I just had the generator light come on today. Did a little testing and found out the generator is bad. I was given this 66 El Camino so I really don't know too much about the motor. Is it possible to change over to an alternator without to much trouble?

Also, are there any obvious ways to tell if I have an alternator already?

Thanks

It shouldn't be a problem. All you have to worry about is 1 to 3 wires to connect. One goes to the battery and the others to the starter. The main thing to worry about is if it comes with the proper pulley.

I removed the generator today and have a few more questions.

How do I go about asking for an alternator for my '66? I don't even know whether or not this is the original motor. I'm sure taking the generator in to the store might help, but I didn't see any usefull numbers on the generator.

Also,is there not anything else involved in swapping a generator to an alternator but connecting the wires? As it stands now, there is a (+) wire hooked up to it and as well as a plug.

Any helpfull tips would be great!

TIA

The positive wire goes to the battery. The plug is most likely routed to the starter motor. My personal preference on Alternators is that I only use 95 amp and above. I never have any problems.

Does anyone have any helpfull links to get me through this?

Is it almost a sure thing that the old generator brackets won't work?

Do you have a picture of your mounting hardware for the generator? I can tell you if you need to get a new bracket or not. The bracket that holds the alternator can be found at a salvage yard, they are quite common. They just bolt to the engine by a couple bolts, very basic and simple, you may just have to by a different size belt for it to work properly. :cool:

8) Does his engine have the holes in the head for alt. to mount to?

PaPa John

I just had someone come over and tell me I already had an alternator. I was under the impression that an alternator had the regulator on it and that was the difference between the two. Even more confused than ever now! Is it possible to have an alternator with an external regulator?

I'll get pics of what you guys want to see, tomorrow.

Thanks guys!

In 1966 you will have a black metal box mounted on the firewall to the left of the brake booster/master cylinder with a large flat connector plugged into the side of the base This is your external voltage regulator. I don't remember the year that the regulator became internal, but for 66 you'll have an alternator with an external regulator. Almost any good parts store can fix you up with everything.

Took the alternator (that's right it's an alternator) in and had it tested. It passed so I assume it's the voltage regulator. I'll be installing it today. Funny how you learn something new everyday. I didn't even know there was such a thing as an alternator with an external voltage regulator. Oh well!

We'll see if this fixes the problem.

Thanks everyone for your help! :D

8) Yes! Back in the OLD, OLD days. But I would'nt remember that! ;)

PaPa John

8) Yes! Back in the OLD, OLD days. But I would'nt remember that! ;)

PaPa John

I found your extra "OLD". Here you go! OLD, OLD, OLD days. :P

From Wikipedia:
The availability of low-cost solid-state diodes from about 1960 allowed auto manufacturers to substitute alternators for generators.

Ok, here's the latest! :evil:

- Had auto parts test old voltage regulator (tested bad)

- Had auto parts store test alternator (tested good)

- Had auto parts store test a new voltage regulator (tested good)

- Had auto parts store test the new voltage regulator with new condensor (tested bad), but she didn't know if the test was testing the condensor also. The test booklet she was looking at didn't have the condensor hooked up in the picture so keep that in mind. I wonder if testing it with the condensor killed the voltage regulator? Thoughts?

I get home and install the new voltage regulator with new condensor exactly the way it was when I removed it and the GEN light is still on. I unhook the (+) cable from the battery while the truck is running and it shuts off. It's still not charging!!!! :?: I can't figure this out. The charging system on this '66 isn't all that hard to understand right? All there is, is a battery, alternator, voltage regulator and condensor right?

All this came about while I was driving one day. I didn't unhook something or anything like that.

Can anyone explain the wiring for this to me? If you need pics, I'll shoot them ASAP, just let me know! I tried following the wires and didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Is it possible the alternator IS bad and the store tested wrong? Also, I read that a bad alternator will kill the voltage regulator, is that true? I have no problem taking the alternator back out and having it tested, I just want to get this fixed!

Thanks

hi, if you can get the vel. to a good alt,starter,gen. shop and they can test all your parts and fix on the spot. most of the time better then any pasts store. hope this helps.

I had a simular problem with my wife's 70. Luckily for me my local napa carried a wiring harness that allowed me to switch the old style externally regulated alt with the newer style internally regulated alt. Just like that 15min later the elky was up and driving again.

***Latest developments***

Well I opened up the old regulator and found some contacts fused together, probably the reason for the fail when it was tested. I reinstalled the old regulator and manually pushed on the contacts while the car was running and the generator light went off! So this leads me to believe the regulator is not getting a signal right?

Does anyone know where the signal for the regulator comes from? I was looking at a wiring diagram for my '66 and the plug for the regulator has 4 wires.
- 2 wires go to the alternator
- 1 wire goes to the battery
- 1 wire goes to the fuse box

I also looked at the fuse box and the fuse looked good. I'll get under there tomorrow and pull the fuse and clean the contacts. The contacts in the fuse box had a little rust on them.

Any ideas now?

Anyone?

I did more testing today and found that 2 of the wires going to the voltage regulator from the alternator have no juice. I used a test light while the El Camino was running and both wires from the alternator had no juice at the voltage regulator. The other two wires tested good, light cam on. Are these two wires (plug) coming from the alternator the ones that send the signal to the voltage regulator? Like I said in a previous post, I opened up the old voltage regulator and can manually move the contacts to get it to work, the alternator light goes off and the system is charging. The problem seems to be that the voltage regulator isn't getting a signal from the alternator.

I had the alternator tested at an auto parts store and it came back good. Is it possible for the plug (where these two wires plug into the alternator) itself to be bad and still test good?

This electrical stuff is for the birds! I honestly feel like the alternator is bad, but if it tests good then what the hell?

I need some help!

Thanks!