this is my thinking too, but the thing I do not like about them, is the obvious wrong fan. It sticks right out. I have seen a few companies that will rewind/rewire a generator to be an alternator, and use the stock case, pulley and fan. It ain't cheap
A local junkyard has a 57 and 61 Ford that has something that is not a generator and not a alternator with huge regulators,I think they might be old military or municipality vehicles and will get some pics on my next visit if I can remember to bring the camera.
the more I look at this, the more I like it. I would have polished the edges on the fins to match the heads
the only time I think an alternator looks bad is on a Flathead in a old style car with no hood. other than that I don't really notice.
Dodge started selling Leece-Neville alternators as options in their taxi and police cars as far back as 1950, and later had them as an option in Power Wagon. By 1957 (possibly earlier), Ford had optional alternators in police cars and ambulances.
Here's a picture of an aftermarket Leece-Neville alternator added to some random old piece of **** in the 50's....
I think if you want to run an alternator, try to leave the poor thing alone. Don't polish, paint, chrome, just leave it looking like a new stock part. Try to make the attacments and belts look OEM, and all but the most ****-pinched purist wouldn't give it a 2nd thought. Now that Mopar on that flatty sort of brakes that idea in 1/2, but that's goin round trip all the way. I like it too. In something like my bubbletop 61, I'll dress it stock lookin with a few other engine add-ons. I'll bet other than here most would just expect to see it there. Going 100% period correct is restoration, like it or not. It's almost not hotrodding.
i was thinking of doing something similar but home made, I was thinking of taking a gm alternator and making a casing that looked like a generator
I'm gonna run an old GM alternator in my A when I build it, and in my Packard when i switch to 12v and/or drop a V8 in it..... The way I look at it is tradition is practicing a ritual that your ancestors did, and the way you do it is completely open to interpretation. Some people throw their Christmas tree out on Christmas, some leave it up past new year, and some don't even do a tree at all. There's nothing wrong with it if that's your family's tradition and that's how you think it ought to be. For me, tradition in hot rodding is in the way its done, not what its done with. For others its all about what parts they use, even if it costs more, and thats kool too as long as they enjoy it. Heck, even paying someone to build a car for you is traditional! Otherwise kustom and rod shops wouldn't have made any money!
The very early 60's GM / Delco alternator on the coupe in my avatar has a tachometer cable drive on the back of it. I had fun telling people it was a Duntov experimental piece. I pulled an alternator, with it's original mounting brackets, off from a late 50's Checker which had the 226 ci Continental flat six. I will try and get a photo up of this soon... If the item you want to use on your build was available, factory or aftermarket, during the time frame that you are trying to replicate, it can be considered period correct...
I think the reason most guys went away from the generator is that they were spinning the guts out of them at the drags. If I have to use one, I choose the mopar unit because they are affordable and actually sorta look reminicent of a piece of speed equipment with their finned case... I had a generator on this car but I swapped it out when I decided to drive it to Bonneville. I just didn't want to be fussing with it in the middle of nowhere. Plus, I run a full hood.
I suspect the problem with converting an alternator to a generator looking case is cooling. A gen case looks like it is much less able to reject heat.
The other problem is the size of the alternator's stator, it's quite a bit larger diameter than the size of a generator's armature. And I wonder why generators all have steel cases, but alternators are all aluminum? or maybe the early alternators were stamped steel....
Hell I bought a GM style Powergen for the '32 but just didn't like it....it's been in my garage in a box ever since....I went generator and have 3 or 4 spares just in case. I guess I need to sell the Powergen.....
Chrysler had alternators as standard equipment in 1960. GM "Delcotron" a few years later. Some guys put them on their hot rods because they were the latest thing and they were better than a generator. The original Chrysler model was used until the "square back" model came out in the late 70s? or early 80s? They were a good alternator, simple and trouble free. I like that they had a separate regulator and that it was an electronic regulator. Again, simple and reliable, and if you blew the reg you didn't have to replace the whole alternator like today, just a simple $15 regulator held on the firewall with 2 screws. You can use one today, it is better than a generator but has 2 deficiencies. Low power output for its size compared to the new models. And does not put out much if anything at idle, so when sitting in traffic it feels like your battery is dying (don't worry it's ok, as soon as you get moving). Alternators and parts not so easy to come by anymore either. After all they have been obsolete for 30 years.
I still haven't forgot all the armatures I flung the commutator bars out of on my 59 Belair. I kept about 6 spares and always had one rebuilt and ready to go. Now I'm old and lazy, don't want to fuss with something once it's bolted on. Maybe you could hide one of those little Jap alternators inside a Model A powerhouse generator case, but to me that is about the same as fake Hemi valve coves on a sbc or hiding electronic fuel injection inside of Hilborn stacks. I don't have anything to hide.
I think they changed right around 1972. The older version used the mechanical regulator, and one side of the field was grounded. The newer one used the electronic regulator, and both sides of the field were isolated.
i ran an alternator that i cut down to fit inside an aluminum tube about the size of the ford generator, machined the tube to accept the ford end bells, made an adaptor to connect the external ford generator fan to the internal nippondenso fan that worked real well, but the best solution for me was putting the gm alternator on the yoke. a lot of people on here said it would not work but it's been doing fine with no issues for over two years. besides, its a lot of fun at cruise-ins to see head scratchers wondering where the generator is.
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