138 Alternator

[sponge_designs]

Howdy,

Im part way through restoring/modifying an EJ, yes I know its not a FB-EK but I'm keeping the 138 Grey in it and frankly this is the first descent webpage/forum I have come across.

I want to ditch the generator of the grey and fit an alternator in its place. Does anyone have experience in doing such a conversion?

Cheers,
Matt

[Trev]

Welcome Matt, I have done this, if you give me a couple of days I'll get some pics of how.
Where are you from? Any pics of your car? EJ's are most welcome here, I think they have more in common (running gear wise) with our model than the EH's, Trev .

[sponge_designs]

Hi Trev,

Sorry its taken so long to reply.

Any info/pictures you can post would be fantastic!

Well the short version of the long story goes something like this...Mum and Dad bought me a 1963 EJ Special sedan when I was 14, Im now 28! We did a good 18-24 months work on it and then the folks bought a farm up in Northern Vic. I did my last two years of high school, moved down to Melbourne for Uni, started working full time and all the while the car sat in the shed collecting dust. I have just recently returned from living overseas and we thought it was high time we gave it a nudge after a 12 year absence!

Quick run down of whats been done...
All four floor pans and transmission tunnel replaced with the addition of; seat belt anchor points and seat rails points for VN Commodore bucket seats
Underbody has been stripped and sprayed
Engine bay stripped and sprayed

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Front end stripped, rebuilt and sprayed

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Gearbox stripped, rebuilt and sprayed
Engine has had the addition of an alloy rocker cover, twin carb manifold and extractors
Rear seat and door trims re-upholstered to match grey VN Commodoer bucket seats

Were currently tackling a few areas...

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Rear body work including replacing the beaver panel
Rebuilding the diff and replacing rear suspension and bushes and rubbers

Its a nice feeling when stuff is coming off the shed floor and going back on the car. Fingers crossed its not another 12 years before its back on the road!

Cheers,
Matt

[Sputzwagon]

Nothing wrong with EJ's here Matt
As for an Alternator & bracketing on a Grey it's pretty straightforward.
Get yourself hold of a 'Regulated Alternator' out of a later model Holden (think mine was out of an HK-HQ model? ).
You can then get rid of the regulator box off the firewall and give it to someone who still uses them (you'll never need it again ) ,as for wiring its just the same as on the generator (without the extra length going to the regulator box..er..just remembered that you still need to earth the earth wire that went to the regulator box back to the screw on the firewall ).
As for making the bolting bit's onto the engine block..you pretty much can make it out of whats lying around the shed in bolt & tube 'spares'.

Once you have an Alternator you'll never again have to stuff around with the regulator 'points' ..YAY

Scotty.

[sponge_designs]

Thanks for the info Scotty.

There are a couple of alternators lying around the shed, just have to make sure the cooling fins are pointing in the right direction!

Cheers,
Matt

[OLDN64EH]

Hey guys...

Just to clarify some point from the discussion...

An alternator from a late model red 202 will do the trick ? 35 amp onwards ? I'm looking to do the same conversion to the missus' EK Special.

Brackets will be the problem. And the wiring. Although I'm sure the explanations are simple enough, I'm an extremely simple person. So I can get rid of the regulator box altogether ? And just earth the alternator to the firewall ?? Can it just be earthed to the block ?

Again, sorry for sounding simple, but this is new territory for me. EK is a little before my time (born in 1980) and my EH has a 202 in it which makes my 64 ute a LOT simpler than the EK...

Thanks again boys.

[Trev]

Here is the only pic I can find of mine.
I used some 5mm thick rhs to cut a bracket to mount to the original spot on the block then drilled and bolted the red bracket to that, this however was a week point (having 2 holes drilled in a bracket of that size), so I ended up getting another red motor alternator bracket and having that welded to the rhs, much stronger now .


Sorry can't help with wiring, me not that good with electrickery , Trev .

[EKjimmy]

Bracketry just comes down to what you can come up with. it's usually a matter of adapting/making something that will bolt to the block and the red motor alt bracket. You don't need to run the old bosch regulator provided the alternator you adapt has a built in one (pretty sure its the little black box on the back of the alt.).
On the back of my alternator (a 1st gen v8 commodore i THINK) there is a little black plastic bit with two terminal prongs poking out.
One goes to GEN light on the dash, the other goes to a terminal bolt (also on back of alternator) , which also has the positive wire connected which runs to the battery.
Alternators with internal regulators like the one i have are self grounding....unless mine is magic


This may help
http://holdenpaedia.oldholden.com/Gener ... Conversion

Hope this helps.
Jimmy

[Aussy Edo]

Hi guys,ime lookin at doin the same thing,thought there might be a alternator bracket kit for the 138 grey but doesnt sound like it,I guess ile be making one too,cheerz
Edo

[Aussy Edo]

Hey Trev,that RHS looks like a pretty neat fit what size is that mate?,
EDO

[Trev]

I ended up getting another red motor alternator bracket and having that welded to the rhs, much stronger now .

This (pic) was a pretty weak set-up, ended up braking where the 2 bolts went through, so I used a red motor bracket welded to the RHS, which is 100mm wide x 5mm thick.