I tried to call Paul Paretti at the number on the TVL and got a message "THE NUMBER YOU HAVE REACHED HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED AND IS NO LONGER IN SERVICE". I wanted to find out about his alternator brackets. Did Paul retire? I also tried to contact Theo Smit at the email posted on the website to let him know about the contact info for Paul but got no response there either. Help!
Rick
Sorry about not getting back to you earlier. We'll work on getting the vendor list contacts updated as appropriate.
For what it's worth, you can get some pretty small alternators now and the main thing to consider is what kind of accessory load you expect to drive. The original generator was rated at 35 amps, and if you don't have power hungry accessories like electric power steering or AC (or a 500 watt stereo) then a 50 to 70 amp alternator will work great and they're half the size of the '70's era alternators that the original bracket kits were designed to use.
I am currently running a Denso 70 amp alternator originally spec'ed for a Toyota. These are available with a bunch of different 'ear' configurations. I went to my local parts distributor and asked if I could browse their alternator shelf, armed with a tape measure. The one I found is short enough to fit in front of the right side cylinder head, which let me mount it really close in on the engine.
The 'bracket' ended up being a piece of 1.5 x 1 inch aluminum, to locate the rear of the alternator's main swivel mount, bolted directly to the head, and a second piece of 1/2 inch plate aluminum that located the front of the main mount as well as the tension adjuster ear. It mounts on the water pump.
The wiring is straightforward because the alternator has an integrated regulator. So we only have to provide a hookup to the battery (I doubled a 10 gauge wire), one to the ignition, and one to the warning light. The last two connections are just spade lug terminals on the alternator body - you can use the proper Denso connector if you can source one, or you can use standard 1/4 inch female push-on connectors.
