I recently put a 390 in my 56 merc , i am hearing different things about if i can just wire up my old harness to the alt or not , if not , what i need to do to get rollin again , any help ??????
your 56' had a generator. although an alt. can be wired to a gen. harness it gets complicated as the field and armature on a gen. are opposite on an alt. Plus an alt. will probably be 12V. It is possible to get a 6V alt if you're sticking with a 6V system. If going to 12V, use a single wire 12V alt. and run the alt. lead to the Battery/ starter sol. and you're good to go. Just remember to change everything to 12V.
Take the alternator to a starter /generator shop have it changed to 6 volt . Single wire alts are the best. texs1935
1956 Mercury was the first year for 12 volts so as stated above just use a 1 wire alt. and problem solved.
Not to hijack, but my '55 Chevy truck with 283 still has a generator. IF I decide I want to go to an alternator...all I have to do after mounting it is run the single wire to the starter solenoid (which terminal)? What to do with the other leads from the harness that DID go to the generator? Sorry to the OP, just trying to understand!
Just did this in my 60 linocln. Hardest part was making the bracket for proper allignment of the belts. Basically used a chevy 1-wire. single wire from main post on Alt to the seloniod (connected to the same terminal that runs to the starter). still have the regulater mountedon (too lazy to remove 2 screws ,,,haha) but basically just disconnected the wires. Easy peasy. Runs great, charges great, headlights are brighter.
Yes it is not difficult to adapt the Ford alternator into the original harness. Check the wiring diagram. The main power for the car comes from a heavy yellow wire at the Vreg. mounted on the core support. The alternator wire needs to be spliced into that wire. I made a small harness to go from the alternator to be spliced into the 56 harness. Fortunately for me I found a generator core to rebuild before I made the change. I can't tell you how to do it without the wiring diagram for the car in front of me but it is not that difficult and can be done without making a mess out of the original harness. My rebuilt generator.
What I did on my T-Bird FE 390. I put a new "black painted generator" in from O"Rielly for about $109.00 that matched factory style, bolt pattern, etc. so I could keep the factory look. More expensive, but you also might try a powermaster "alterator" if you want to have an "alternator" hidden in the factory look of a generator that bolts up to current brackets and bolts. http://www.powermastermotorsports.com/PMappGuideEbook.pdf Or, use GM onewire from NAPA for about $110.00. Will need to adapt a bracket to use or change the location. Brackets on ebay. Cheers!
On my 223 I used a GM 1 wire alternator and made a bracket using a technique similiar to this: http://www.ranchwagon.com/tech/alt/alt.htm Run a brand new wire from alternator to the starter solenoid. At this point it will functionally work, however for a cleaner appearance remove the voltage regulator and wires****ociated with it. I taped mine up and tucked them back into the wire harness because I was fealing a little lazy. The hardest part of the whole thing is lining up the alternator pulley.
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