By the mid-'60s, most American cars had shed their ancient generators in favor of more efficient alternators. Soon after, mechanical voltage regulators gave way to transistorized units. Finally, voltage regulators became electronic, and many manufacturers incorporated them into the alternators they governed. Along the way, much of the wiring associated with the charging system was eliminated, leaving a much cleaner looking engine bay.
Retrofitting a modern alternator and then wiring it accordingly is possible, but that often involves certain mounting adaptations, depending on the applications you are merging. Instead of suffering that, we simply turned to Performance Distributors (PD) in Memphis for a reprieve. PD offers an exclusive line of integral-regulator alternators, which have come to be known as one-wire alternators. Based on older case designs, these reworked units allow older vehicles to benefit from modern charging-system technology, while providing the ease of a bolt-on upgrade. In addition, PD throws in a steel-billet, deep-groove pulley with drilled cooling vents. As the accompanying photos outline, we easily installed this Motorcraft alternator on our '70 351C Merc mule.
