6mil928

Well finally giving up on the junk alternator I got off ebay. I bought a Delco and will be doing the mod. Anyone have any newer advice on doing this mod?

Jfrahm

If the stock pulley is smaller it might be spinning too fast. How much faster would be determined by the crank pulley diameter of the Camaro I suppose. If the larger 928 pulley provides decent current at idle that is probably a better choice.

I put a delco alternator I had laying around in and old Fiat Spider I had back in college. It was overdriven quite a bit but did not blow up in a year or so, but it was WAY overdriven and had I not had a driveline mishap I'm sure I would have roasted the bearings in that alternator at some point.

-Joel.

checkmate1996

My delco pulley and stock pulley on my '79 were exactly the same diameter/pulley.

The biggest thing is to get a smaller belt or prepare to modify the pivot bracket to stretch the pulley to the max.

6mil928

Awesome! That's what I was hoping to hear. Mines a V-belt.

checkmate1996

Mine was also a v-belt. You can use a slightly smaller v-belt, Goodyear Gatorback #15346 15/32 x 34" (stock is 35").

6mil928

Thanks guys can't wait to have a properly charging car.

justin

Im thinking of doing this myself. Im tired of seeing my volt needle below 12 on the gauge with everything on.

6mil928

Mine was rarely at 12v.

rjm65

I originally notched the pivot bracket but couldn't get adequate tension with the stock size belt. I think you had asked me about this before Brad, and I commented that I thought the notch was still needed with the 34" belt; it is not.

I was under the car the other day and noticed that the pivot bracket had plenty of clearance and the notch ended up not being necessary.

Definately a lot easier to just get the shorter belt.

Landseer

Checking in, my 84 has gone at least a thousand miles now, and its getting warm outside though not hot.

Charging is perfect, as reported before.
(Edit 7/2010 : Delcos continue to work for me on 2 1984 cars. Charging has been reliable, always working well. Needle seems to settle in different places on the voltmeter scale on different days. Can sometimes be just at 12V, sometimes a bit more, sometimes 13V. Needle will bounce with turn signals and will fall slightly as multiple heavy draw accessories are engaged. Very reliable.)


Thanks again to folks like Firemed and 928fixer and others who may have pioneered this switch.

After 32 miles of driving the new 86 with a working Bosch, am ready to switch it out as well.
(Edit: 32v cars use a different bracket for alternator and power steering pump, so the Delco conversion does not work for 85 or newer 32V. On our 32V car we solved voltmeter gauge stuccato flutter by cleaning and repairing wires in the 14 pin connector. A year later, the Bosch alternator failed (would work a while if tapped with a hammer. ) and we replaced it with a Bosch-factory rebuilt unit. Bosch rebuilds the whole alternator and brings it back to spec, whereas other rebuilders do not usually address all wear parts.)

mj1pate

Just removed and replaced the Bosch unit as part of doing the OPG replacement. I needed a floor jack to press the unit back up into the bracket...not to mention that it must weigh 3 stone. Aligning the alternator with the bracket mount holes was every bit the 2 hour fun that it would appear.

I won't use a replacement Bosch when the time comes. Thanks for this post...

dr bob

I always thought that using the floor jack was standard procedure for this. It's a handy adjustable platform no matter how light the alternator. Unless the thing flies into place on its own, it gets supported by something on its way in. Maybe I'm just getting lazy, but it's so much easier to get the wiring and duct attached with the whole unit dropped a bit.