A customer recently sent me what was represented as an NOS '67 CC alternator. It was purchased from a well-known NOS supplier for some pretty good money. When it arrived, and after spending just a few minutes looking it over, I had to make one of those phone calls the customer never wants to get. It was not only not an NOS unit, but had been rebuilt at least once, possibly twice, before being sold to the sender. To make matters worse, it had a crack in the rear housing that's not repairable. I thought I'd use this unfortunate experience to share a little information conc. original CC alternators (excluding the HD Leece-Neville units):
1. All pre 72 alternators were the round back style. 60 - 69 were single field (one field connector) with 70 and 71 roundbacks having two field connections.
2. All pre 72 CC alternators had a rear shell "raised rib" rotor bearing made by Torrington or Bremen.
3. All had code dates and part numbers stamped on the rectifiers in red(+) and black(-) ink. Most common were the Motorola manufactured diodes - large M stamped in the diode center - for 68 thru 71 model years. I have seen one other manufacturer's logo on diodes.
4. All pre 72 had black cloth wire insulation on the stator to rectifier leads.
5. All originals I have seen had a CC 7 digit part number stamped into the pulley hub face along with either an "S" or "P".
6. The only numbers actually stamped into the case were found on the rear shell and consisted of a three digit QA number ex. 2-4-1, CC part number ex. 3438178, and a three or four digit assembly date ex. 34 69. No other stamped numbers should be on the case or shell. There are date code "clocks" molded into the front and rear shells.
I am just trying to save somebody who might be looking into a future purchase from major disappointment. Hope this helps and be careful out there!

70RT--thanks for the info. Can you tell me what applications used the sguare back with the wide space (approx 1/2 inch of stator showing)vs the squareback whose two case halves almost touch?

It would be even more helpful if the suppliers name were mentioned

I see these purported NOS alternators pop up often on ebag. It stretches the (well at least my) imagination to believe that this number of NOS alternators have survived 40yrs.

Honestly, do not have enough experience with 72 and later squarebacks to provide any usefull info on the rear shell differences.
Scott,the buyer and seller are trying to get the situation resolved. I'll leave it to him to post here if he feels it's warranted. I will say it's one of the "big boys."
E-bag CC alternator descriptions are frightening indeed!

I think NOS is starting to mean "New Or Similar" to many sellers.

Darren

Saw this bad boy on a car at Russo Steele over the weekend, don't see many like this one installed on cars there days, it's thre real deal, probably NOS when installed on the car (1970 440+6 Challenger).

2

3

Like this one?

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..

Mine doesn't have a part number on the pulley anywhere I can see.
Is that cosmoline on the internals?

NOS = Nasty Old S - well you get the idea.

Good info. I have a late 67 unit, reads the letters "KCP" within an oval, stamped on the front cover. Any significance?

I have seen two different manufacturer's initials on the alternator cases, KCP and NW. Would like to hear from anyone on the board if you know what
companies either of these stood for. The internal rotor coating and exterior finish seen on the stator are a tinted electrical varnish. I couldn't find any domestic source and had to create my own to get the correct tint on our restorations. Other things to note which are unique to the NoS examples above:
1. Tan colored brush holder (horizontal brush only). Tan colored insulator between capacitor hardware and rear shell.
2. Brushes are crudely phosphated/and or dichromate finished at the electrical connection point.
3. Red/Orange amperage ID paint is apparently applied before the case assembly takes place. I have never seen any evidence of paint on the stator but have found traces on the backside of the capacitor insulator and mica shield. Also if you look closely some of the numbers stamped into the rear shell you'll see they are done after the orange paint was applied. I have found a couple of NOS rotors with yellow (30 amp) or orange (37 amp) paint on the pully shaft face. It appears to be a trace on the above in Butterscotch71s last NOS pic. Look closely inside the pulley hub at roughly the 11 to 1 O'clock area? Maybe it made it easier to get the correct amperage rotor with the correct part numbered alternator.
4. Most CC NOS alternators (69-71)show some type of very light lime green coating on the alternator shells and some of the hardware. Still working with a commercial chemical plating supplier on getting that tint reproduced.

The only guy who sells those type of alternators for big $$$'s is Frank Mitchell. On eBay they are buy it now for 495.00, they all are dated 41 69.

I bought mine from Frank Badalson.

Dwight, he must have dropped the price 500 bucks 'cause last week his NOS 3438172 (37 amp) code dated early Jan 70 unit was BIN for $995!

Hey, Thanks.

