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We spun the pulley to listen to the bearings and, finding the result acceptable, carted the unit home.

The last few times we ran a race with this car, it was using a borrowed alternator. When our buddy finally asked for it back, we had to go searching for a replacement. A new one isn’t terribly expensive—if you have a core to take back. Since we had no core to take in, a new alternator was a bit above budget. We headed to the salvage yard.

Luckily, two-bolt alternators are common and fairly interchangeable among many Ford products. We found what looked to be a suitable unit on a late-‘80s Mustang LX—one of those forgettable models with the naturally aspirated four-cylinder. Equipped with an automatic such as it was, we know that particular pony car was never fast. It’s much slower now—stationary, in fact—but its alternator will go on to tell tales of incredible two-digit speeds in our crapcan Lincoln!

It was a lucky find: This particular one was wearing fresh stickers marking it as a remanufactured unit. That means it was replaced shortly before the whole car was relegated to the junkyard. We spun the pulley to listen to the bearings and, finding the result acceptable, carted the unit home. If it turns out to be junk, we can always rebuild it ourselves for just a few more dollars.

When we went to install it, the bolts lined up perfectly and everything fit right. The only thing left to figure out was how to wire this new piece. Our old unit required an external regulator, but this one is self-contained. We removed the old external regulator and its wires, and began researching alternator wiring. Keep an eye on project updates to see how we did it.

Comments

JMF_TAG
1/8/12 3:20 p.m.

"one of those forgettable models with the naturally aspirated four-cylinder. Equipped with an automatic such as it was"

On the other hand, if you were looking to start a Fox body buildup from scratch, you might do well to start with a chassis like this since it may have lived an easier life than a V8/Manual car.

A buddy of mine has a back yard full of Fox bodies. And not just Mustangs; MK7s, Capri, SVO, Turbo Coupe, Zephyr wagon... I'm trying really hard to get him to do a Crap Can build from one of these.

Jeff Forss The Alignment Guy. Former partner: "Team Short Bus" Golf.

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