Update on the Cadillac

[Robert_Maples]

Well after a couple months of driving and 300+ miles she is behaving quite good except for the couple hiccups of tuning and also the issue of not charging while idling. My neighbor retuned the car last weekend and now the secondaries will engage and suck gas like no other. I can pass trucks, Hondas, and any other sporty cars on the road with ease. The look on their faces is priceless. I still have the slight issue of backfiring once I go 60 and over then take my foot off the gas. I partially have a fan now (I have to jumper it)  so ill need to get a master heat control vacuum port relay thingy as the rats had gnawed on the rubber.... I still need to get my windows fixed and the rest of my weather stripping on also to remove my driver side panel and regrease my window motor and tracks. I still don't have sound deadner or carpet but the road noise isn't that bad to my surprise. I should be getting my custom kickdown bracket done for the edlebrock soon! And hopefully Santa will have some nice car parts for me under the tree Well I just wanted to update I'll eventually get around to updating my website and post new pictures. Happy holidays everybody cherish family, friends,  and Cadillacs!

[STDog]

The alternator output is notoriously bad at idle on the externally regulated alternators.
The 10SI and 12SI (early internally regulated) are a little better, but not great especially if used in a "1-wire" installation.
The newer CS series is a lot better in that regard.


So the choices are really to keep the engine speed up, or go to a newer design.

Changing the pulley to increase the idle RPM is possible, but it's easy to over speed the alternator that way
(Though a low revving Cadillac shouldn't cause a problem)
But it can be hard to find the right pulley.

Just making the alternator pulley smaller can lead to insufficient belt contact and slipping.
So the bet way would be to increase the drive pulley some, but then the other accessories on that pulley may need to be adjusted.
And there's not a lot of room to increase the pulley diameter before you have interference problems.


I'd just not spend much time at idle with a high electric load, or swap to a CS alternator.

[blue68deville]

I did the cs130 swap on mine, it made a huge difference. I used one from a 93 Suburban with a 454, it had the right mounting tab positions and a single sensing wire.
If you do the swap, let me know. It's easy but there are a couple of things to check.
Merry Christmas to u too!

[Robert_Maples]

Okay ill consider that blue68deville but I know you have a 472 but I have a 429... would that have any affect?

[STDog]

Robert, no the 429 used the same alternator as the early 472s.
In fact most GM cars used the same alternator. You take the 4 case screws out and you can rotate the back half to 4 positions relative to the mounting lugs, but that;'s the only difference. Same with the 10SI and 12SI.

Not sure on the CS line, but there's very few variations. Note, the CS alternators usually come with no pulley or one for a serpentine belt.
The pulley on your existing alternator can be removed and it'll fit the CS alternator.

[blue68deville]

Yup, that external reg alternator was used on pretty much all GM stuff for most of the 60's.
I'll put in a post on how I did mine since there's some interest.

[EZ]

That would be great.  I planned to update my alternator as well when I put the car back together.  I'm going to have a pretty big stereo.
Any help with the details of the CS130 swap would be appreciated.

[pdxmose]

I'll put a link to my CS130 upgrade in Clay's write up.

           ...mose

[Robert_Maples]

Well I went to Autozone and had my stuff tested it actually was the voltage regulator issue so I'm buying a new one. I would like to make that conversion tho!

[Robert_Maples]

It may be hard to see but these are my blue leds! I still need to finish hooking them up dash lights so they turn on when the dash does too 

[EZ]

Pretty cool Robert! 

[Robert_Maples]

Thanks! I'm now finally gunna get my windows fixed so I can start driving in the rain!!