SoloRacer

A friend was racing his 951 yesterday and before the first race his battery died. Looks like his alternator was toast. So I pulled the alternator from my spare car and rushed over to do a quick swap.

When I got to the car this is the alternator they showed me:

SoloRacer

Turns out the previous owner cut down the stock 951 mount to fit this much smaller alternator. So now we had the much larger 951 alternator to install and a handful of problems to solve before we could install it (space out the mount, get a new belt, figure out how to tension it without the stock tensioner, etc.)

But first we thought we would try to identify the old alternator. There were no brand names, no numbers, no casting marks on the old one so really we had no way identify what it came out of. I speculated that it was from a 1983 944 but really didn't have a clue. I took it to a local parts store and together we went through pages and pages of pictures of alternators to see what it came out of. After a 1/2 hour we found it .......it's a Suzuki Swift alternator! For racing it makes full sense as these alternators are cheap and in good supply whereas the 944 alternator takes a week to find and cost a bundle - not something good to have when you are racing on a weekend and in need of an alternator. We had to drill out the upper mounting holes for the 951 10mm bolt but other than that it fit pretty good. I know on 951's with big turbos we have to grind down the case of the alternator to get them to fit. Would a conversion like this make sense? Or is it not powerful enough for day to day driving?

The DareDevil

I have a good Swift alternator if you need one.

The DareDevil

Do you have the proper duct work for the 951 alt. you installed? It's crucial to the longevity of the alt.

eniac

I have been searching for sometime to find an alternator that will fit nicely with the top stock bracket. This one looks like a good fit. What year Suzuki Swift is this alternator for? If I can find one with 80 amps or so I might be doing the same conversion.

5speed300

Do you happen to have pictures of the alternator ducting? I found a random duct in my front bumper area that leads nowhere and Im thinking that I am missing part of the ducting to the alternator.

SoloRacer

We didn't install the 951 alternator once we found out what the old one was. We bought a new Suzuki Swift alternator and installed it. The picture is actually of the new one we put in. There is no ducting.

SoloRacer

I don't but I can see if I can find one for you. The problem is the ducting is really only visable from the bottom.

eniac

This is one of the problems why I need a smaller alternator. Because of the size of my turbo and the 3" intake, I had to cut away much of the upper portion of the alternator shroud. It's been this way for a few years but I can see on really hot days my voltmeter reads just below 12v at an idle. So far I have never had a dead battery or any starting issues but I know my alternators life is getting short. The next turbo I want to put on my car will need a 4" intake and I know there is no way I am going to be able to fit that over the stock at.

The DareDevil

I'll pull off the swift alt. tomorrow then and post some pics.

5speed300

That wouldbe great thanks. As I recall, when I had the front bumper off, it looked like the ducting started up by the drivers side fender, curved down towards the bottom of the car and headed straight towards the back. Mine just dumped there right under the engine basically so I'm thinkign I am missing some piece that curves up and fits over the alternator?

hosrom_951

Doesn't the ac delete bracket not only removes the ac compressor but also lowers the alternator? wouldn't a bigger turbo fit nicely then?

Keithr726

Cool, good idea. Yeah that looks nothing like the stock one in my old 83 944. What made you think that?

eniac

I would really like to delete the A/c but it was 92'F here today and I have a hard time removing a perfectly good working A/C unit. 3 or 4 years ago I recharged my A/C with the $35 kit, and just the kit. No purging the old R12, no silly gauges to measure how much R134 went in . I just emptied the cans and I had cold air. I really was hoping it would blow up but it's still working and still cold. It doesn't seem like it's going to break anytime soon so back to plan B with a smaller alt.

KuHL 951

The one thing that people seem to be missing is that the alternator in the pic has failed. Ask yourself, why did an alternator that looks fairly new and has no age patina on the copper windings fail? It may be nice to have a smaller alternator for track use, but that thing looks new to me. Cooling shrouds aside, in a long list of replacement alternatives, I think Suzuki would be my last choice unless Lucas Electric was still in business.