Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi,
I've fitted alternators to every Moggy I've owned and just wanted to remind people, who want to do this but are not sure where to start or how to go about it it, about the very good guide that was published in Minor Matters in 2016:
Vol 37 No 8 September / October 2016: Under Technical Tips: Alternators: pages 20 and 21, to be precise.
Physically fitting one with a kit is the work of a few moments but the wiring it in properly needs a little consideration, especially when you look at the loom they provide with these kits.
It consists of three wires coming out of the connector plug (that connects into the back of the alternator), these are one fat brown one and two thin wires which I wonder if they even have an 8 amp rating........??
So I took another look at the guide and decided to dispense with these wires, apart from the fat brown one which connects (in my case, having an early car) to the starter solenoid and looks to have a high enough rating (25 plus amps?) to do the job without issue.
I extracted all three from the connector housing, removed the two thin wires from their respective spade connectors and reattached the large Yellow and thinner Green / Yellow, from the cars own (new) loom, soldering all into place, including the original large brown wire, as none were soldered originally and it makes for a better connection. I then clipped them all back into the connector block, so that they all connect into the back of the alternator, as advised in the article.
The article also advises you on how to reconfigure the wiring on your Control Box, so another reason to get hold of a copy.
It explains what you need to do to convert your car in a very straightforward, step by step manner, making it simple for anyone to do.
I believe the club can supply back issues upon request but you'll have to contact them and ask.
Best wishes,
Mike.

Mike

I'm currently a long way off replacing the wiring loom on my Minor, but I intend to fit an alternator in due course, So my intention is to fit a new loom as the one on the car was chopped about too much.
I believe a new wiring loom can come pre wired for an alternator, what else would I need to do to fit the alternator apart for the unit and brackets?

Hi Dermot,
Fitment is easy enough, you just need to make sure all the belt pulleys line up, for which you may find (like me) you need some thick washers not supplied in the kit, plus the hollow spacer will need tapping into a position to suit. I've indicated what I mean in the picture below. If you are converting to negative earth don't forget to swap the wires round on the coil.
The other main thing is the control box wiring: Note the image shows two large brown wires going to position A, there was only one on my new loom? Not that it seemed an issue when I test run it before stripping Sally down.
The thick yellow (top / early car guide) and the yellow / green come out at the Dynamo and are the ones now rewired into the Alternator connector plug.
There is also (on my early loom) a white wire with a black stripe down it which connects to the coil. This I have now reused to provide my electronic distributor with a connection to the negative (--) position on the coil.
Below is the Technical Tips article from the 2016 issue of Minor Matters that I was referring to in my original post.
Perhaps you can copy the images onto your computer and enlarge / print them off?
Best wishes,
Mike.

Mike

Thank you very much for that excellent post.
I have a few pictures of my original wiring loom (the actual loom is in my mate garage having been removed and labelled) I can see my car had two brown wires running to A as well.
I will see what the new loom looks like when I eventually get round to that stage.

Regards

Dermot.