generator or alternator?

[66mk1a]

new here…putting together a 66 tiger..do most of tiger owners keep the antique generator system or go to an alternator?…also,what is the interechange of the org generator,looks like a 56-64 ford V8 unit to me..same?

[dtjohnson]

Go to TigersUnited.com and look in the electrical section.
There’s more involved that just swapping the units.
For one thing, the brackets are different. The regulator
is different, etc.

Generators worked fine in cars for decades, but are
heavy compared to an aletranator.

Dave

[fast-tiger]

I went a one wire Alt. set up, the reg that turns it into one wire bolts to the back of the alt. If interested I will find the numbers for it.

[Gilles Blais]

The generator works very well. I just learned that new control boxes for my generator have to be polarized in order to work. I did not know that. Can these units become de-polarized if someone runs for too long with a dead battery?

Cheers, Gilles

[Bud & Donna Elliott]

I copied this off of the internet. Very interesting. My car had been sitting for 15 years when I bought it. One of the current issues is that the generator is not charging. Guess I’ll have to take a whack at polarizing the thing and see if that takes care or it.

“Polarization is a procedure which matches the polarity for the generator and the voltage regulator. The majority of the vehicles are manufactured negative ground although some of the older vehicles were manufactured positive ground. The generator has to be set up for either polarity. The generator will charge either way, however the voltage regulator has only one polarity. Whenever the battery is disconnected from the vehicle for any reason the polarization procedure should be performed.
The recommendation on how to polarize a charging system is the following: After the installation of a battery, generator or voltage regulator follow these procedures. The terminals on the voltage regulator are labeled with letters and this is where you will do the polarizing procedure. Both of the components will have battery power so do not start the vehicle or turn on the ignition switch before polarizing them. You will need a small piece of wire fourteen or sixteen gauge with alligator clips on the ends. Find the “B” terminal on the regulator and attach one of the alligator clips, find the “D” terminal and touch the terminal with the other alligator clip. You can touch the terminals a few times and it will produce a soft light spark. Under no circumstances touch the “F” terminal or any other part of the regulator or you could damage the regulator.
Start the vehicle and you should see the red generator light go off on the instrument panel, you may have to rev the engine up a few RPM, generators have a tendency not to charge at idle speed. If you have a gauge on the instrument panel the gauge will respond accordingly.”

[Gilles Blais]

Very good! The Motorcraft regulator I just bought was in stock at a Ford location somewhere in the US. It is called one GR-268, C3TZ-10505-B Regulator. Unlike the Mexican currently listed replacement, it comes with instructions:
Polarize Regulator- Caution: Follow these instructions exactly.
*Disconnect the wire at the regulator terminal marked FLD.
*Momentarily (no longer than 2 seconds) touch the wire to the BAT terminal. There may be a brief spark; this is normal.
*Reconnect the wire to the field (FLD) terminal.
*Start the vehicle and check charging for proper operation.

With the original and the Mexican units my Ammeter was showing a continuous positive flow of about 15 Amps. The new Motorcraft unit immediately settled at neutral after the engine was fired up.

I learned something.

Cheers, Gilles

[Author]

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