Hi all,
I have a '89 Firebird, 305, Vin Code E. Need to know a good place to get a 140 amp alt that will fit my car. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Brad
San Deigo

 

140 AMP? Specialty auto shop (Summit, Jegs, etc) or a place that deals in JUST alternators/starters. Those will be the best built and most reliable ones.

 

some places can actually take your alt and rebuild it to a higher amp. When I was big into car audio I checked into that. One guy said he could get my stock one to 120 amps very easily. Check the phone books.

 

Do you have a big @ss system in the car or somethin??? Why do you require a higher amp?

 

www.alternatorparts.com

check for the 140 amp "iceberg" conversion

 

I just installed the iceburg kit on my alternator it is a sweet deal parts only cost me $80.00 and an hours time. Pretty simple to do good instructions and I know what I have is the real thing

 

You did it in an hour!? It took me a few times that long. My bearing puller wouldn't fit under the rear bearing to pull it off. Ended up having to cut it off. Got any tips that would help out in future bearing replacements?

 

I used a dremel with a cutting wheel and cut through the inner and outer bearing cases enough to crack them off with a pair of pliers. I had a heavy duty soldering iron from radio shack I think it has 2 settings 120 and 240 watts. I used the 240 watt setting with no problems. The parts cost me 30 dollars with a voltage regulator I think the guy forgot to charge me for it. Make sure you mark the case and align it up when assembling it so you get the right clock position for the terminals. I soldered all the internals before assembling them. There wasnt much room in the case to do it otherwise. I guess it could be done that way but why work around the obstacles. I used laundry detergent and water for cleanup. Tide is a really good degreaser.

 

Ok, sounds about right. I should've started out that way like you did, rather than screwing around trying to pull the old bearings off. I'd wasted all my time before I took the dremel to it.