Alternator question
 

Hello, this may sound like a stupid question, but here goes. I am trying to put a car back together that I bought in pieces. The alternator is a new double pulley, (it is a non-AC car) and does not line up properly with the engine pulleys on the inner or outer groove. Is it safe to assume the engine pulleys are meant for a single pulley alternator? Is there a way to space this one to work? If not, does it matter what amp alternator I replace it with? I have seen 60, 75 & 100 amp listed for it. It works as is, but I think it would probably throw the belt driving it since it looks to be off by about 1/2 to 1 inch. Thanks for any and all help!

Could you take a picture, could be a bracket issue or something like that.

you could be missing a spacer or using the wrong bolts. If the pulley is off that much, then don't use it.

What is the car and motor?

The car is a 70 Roadrunner. 440. As far as I know the alternator has never been on this car and was new.

Does your bracket look like the one in this picture:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...0/100_0186.jpg

Note that there are three parts to the alternator bracket; 1 the part that bolts to the head, 2 the part that bolts to the piece that bolts to the head and holds the back of the alternator, and 3 the big piece you see the most of that attaches to the 2nd part and the water pump, it has two bolts on the front of the alternator.

From what you are saying it could possibly be rigged without part 1.

No, the bracket for mine looks like this one

That is the front one, and it does not attach to the water pump housing then?

This is a pic from ebay, since I am not at home. The one
on my car looks to be set up the same way, just the alternator has a double groove pulley which is not in line properly using either groove.

It could be the wrong alternator all together, the harmonic balancer/ pulleys could be wrong. Have you looked up the part number to see if it is correct?

I would have no idea where to begin to look it up. The powersteering pump lines up fine, that is why I thought maybe the double pulley was the issue.

I can look it up, if you post the part number, and the manufacturer if you know it.

the bracket you show in the pic could be the wrong one as there is two different one that look the same but the bolting holes are longer apart , you probably need the longer one to get it up to the farther out hole on the water pump housing or it could be you need the one like c has but we need to know the year of the engine to be sure ok

The car and the engine are both 1970. This is a bit of a frankenstein car since almost everything was stripped when I got it and most of the parts have been picked up along the way. I just very recently got it running (has yet to leave the house) and tonight I noticed that the charging system is over charging when the engine is rev-ed up. The voltage pretty much follows the rpm. The regulator is new, so is it bad? Should there be an engine to body ground or to the firewall somewhere? Sorry for all the questions, but this is making me nutz.. I think the alternator problem is that the spacer needs to be larger, since I noticed on Ebay the kits they sell have several sizes and if it was spaced a little further out the belt would line up properly...

Back to normal
 

Thanks to everyone for their help. As it turns out I needed to replace the alternator and it came with 2 washers that put everything right where it belongs. Thanks again!