1965 Coronet alternator upgrade

Las year I installed fuel injection and electric fuel pump in my'65 Coronet. Still running the old original 318 alternator. It is time for an upgrade. What would be my best option? I still have an operating ammeter gauge and the wiring harness the car was born with. I am not much of an electrical genius, so please keep that in mind.

Thanks,
nd65
nd.neal@gmail.com

You can use a bracket kit to install a 60 amp Denso alternator from a late model Toyota 4Runner. The Toyota alternator will give you more amps when you need them and it will charge at idle.

https://www.manciniracing.com/maenalbr.html

Any of the 70's dual field terminal alts would be an upgrade & either ground one of the field terminals if you are still useing the electromechanical "box" type reg (not recommended) or electronic "box" copy of it (OK) or if you are useing the "flat" OE 70's electronic reg then you would wire it up like normal. if you do still have the OE electromechanical box reg I would highly suggest tossing it & getting an electronic replacement (either the aftermarket box or the std OE flat one) & likely the alt will be a dual pulley so slight fore/aft adjustments will be needed but no big deal. & keep in mind that a single field terminal (early) alt will not work with the later (70's) OE "flat" reg unless you unground the grounded field terminal in the alt which you probably don't want to get into. If you needed more alt capacity than that, the Denso Andy mentioned would be a significant upgrade & it gets good reviews.

the cheapest way is to use the factory 78 amp mbody alt from any parts house.
you need the 10 dollar gm chrome swing arm they sell and it will bolt right in.
ground 1 field wire and use the single field vr and wire that to the other wire.

I would still recommend the amp meter and bulkhead bypass, but it should still work without it.
And check the sensing line voltage or wire up a relay. there was a thread on this a few days or a week back.

If you want a factory square back type of alternator just shoot me a PM. I have 3 or 4 of them sitting on the shelf. I usually try to sell them for $20 each at swap meets but rarely get any takers.

The Mancini link for the Denso shows the bracket kit for small block and Magnum engines. Will this work for an RB? How tough to wire it?

I do have the electronic box type VR.

The Mbody 78 amp sounds like an easy swap.

Thanks for the replies.

Mancini has mounting brackets for big blocks also. The late model Mopar alternator is probably the easiest swap if you have the correct brackets. The Mopar alternator wires up the same way as the original while the Denso alternator requires some minor mods to the harness. I stopped using the Mopar alternators years ago though because they don't provide much output at idle.

I did some searching on the net, and folks seem to like the Denso swap. I am going that route.

ARE seems to have this sorted out (thanks Andy). I will be back when I get my components and ready to wire it. I will also do the ammeter bypass.

nd65
nd.neal@gmail.com

You can buy complete Denso swap kits from 440Source or Mancini Racing. You can also buy the Denso 210-0106 alternator from Summit or get it off Amazon or ebay. Or you can go to a local wrecking yard and look for a Toyota 4Runner. They are getting harder to find these days so depending on your local yards that might not work. If you go to a wrecking yard you're looking for a 1985 to 1991 4Runner with a L4 engine so that might be hard to find. Rock Auto has the alternators for sale but I don't think their price is any lower than Summit or 440Source.

Ordered the mounting kit from Mancini. Going to get the alternator from a local Oreilly with the lifetime warranty. I can get a discount there.

Thanks Andy.

That works. I also offer a pigtail harness for the alternator which might make wiring easier for you. AR016 is the part number. It isn't anything I make special so you might find the same pigtail at your local auto parts store. Or you can just use spade terminals to connect to the alternator but the pigtail is probably a little safer.

how is that alternator regulated?

Andy, I did find a pigtail.

05dakota, the Denso is internally regulated.

I am finally installing the Denso alternator. Couple questions.

I need a 12 volt ignition switch source for the Denso green wire. Where is the easiest place to get this on my '65? There is 1 green alternator wire on my car. Can it be used or tape it off and hide it?

The voltage regulator goes away. Any clean, safe ways to deal with those wires and not hack up my harness?

Always interested to see what you guys do.

Thanks,
nd65

nd.neal@gmail.com

The blue wire on the original regulator is keyed 12V, once you eliminate the original regulator there will be no power at the green wire so no need to insulate it.

Thanks John.

As John said you can run the blue wire that was on the "ign" terminal on the reg down to the alt or you could aesthetically splice the blue and green wires together at the reg (bypassing the reg) then connect the downstream end of the green wire to the Denso field terminal, whichever works best for you.

Good suggestion Robert. Gonna do that.

As always, you guys rock. Thanks!

Thanks to all that offered advise. Got it done.

My son just bought this Power Master 100 amp one wire alt for $160. He bought it right of the internet and it looks just like the stock Mopar alt. It works great as its a 100 amp alt and we love that it looks like the older alt that all the Mopar muscle cars used. Don't need any extra brackets as it mounts right in the stock location with the stock brackets. And it uses an internal regulator and is just one wire for it. Just hook up the right size output wire and go ! Ron

Ron, at lower RPM's is its output good?

That's more the 80s Mopar alt look than 60s and 70s. It's a hair wider which depending on year and block and AC or not can be a problem to fit being tight, but easy to solve.

And actually I don't think uses an internal regulator really but a mounted on unit.

Yes its great as his battery was a little low and at first it was putting out 45 amps idling until the battery charged up some. Then it dropped to right around 10 amps idling. I load tested it at idle by loading the battery with a carbon pile and it would easily put out over 80 amps at idle. Ron

Nope its not mounted on the alt as I would know that in an instant. Ah I can surely tell if it had a reg mounted on it as I know them alt very well and am not that dumb.
And it looks very much like the 60 and 70's alt on the car. Only real difference is it does not have pressed in diodes but you cant tell that on the car without looking real close. I know the Mopar electrical system pretty well since I was a Dodge tech for 24 years and have worked with Mopar electrical systems since the 70's and believe me the reg is internal and inside the case. I have seen the ones with the external mounted regulator and did not care for them. No problem fitting it as I used the same alt stock shim on the through bolt and it fit just like the stock unit. As far as I can tell its the same size as a stock alt for where it bolts on the eng. Ron