Now that I have heat in my garage, I might actually get to work on my 56! I am finally going to tackle making brackets to install an alternator in my 56. I have been told by many that the easiest way is to (God forbid) put a gm one wire unit in the car. I know I will probably get some flack for that, but does anyone have a wiring diagram I could follow? Someone told me once it is as simple as puting a jumper on the external regulator, but if I can, I want to go to an internal regulator alternator and keep my wiring to a minnimum. Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks.

Rob 

This applys to wiring a late model, small case Autolite Alternator in the 56 ford car, I beleve that 54,55 and 57 use a similar harness but keep in mind  that the 54 and 55 where 6 volt so other changes will be needed. These Alternators have a Brush holder/Voltage Regulator mounted on the back of the Alternator.

My choice is the 91 thru 97 Escort 1.9 engine as it has a split mount that makes mounting a snap. You will need to change the pulley to a "V" belt type to use this alternator. The pulley can be from just about any alternator as long as the belt grove width will work with your belt. I am sorry to admidt my pulley came from a GM alternator.

I would recommend removing the entire Generator harness back to the regulator as well as removing the original regulator. This will leave you with a 10ga Battery wire (may be paired with a 12ga that goes to the horn relay) and an 18ga that is the Gen Light Circuit. Insulate the 10Ga as you will not need it in the conversion.

At the alternator your best bet is to obtain the first 6 inches of the regulator harness from a salvage yard (most fords 80 to 97 with a small case alternator with 3 terminal intergral regulator will have this harness. If the Harness you obtain also has the Output lug terminal and 8Ga wire, Discard the wire and terminal as you will not need it.

This harness will have 2 connectors, 1 will be a 3 terminal that plugs into the regulator, the other connector is a 1 terminal that plugs into the alternator. When this harness is mated with the alternator you will be left with 2 unconnected wires coming out of the regulator connector.

A 14Ga Wire from the "A" terminal and a 18Ga wire from the "I" terminal.

Run a 14Ga wire from the "A" Wire to the Battery side of the Factory Starter Solnoid.

Run an 18 Ga wire from the "I" terminal to the Factory Voltage Regulator location, connect this wire to the 18ga Gen Lite wire that is left from the removal of the original regulator.

From the Output Stud on the Back of the Alternator run an 8Ga wire to the Battery side of the Factory Starter Solnoid. This wire will meet up with the wire you previously ran from the regulator "A" terminal, do not be tempted to make this junction at the alternator and only run 1 wire. The "A" wire is used by the regulator to sense battery voltage and should be run separate.

In summary, you should have the following connected

(1)  Alternator output stud with 8Ga wire to the Starter Solnoid (battery side)
(2)  Regulator "A" wire with 14Ga wire to the Starter Solnoid (battery side)
(3)  Regulator "I" wire with 18Ga wire to the Factory Gen Lite wire.
(4)  Reguator "S" wire to Alternator "S" terminal (should be part of the salvage harness)

The "I" wire to the Gen Lite and a good Gen Lite bulb are required to insure that the Alternator "Turns On" at low RPM. The Output Stud should not be run to the factory harness, go directly to the starter solnoid, I would not want to push 70 Amps thru 10 ga factory harness, you will smoke the harness!

It looks like a lot but in the end it's only 3 wires, 2 of them going to the same place (solnoid) and 1 connection to the factory harness for the Gen Lite.

Mounting is simple, the top mount of the alternator is a split design that will stradle the original top engine mount. Use a 3/8 threaded rod with nuts and washers to set the alternator in position for proper belt alignment. The lower adjusting brace is from a small block ford, it's about 14 inches long in stock form. Cut about 4 inches off the engine side and drill a new 5/16" hole, bolt it to a waterpump bolt and your done. The lower brace is commonly avaiable at most speed shops in chrome as a dress up item for the 289/302 series engines.

Speedway Motors sells a neat little set of (plated and un-plated) brackets for a @#$% low mount set-up. I have now seen them used and adapted on everything from John Deere to Studebaker. I used one to make a RH lowmount for my T-bird and it tucks the alternator right down where the gen was. This is a "closed slot" with pivot style of bracket and very strong when mounted right.

To wire it in I used small #6 welding cable (right off the reel at the welding supply) with solder style ring lugs and high temp heat shrink for good measure. Run from the stud on the alterator direct to the battery connection on your starter solenoid. Be sure and put a ground strap from the alternator to the block - cheap insurance for max volts. I don't believe the self exciting style of regulator puts out the same high-end volts as the externally regulated version (by a volt or so) and this sort of "no-drop" wiring will just about make them equal. 

Another good bit of advice I picked up - be sure the pulley on your alternator is about 1/3 the size of the engine pulley - you want it running about three times the speed of the crank. This is for a powerful street driven type electrical system - not a low geared race car. The self-exciter feature will not kick on until the alternator shaft reaches somewhere between 1500 - 1800 rpm - but once it is on, it will typically continue to operate even when the engine has dropped to low idle. The three to one ratio makes sure of this. 

Some people are very happy with them, others need to rev to 3000 rpm to make it turn on if the vehicle has been sitting a few weeks since last run. That's the last thing I would want to do to a cold engine that does not have full oil circulation yet.

Just my opinion but if you realy could get 1 wire to be optimal I would think the major auto makers would have gone to them years ago.

The Standard Ford alternator with regulator is really easy to wire too.

I recently made the GEN(generator) dash light work with alternator by adding a resistor accoss the GEN bulb circut. on my 57 Bird.  Easy to do! The light comes on when you turn the key and goes off when the motor starts.  You need a 10 watt/10-17 ohm Wirewound Resistor from Radio Shack.

I use a wiring diagram from a mustang/ford with an ALT light cicuit to get my regulator wires right.   It is different then the diagram for a gauge. Just look in some old(60-70's) manuals for examples. 

The FEILD alt. term. goes to the F on regulator.

The BAT alt. term. and S reg. go together and the Thick(yellow) goes to the pos of solenoid.

The A reg. terminal gord to the power from key ON.

The I reg. terminal goes to dash light crossed by a resistor and the other end of the bulb goes to the  power Key ON.

I use the alternator GRN (ground) alt. term. wired and grounded to the  regulator mounting screw to increase reliabilty.

Optional: You can hook your electric choke to the feild terminal, so it heat the choke only when the engine is running.