"- - -fitted an alternator to a 101 car?"

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

In AD7-072 Bob McKeown asks "Has any digester out there ever fitted an
alternator to a 101 car? I'd like to put one on my racecar, but there is very
limited room."

In AD1-204 (11/17/'95)- Graham Arlen had asked about fitting an alternator to
HIS 101. Two days later Jim Hayes replied "Not easy. We've had this thread
before. The 101's were all neg ground, I believe, but the problem with a
conversion is no room for a later alternator. I've found a racing alternator I
plan to try in my racecars, but it has a built in regulator and rewiring is an
issue. More as the project develops. Rebuilt the stuff and live with it...."

I added "In the January 1963 issue of Alfa Owner Jim Gradolph wrote a detailed
article on converting a 101 to a Motorola alternator, and in the same issue
Ernie Feleppa wrote about converting to negative ground. It was tight, but
there was room for the alternator and no problem converting to negative
ground..

Simon Favre added "There's no room for any  commonly available alternator
under the hood of a Giulietta Spider. Jim Hayes commented that all 101's were
neg ground. This is NOT the case. My 101 Giulietta Spider came with a Lucas
regulator and generator, and was positive ground. Alfa switched back and forth
between negative and positive ground (Bosch vs. Lucas). We all know that Lucas
electrical systems produce only two things: darkness, and smoke. ;=) I
replaced mine with Bosch.

"There is no need to rewire anything! As Alfa was switching back and forth,
they used instruments that accepted either + or - ground. The starter does not
care, as all starters are actually AC/DC shunt wound, so they always turn the
right way. The only thing that concerned me was the fuel gauge, but it turns
out it does not care either. In fact, at one point I was getting negative
ground out of a Lucas generator just by reversing the battery! I'm not sure
about second hand sources of Bosch Generators, but the regulator is still
available. The Bosch regulator from a Porsche 912 is basically the same as the
Alfa 101 unit, but with different terminals. If you INSIST on rebuilding the
Lucas stuff, check with an Anglophile about sources for the regulator. All the
old British small sports cars used the same basic regulator. The regulator is
nothing more than carefully adjusted relays.

Jim Hayes came back with a strong rebuttal to my input, to the effect that an
alternator is a possiblity with the mild engine tilt of a single carb 101 but
absolutely impossible with a Veloce.  

In my pre-Alfa hot-rodding days I knew of cars which ran generators off the
driveshaft, with the slight inconvenience of having to drop the driveshaft to
change a belt- plus unsprung weight, if at the axle end- plus zip in slow
traffic, not an issue with a transaxle car, but it would ease the space bind. 

Somebody else may have later information, but otherwise Jim Hayes' "Rebuilt
the stuff and live with it...." sounds like reasonable advice.

John

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