Did some other digging late last night, and found this, some is a rehash of the above insights;

"Alternator History

Chrysler first introduced the alternator in the 1960 model year. Due to the increased electrical loads on the charging system the old generator could no longer provide enough amperage (electrical volume) to operate all of the electrical components on the car. An alternator is a three phase AC (alternating current) generator which uses three positive and three negative diodes to convert the AC voltage to usable DC (direct current) voltage. All six diodes are a can type that was pressed into an aluminum frame. Diodes produce a fair amount of heat as current is passed through them and the aluminum frame made for an excellent heat sink to dissipate this heat. Heat and vibration is the worst enemy of any electrical component. The three negative diodes, identified by their black lettering, are pressed directly into the alternator rear frame. The three positive diodes, with red lettering are pressed into a separate frame which is attached to the rear frame with the output battery stud and a thin mica insulator keeping the two separate electrically.

The first alternators used on Chrysler products was made by a company called Essex. The Essex brand Chrysler alternator can be identified by the wide spacing of the fins on the front and rear frames and will also have the Essex symbol cast into both of the frames. For the 1963 model year Essex continued to make the alternators for Chrysler, however they added more fins to the frames to give it added strength. Essex also produced the first mechanical voltage regulators for Chrysler and had the Essex symbol stamped into the metal case of the voltage regulator too. These were all single field, "B" circuit alternators. By 1964 Chrysler was ready to manufacture their own alternators which looked like the Essex brand but no longer carried the Essex symbol that was cast into the frames. These were produced in 37, 46, and 60 amp versions and all looked the same on the outside. Chrysler still retained the same "B" circuit, single field wiring design through the 1969 model year. In 1970 electronics were starting to come into their own and we started to see the electronic voltage regulator. When Chrysler went to the electronic voltage regulator the wiring design changed from the single field "B" circuit to the double field "A" circuit, which now had two field terminals on the back of the alternator. The frame design stayed the same and another terminal was added for the second field. This style alternator stayed in production through the 1971 model year. For 1972 Chrysler redesigned the alternator. The front frame stayed the same, but the rear frame changed considerably. Instead of the can type pressed-in diodes used in the earlier alternators, they now had a positive rectifier and a negative rectifier each containing the three diodes. These were bolted to the rear frame as two separate assemblies which made a common electrical connection that the stator windings also connected to. This style of alternator greatly improved the repair aspect as no soldering was needed to join all of the diodes and stator windings.

Alternator Date Code Markings
Now on to the markings of the Chrysler alternator. As you know Chrysler went to great pains to mark and identify almost every part that went into the creation of all their cars. The alternator was no exception. Both the front and rear frame had a "pie" casting date cast into the frame when it was made. This was divided into twelve sections each representing a month of the year with the year cast into the center of the pie. Each section of the pie had raised dots identifying the week of the month that the frame was cast. Three dots in the third section of a pie with a "69" in the center would mean the frame was cast in the third week of March 1969. The front and rear frames on any particular alternator may or may not have identical casting dates. They could vary by several weeks or even months. At the time the alternator was then assembled, the date code was stamped on the pad above the battery terminal just below the part number which was also stamped into the rear frame. This was a three or four digit code with a space between the first or second digit and the third digit. The first and/or second number was the week and the last two digits was the year that the alternator was assembled. A date of "1 68" would mean the alternator was assembled the first week of January in 1968. A date of "42 68" would be the second week of October 1968 and would be used on a 1969 model year car, since the new model years began in the fall of the previous year.

On a correctly coded alternator the assembly date must be later than the casting dates of both the front and rear frames and earlier than the build date of you car. The bottom of the diodes also had identifying numbers printed on them. Most of the diodes were manufactured by Motorola for Chrysler. Some had the Motorola symbol, which was the letter "M" inside of a circle, printed in the center of the diode. Around the outer edge of the diode was the Chrysler part number and the manufactured date of the diode. The date code on the diode was also a four digit date of which the first two numbers designated the week of the year and the last two the year, similar to the assembly date of the alternator except that there was no space between the numbers. These dates must also be earlier than the assembly date stamped on the alternator, but not always earlier than the casting dates on the frames. Chrysler also attached a red warning tag to one of the field terminal spade connectors on the back of the alternator. It read "WARNING DISCONNECT REGULATOR BEFORE TROUBLESHOOTING". This was put on the alternator because when repairing the charging system even an intermittent grounding of the field wire would burn out the voltage regulator."

website:


http://www.fullsizechryslers.com/site/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=35

I bought the one in the photos many years ago from Bill Rolik...before ebay and moparts, back when Hemmings was the best way to find stuff.

Here are a couple pics of the alt on my 70 Coronet. Still has the warning tag on back. Cant read the numbers in this pic but you can get the idea.

from the front

Anyone have a picture of the warning label?? This is a topic I have never seen disccused here.

I will see if I can grab a pic of mine tonight.

Is it the red tag? I bought a repro of those from Y1 years ago.

Per Frank Badalson - tags were for over-the-counter replacements only. He says he has never found one on a factory original/survivor car alternator. Would like to hear different opinions.