Hi all,

I got a newer Nippondenso two pulley alternator from a 1990 Dakota. How do I make it work? I am guessing that I need to ground one of the two field wires, no? How much grinding on the bracket ears needs to happen? On the front ear, it looks like I need to grind off a lot. Is there a better way to do this?


Thanks,

Greg

For a '70-up car, it hooks up exactly like the original alternator: one field wire to each of the two field studs on the back of the alternator, main feed wire to the B+ output stud. For a '69-down car, ground one of the field studs and connect the car's only field wire to the other field stud.

Grind about 1/8" off the front of the lower alternator bracket and the new alternator should drop right onto it.

For more information see this thread.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thanks Dan. I just found the thread, and was going to post a "Never mind" message, but you beat me to it.

Greg

Actually if it is the cast alternator mount, it needs 1/4 inch removed from the front. After you are done, check the alternater output voltage. I have this alt on both my cars, and just noticed I am boiling the battery on my Cuda, since I started driving on the street. I am getting about 15.3 volts. Just today I checked my 66 valiant, and have the same thing. The Cuda is using the late style regulator, and the Valiant has the early replcment electronic regulator (looks like a thin mechanical). I put a light bulb in series with the field wire, to limit the field current, and the charge rate came down to about 14.2 volts. I am going to do some more testing, with a variable resistor (cooked the one I tried). I also have an adjustable regulator on order. I think the regulator for the "normal" chrysler alternator may have a compatability problem with the Nipp alternators, due to different field current requirements. I will be doing some more testing, when I get a little more time.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

I will be interested to read of your results with the adjustable regulator, CS.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I found some small glitches along the way.
1. Charrlie is right, it was closer to a 1/4 of the bracket that needed to be ground off.

2. The wire ends are a little different. I had to make a spade connector to ring connector adapter for the field wire.

3. The doggone fan belt is too long! I don't have any adjustment left in the simple brace/adjuster that runs along the top.

4. I gotta come up with a sleeved bolt for the top alternator/adjuster brace. The alternator uses a 3/8 inch bolt, and and the adjuster brace looks like a 1/4 inch or so. Grrr...

I don't know if I will finish it tonight.

Thanks, I will check the voltage when I get it fired up.

G

What I did for the adjuster was, drill and tap the alternator for a (forget which) 7/16 or 1/2 inch bolt. Thread the bolt into the alt, and drill and tap the bolt 5/16, then use the stock adjustment.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

I want to do some more tests, comparing field current, and alt voltage/amps output. I also want to compare full field current on the Nip and Stock Chrys alternators. I will do these tests after I get the adj reg and a adjustable resistor, that will handle the field current. That way I can do everything with one setup. Should be about a week.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Install complete, and I am getting 15.82 Volts

So.....

I gotta problem. Charrlie, where are you with your testing?

Thanks,
Greg

Haven't done any more, yet. I am waiting for the adj regulator to get here. Been busy with customers cars. Maybe this weekend. What you could do for a temp fix, is wire in a resistor, or a lite bulb into the field wire. Try different value/bulbs, while watching the voltage to the battery.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Pretty bizarre; the '89 M-bodies, factory-equipped with Nippondenso (or Bosch or Chrysler) 40/90 alternators just like the ones we're swapping on, use the same nonadjustable external voltage regulator as any other '70-up Mopar with an external voltage regulator.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I think it has something to do with the alternator field resistance. The Nip alternators have more full field current draw. The adj regulator I ordered states it is for a 7 amp field alternator. That tells me the field windings do make a difference, in some way. When the adj reg gets here, I will take a couple of different alternators and regulators down to my parts store and use there machine to run the alternators. I will set up with the same battery and volt and amp meters, and try different combos of parts to see if I can determine the problem/cure.
One possible cure would be to use a Nip alternator with a built in regulator.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

That might make logical sense if the external-regulator vehicles originally equipped with this alternator took a different regulator than the ones originally equipped with Chrysler alternators, but that is not the case.
Yup, and the Chrysler alternators started meeting that spec in 1981 or so. This is a one-way compatibility issue based on regulator durability, not regulation compatibility: using an '81-up alternator with relatively high field current draw with a regulator built to handle only the earlier relatively low-current field will burn out the regulator in short order. Using a regulator capable of handling the high-current field with a low-current-field alternator gives no bad effect.

Enough of the late alternators have successfully been put on enough of the early cars that we know it won't be necessary to resort to an internally-regulated alternator. For that matter, enough later Mopars with failed voltage regulation sections of the combination engine control module have been successfully retrofitted with either the ordinary electronic '70-up regulator or even the '60-'69 mechanical regulator (and one field grounded) that we know it works the other way around, too.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I don't like that idea, either. Just throwing it out there. Yep, done that myself.

This is really bugging me. I can hardly wait to spend a little time on this. It is really strang, but we are talking about three different vehicles, here.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Yeah, buggin' me too, 'cause it's really happening, but it's weird!

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.