i bought my firebird a few weeks ago it needs quite a few things and i recently started getting more and more of these things together for the engine. i noticed that the pulley system is no longer a serpentine system. its a v belt set up from a 76 chevy pick up. i figured it be best to do an older alternator anyway so i dont have to worry about matching up pulleys. i bought a alternator from a 76 camaro 350 z28 and its a one wire. i seen this swap on here else where but i cant seem to find it.

anyway i know there are a ton of threads for this but i need a fast response because i dont feel like going through a million pages when half of the results are not relevant. how do i do the one wire alternator swap? i know that the positive cables goes to the + now where do i run my regulator? i bought the pigtail i needed but i dont know what to do with my three ones on the old regulator considering i now have just two wires. can someone please tell me where to run these other wires? thanks so much

 

If it is a one wire then that is all you need. That is why it is a one wire. All I can say is your going from a stock 105 amp to about a 63 amp alternator buy putting an older 10si unit on there. I would keep an eye out for someone selling a complete tbi engine and swap everything back out. V belts suck imo compared to serps.

 

Why changing alt - something wrong with the current one? If the new one is 63A, it won't have the capacity to run the tbi, elec fans etc you have, that weren't on the '76.

You can get 100 + amp one-wires easy from ebay, Summit, Jegs, wherever, chromed if u want. Just bolt em' on and 1 big positive cable to the batt, that's it. Ignore the current regulator connector, just tie it out if the way somewhere.

You will lose your idiot light this way, but as far as I've seem the one-wire types do have provision to hook it back up stock-style if you want with a bit of splicing maybe - though this obviates the simplicity of the one-wire connect.

 

I bought the car as is, which basically ment half assed and no alternator or battery and on top of that 4 crappy 14 inch tires and rims. So im just trying to piece it together as best i can. The whole pulley assembly came off a 70s era chevy pick up. I suppose if the 63a wont be enough ill return all this stuff i bought then and get the water pump and what not until i either find a serp set up or an 86 and 87 style pulley set up

 

Verify first, it should have an amp rating stamped on the case somewhere. You could always just go with it now that you have it to just get the car running, and replace it later if it seems distressed (lo volts, screaming, smoking etc).

 

Its definitely a 63a alt. I searched simply alternator on ebay and the first auction was this 120 chrome plated aluminum one or three wire alternator for like 75$ after shipping. The entire page has nothing but good things about that alt. So im going to return the advance garbage parts one and for 20$ more ill buy this one

 

i ordered a new alternator. its a 120 amp one or three wire alternator. so my question is do i need to run a completely seperate new wire from the battery to the alternator or can i use the wire thats previously there on my car already and just tire back the voltage regulator wire thats on it?

someone please respond

 

You wouldn't have to but it wouldn't hurt if you ran a little larger than stock wire. The other wires you could tie back but you would loose your alternator light.

 

i took a look at my alternator wire it only has two wires going to it a red and a black wire on the connector. does that mean i wont have a volts gauge anymore? if so how can i get that back? just splice into another wire or something

 

If you have a factory volt gauge, it won't be affected by going 1-wire and leaving that connector off. Only the idiot light would be non-fuctional, if you had one.

Your new alt will probably come with some sort of crude diagram anyway.