Alternator advice please!

[Pete Arnold]

I acquired this alternator in a box of bits when I purchased my MkI Vitesse.  As I am intending to convert the car from dynamo to alternator I wonder whether it is worth considering using this alternator for the car, although before doing so I would have to get it checked out electrically.

Hopefully from my photos you can see that it is labelled "Lucas LRA444 Made in England" although the rear end is embossed "AC Delco Made in France"!  There are a pair of screw type connections marked for + & - and a spade connector marked D+.

My initial reaction is that the mounting points look nothing like correct for a Vitesse, so . . . .

What vehicle was it fitted to?  What is its output?  Is it worth trying to use it?  What brackets, and from whom, would I need?  Basically any advice welcome - even if the reply is "bin it"!!!!   :-/

[steve hudson]

Pete, the alternator you have was manufactured week 18 in 1995, and is for (according to the web) Vauxhall Astra mk2 and is 55AMP, the bracketry would be specific for the car, most alternators used on our cars would have atandard brackets for fitting to every car of the era, thay were only handed by Lucas  by having tapped holes on on side, universal brackets for after market had clearance holes on the front bracket to enable bolts to be fitted. if you can get the alternator to fit physically then it should be ok providing the pulley overhang is in line with the other pulleys on the engine, the diameter of the pulley will give the correct speed at idling to enable the rotor to get excited and start providing charge at tickover. the other thing to look out for is the connectios which can vary, ie leyland used the 2 large and 1 small lucars as std and ford studs. but these can be used as long as the wiring is done correctly.

Steve

[Pete Lewis]

its a delco solid lug unit reconditions by lucas hence the LR prefix.

for simplicity of fit,   you really need a Lucas 17ACR style with a pair of lugs then you can use the solid vitesse dynamo bracket ,
on lug mounts its important to not clamp the rear lug as this has a sliding tube bush fitted this allows heat expansion, if the rear lug is solid it will quickly get fractured .

Pete

[Dazman1360]

One thing I'd add if you fit this unit is that the cable from your current Dynamo set-up is unlikely to be rated to carry 55amps, so run an additional cable from the alternator back to the hot side of the starter solenoid or +ive terminal of the battery.

[Josh]

im just in the process of doing the same to my 13/60, from what i understand any alternator will work its just a case of making some brackets to fit the original mountings and then the beautiful job of wiring it all up! i spoke to jigsaw not to long ago and they promised to send me a diagram of the wiring set up needed to wire it all up, however they never got back to me. i will be keeping a keen eye on this to see if i can get any tips for the wiring!!

[Pete Lewis]

best to run a stout cable from the main output blade to the solenoid and scarp the orig harness.  but retain the warning lamp (small )

if keeping the orig wires ...
in simple terms the 30 amp lucar from the dynamo goes to the equivalent one on the alternator, the smaller 17amp lucar from the dynamo goes to the smaller on the alt,

at the control box join all 3   30 amp lucar brown cables together

join the two 17 amp wires together , this will feed the warning lamp,  

discard the black earth   as not required

but this way  the wire capacity is limited.