name, or what rating it is, or anything
>>else about it, but if anyone has any ideas I'd be really grateful -
>>because if I have ordered the wrong one I'd really like to cancel the
>>order before it's too late!
>>
>>Alternatively, is it easy to convert the connections to work with a
>>standard alternator? Or, if it all goes wrong and I can't get hold of
>>an alternator immediately, does anyone have any idea how far you can get
>>a Spitfire with a fully-charged battery but no alternator (both with and
>>without lights)?
>>
>>I would appreciate any help anyone could give me on this
>>
>>
>>Dean Dashwood
>>---------------------------------
>>
>Patrick Bowen
>'79 Spitfire
>Jacksonville FL
>
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