Buick newbie here. So my SBB 350 is siezed and I'm going to tear than down one day and rebuild. I swapped in a 350 vortec out of a 96 Tahoe. The chevy alternator has a single brown wire coming off of the connector. If I'm reading the wiring diagrams correctly. I spice that wire to the blue, then cap the white or wire it to straight battery. Does that sound correct? I'm going to repair the main power wire off the original harness and attach that to the vortec alternator as well, seeing as that wire goes to a junction block. I can take pics if needed. TIA
Do you have an internal regulator on your alternator? If you’re running a 10si or 12si, there’s a kit you can use that will plug into the wiring clip on your regulator, then plug the alternator pigtails into the pigtail in the kit. Todd’s diecast on this board sells the kit. If you’re good with wiring you can make your own, however Todd’s kit is plug and play no guess work.
Since I don't know what the brown wire means, it sounds like there will be a bunch of steps here. The original Buick alternator had an external voltage regulator, chances are your Tahoe alternator has an internal voltage regulator. It might be worth Googling "Convert 1968 Buick to single wire alternator", you'll find a bunch of articles pop up. The brown wire color is confusing to me - but maybe means something quite simple (like it's the 1996 version of a red wire or something). -Bob C.
It's out of a 96 tahoe so I'm sure it is internally regulated. It's not a 10 or 12si, unless it's a newer variation. I am good with wiring and have seen the pigtail kit, my alternator is newer than that
I'm colorblind, but according to schematics it's the brown wire. Today i think I found that is also the alternator/charge indicator wire. So I am going to leave the white wire alone and splice the brown to the blue, and cross my fingers LOL
I did a little Google research on the alternator in question here. It looks like the 97 GM alternator is the one with the brown 16ga wire coming off of it. See if this forum post helps: https://www.hotrodders.com/threads/4-prong-gm-alternator-questions.357921/ There is a wiring diagram there. It may give you an idea on how to integrate that alternator to your Buick.
Here's the solution I went with: Spliced the brown wire coming off the alternator to the blue Keeping the factory connector on the harness. Deleted the voltage regulator. Spliced the blue to brown at the regulator connector. Using the 12v hot off the regulator for power to my fuel pump and 4th gear lockup switch in the interior. Thanks for the responses! Glad to see a forum that's still very active!
Yep, we’re still active here I joined a Charger forum awhile back when I was working on a ‘69 Charger at work, pretty dead there
