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Alternate Alternator

thill35803

Platinum Level Sponsor
Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share my alternator experience with the group.

I have SV with a Holbay head and the stainless header from Sunbeam Specialties. I have an electric fan and an aftermarket radio.

I replaced the stock alternator long ago with a Hitachi. Recently I noticed a 700 milliamp draw when the key was off that I traced to the alternator. When I disconnected the sensing wire the draw went away. This apparently is a symptom of a diode failure in the alternator.

I couldn't recall the details of my alternator conversion so I checked the forum and found the standard 14231 alternator threads and ordered one up. When I received the new alternator and started the swap, I noticed the alternator on the car was larger. I did some further checking and determined I had swapped a 14185 alternator in back in the day.

The 14231 is a 35 amp alternator and the 14185 is available in 50 and 60 amp model. As you can see from the pictures, the 14185 is slightly larger. It fits my car fine and clears the headers with no issue. I did fabricate a tensioning strap when I did the swap originally. The wiring is exactly the same as the 14231.

The 14185 alternator fits the 81-86 Nissan 720 pickup among other Nissan models.

IMG_4492.jpg IMG_4493.jpg IMG_4494.jpg
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
Tom, I think noticed a condenser on the back side of the larger Alt....did it come that way or you added it?
 

sunalp

Diamond Level Sponsor
Interesting. Good to know there's a larger version! I noticed the condenser looking thing as well.
What does that do?
 

thill35803

Platinum Level Sponsor
The condenser is there for noise suppression. The alternator I replaced had one as well. The smaller alternator doesn't have one.
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
But you did add it? Couldn't figure why the new one came with it this day and time.
 

thill35803

Platinum Level Sponsor
But you did add it? Couldn't figure why the new one came with it this day and time.

I did not add it. There was one both the larger alternators, the one I replaced and the new one. There was not a condenser on the smaller alternator.

I have two theories.
Number One - The higher the output of an alternator, the more electrical noise it makes and the noise gets bad enough to create static on the radio.
Number Two - The larger alternator is used on later model cars and they electronics that were sensitive to noise.
 
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