John,
I suspect you will get many opinions on this topic. There are many
different routes you can take. I will outline the one that I took.
When I purchased my car I too had the ignition light that was lit. I
cant recall if it got brighter or dimmer or stayed the same under load.
I did take mine to my local NAPA store and they confirmed that the
alt. was bad. I decided on a GM replacement. I wasnt concerned with
authenticity. There are no concours competitions for my car. Part of
my decision to bypass the stock Lucas alternator was the price. The GM
alt, even with the added core charge was cheaper than a new or rebuilt
stock Lucas. I also wanted to increase the output. I have a modern
stereo with no additional amps, halogen headlights and not much else.
It is nice to be able to run everything on the car and have the alt.
keep up. I figured out a way to mount the alt so I didnt need to
modify the GM alt. from its stock appearance. If this is something you
might be interested in then let me know and I can email you a copy of
the write-up I did for the installation.
Cheers,
Aaron
Aaron Cropley
71 TR6 (Throttle Body Injection!)
http://www.triumphowners.com/108
Topsham, Maine
-----Original Message-----
From: John VanNorman <jvannorman@wowway.com>
To: 6pack <6pack@autox.team.net>
Sent: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 22:02:15 -0500
Subject: Rebuilt Lucas alternator or upgrade?
Just wondering what opinion others have. I believe that my
alternator on my 74
1/2 TR6 is dying out on me (ignition
light glows ever so dimly under normal use, brighter when there is a
heavier
electrical load - i.e., lights, fan, turn
signals, etc. on - with a corresponding dip on the voltmeter). I need
to take
it to have it tested (and if anyone has
any thoughts on what the problem might be, feel free to share them),
but if it
does turn out to be a problem with the
alternator, should I purchase a rebuilt Lucas or should I go with the
Bosch/Delco route? Part of me thinks that the
increased output on the Bosch or Delco would be good. But in terms of
added
electrical load, the only things that I
know that I will be adding in the future are the Pertronix ignition
conversion
(with new ignition coil), a basic car
stereo (i.e., no external amp), and maybe halogen lamp kits.
Since I'm a relative newbie (although learning fast thanks to you
guys), the
rebuilt Lucas is attractive if only for the
ease in replacing the unit with the minimum amount of potential
problems.
Likewise, if I upgrade, based on what I have
read in the 6-pack archives, the Bosch route seems to be more
attractive since
it appears it is the easier of the two to
fit to the TR6.
John V.
1974 1/2 TR6
CF28149
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