HELP: 1960 Imperial conversion from generator to alternator

Our generator is shot and we're looking to swap it out for an
alternator. Does anyone make brackets to do this? The generator is
currently mounted off the exhaust manifold.

Any help would be _greatly_ appreciated!

 

Since the mid 90's, by recommendation of the SAE, in the sutomotive
world (U.S. anyway) alternators are now officially called generators.
So your conversion won't accomplish anything - you'd still only have a
generator.

Sorry - I thought it would be funny to say that. But the SAE's
directive is no joke - the manufacturers (most of them anyway) are now
calling what you and I call an alternator a generator.

I hope you find a source for bracket and alternator to use - if I had a
serious answer, I'd give it to you.

Hopefully someone will have some spedific info., but if not, I did a
Google search - maybe these guys can get you pointed in the right direction:

"Certified Auto Electric Inc
225 Northfield Rd
Bedford, OH 44146
United States
440-439-1100
fax: 440-439-2163

www.certifiedautoelectric.com
Monday-Friday 8 am to 5 pm EST. Rebuilding electrical parts for all
makes and models, ie: generators, starters, alternators. Generator to
alternator conversions, 6-volt, 8-volt, 12-volt and 24-volt. Chrome
units available."

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Don't mean to disagree, but I believe that the O.P. is correct.
Chrysler did not switch from generators to alternators until 1961, so
his 1960 Imperial probably does have a generator. I would think that
an alternator and mounting hardware from a later Chrysler vehicle with
the same engine would fit. Just make sure that it does not use the
electronic regulator.

The electronic regulator and the alternator that goes with it has to
be a matched set. I think that electronic setup began use for 1969.

Daniel Stern would have all the answers to this, but I don't believe
that he frequents this N.G. anymore.

-KM

 

What engine (413, I assume)? If so, then you might be able to find
everything you need in a junkyard if you can find a '61 or later
413-powered Mopar. To be honest, I could swear that I remembered 1960 as
being the first year for alternators, but maybe it was 61. At any rate,
any 413 or 440-powered Mopar (the external dimensions of those engines
are the same) should be able to provide you with a bracket set.

 

The mechanical regulator for an alternator is also different than the
mechanical regulator for a generator, so the OP might as well go
whole-hog and get an electronic regulator as well. Electronic
replacement regulators are available for the pre-1970 "one wire"
alternators that originally had mechanical regulators, and of course the
70-up alternators always had electronic regulators. The mounting
brackets for both generations of alternator are the same, only 1 wire is
different between the electronic and pre-electronic types.

 

Bob Hoffmeister's IMPERIAL HEAVEN Salvage Yard
Box 23 Route 2 St.
Edwards, NE
68660
402-678-2635

You can find everything you want to know and more about your Imperial
at www.imperialclub.com. Also have a 700 member mailing list with
lots of folks that have cars from our era (I have a '59)

Steve B.

 

You misunderstood what I was saying, but I can see how you might have
read it like you did.

My first paragraph was tongue-in-cheek - an attempt at a joke. I know
he has what you and I call a generator. The joke was that since what
you and I call an alternator is now officially called a generator, then
if he switched to what we call an alternator, he'd still only have - by
the new terminology - a generator. Truly the two are different
devices, but if they are both called generators, doesn't that make them
the same? (No - and that's the joke - maybe not a very good joke, but a
joke nonetheless.) I wonder if anybody got it.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

yeah, i got it... lol

 

You're right. I still hear lots of people continue to call them
(alternators) generators. Just like coil packs are still called
distributors, even though they are very different compared to the
device that they replaced. I have even heard a throttle body referred
to as a carburator.

-KM

 

And valve lash adjusters, out of habit are often incorrectly called
valve lifters.

Regarding alternators being called generators, my point there was that
they are now officially called generators per SAE direction. And
technically there is nothing wrong with calling them that. After all -
they do generate, and in that regard are no less (nor no more)
generators than what you and I used to call generators (as distinguished
from the term "alternator").

If you think about it, if a coil pack does direct (distribute)
electrical energy to the correct plug at the correct time, why would it
be incorrect to call it a "distributor"? An electronic distributor (no
moving parts) is no less a distributor, in the basic semantic sense,
than the traditional (rotating mechanical) distributor.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

There's a big difference: Alternator is a technically correct term for
the device, even if the standard terminology is less specific. An
alternator is a sub-class of generator that produces electricity by
rectifing AC current to DC. A dynamo is also a gnerator, but of a
fundamentally different type. "Alternator" is to "genarator" as "coupe"
is to "car."

In contrast, calling a throttle body a carb or a coil pack a distributor
is just..... wrong.