Alternator Rebuild Part 2

The patient

We continue now with the further adventures of rebuilding an alternator. Let me put this disclaimer before I get critics bashing me or criticizing what I do. I am not a professional re-builder nor do I play one on TV . If you have tips or advice please feel free to help out. Thank you. Ok back to our scheduled program...

Ok so I took this thing home and of course I get the "What the hell is that?" from my wife. Of course I answer "An alternator". She just gave me a puzzled look. Well of course I had to dig deeper. First I look on the outside of the housing for numbers or any identifying marks. At first I don't see anything aside from the "Delco-Remy" on the rear housing. After I took some steel wool to clean the casing I was blessed with information. I found these numbers:

1100639 - 37A
4MI - 12V NEG

That helps a bit more From my own experience I can tell it's a 37 Amp, 12 volt alternator. Ok it's a start. I try and use my trusty friend Google to search for the other numbers. To be honest information was scarce when I searched "1100639" with a number of variations. I had better luck searching Ebay for similar items. Which more or less confirmed what already knew that this came from a 1965 Corvair. It was hard to find a match for these numbers. I believe them to be sort of a batch or lot number from the factory.The "4MI" is what I believe to be a date code which I've not found someone decode this yet.


A couple of sources I came up with were helpful. One of which is very well known in Corvair circles as "Clarks Corvair Parts" of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. I was actually able to find an exploded view and parts listing of the alternator I had. Needless to say this was a huge help to me. They even have rebuild kits for them.

On a side note I had came across Clark's earlier in my life. An ex-girlriend of mine was going to UMass in nearby Amherst, Massachusetts on a roadtrip we took we came across Shelburne Falls. Which is a very beautiful area if you ever have the chance to visit. I remember driving by "Clarks Corvair Parts" on a some what nondescript building along the road we were on. I kind of found it interesting at the time. Little did I know I'd cross path's with them again. I also found an article in Hemming's Classic Car (Aug. 2007, Issue #37) which had bit more of there history and services they provide. Interesting reading if you have the chance to check it out.


Another source that helped me identify what I had was from this site dedicated to Delco Remy alternators was called Alternatorkits.com. I struck gold when I hit this page identifying different models. I knew now what model number I had which was a Delco 10DN 12v/24v . Well now we know what we have here we'll get along with cleaning and disassembly in our next episode. Thanks for coming by and I hope you come back again.