I've been running stock alternators and external voltage regulator on my 69 Sportwagon 400 forever...even had a lifetime warranty on them and kept it all in good shape. Well, couple months now I noticed the headlights getting dimmer and battery not turning the car over as good. Old components are maybe only 2 or 3 years old and going out again, so I decided it was time to upgrade. I went with a 100 amp 12si lifetime warranty from Autozone and rewired it myself. In the process I found a half melted ignition wire from the POS Puketronix it used to have, so I replaced that too. Immediately noticed after the swap all lights are brighter and car starts up strong again. Total cost was about $75, totally worth it. Will never run a stock setup again... Also noticed the 2 year old lifetime warranty alternator had bad bearings when I took it out too...awesome quality on them reman units!
Do you think the repaired wire or the new alternator improved the situation? What was involved and what is a 12si alternator normally found on?
I've ran a ~95-105 amp SI alternators for a while on my EFI converted Skylark (came with a 65amp SI) with more electronic gizmo's, but I experienced the higher output ones seemed to have a durability/longevity issue, at least with all the electronic's I run. Last year I switched to a CS140 alternator and haven't looked back. They work way better at idle than the SI units and then have even more amps available up top. IMO, you can never have too much power! Especially at idle. Just food for thought. The higher amp SI units are usually found on around ~'87 Chevy Caprice's, with heated rear window's. +/- a few years if that doesn't bring one up. I'm an Autozone guy for parts like these.
Yeah I wanted the CS too, but almost double the price. The wire I repaired was the distributor power wire, it was still making connection, just had some burned spots on the shielding. To run the 12si, there's a writeup here: http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/alternat.htm Bought the 12si plug for $5 at Autozone, then unplugged regulator, jumped the two outer wires together with male spade terminals, then hooked the orig. Blue wire to #1 on alternator, #2 wire went to batt terminal along with original battery wire. Had to grind a little off the rear of the alternator and swap the pulleys and that was it. If this one gives me problem, will look into the CS alternator.
