Had a breakdown yesterday with much noise and smoke coming from the engine compartment and the ignition light blazing red. The dynamo had self destructed, overheated and spat bits of the armateur out. Recovered to home, about an hours drive so not too bad. I was thinking that this might be the time to convert to an alternator but, I've heard that there are for's and against's. It's a 1973, 1600cc standard set up, but with a view to fitting a leisure battery sometime in the future. I've seen an alternator conversion kit on justkampers site. Your advice would be most welcome......... Stay with Dynamo or convert to alternator, anybody recommend a conversion kit, what size alternator, is it a straight forward job. Many thanks in advance. Malcolm. While we were waiting for recovery, thankfully in lovely sunshine, "VeeDubKate" of YorkClassicVW Club stopped and offered assistance and a chat. Definitely interested in the Field of Dreams meeting at York racecourse.
I'll have to leave it to others to recommend alternator kits because I just stuck to a replacement dynamo. It is quite a fiddle to replace/swap for an alternator when the engine is in situ but it is possible. When I looked at the options for my '73 I think I would have needed a different stand, a spacer for the carb and possibly a different fuel pump to fit the alternator. None of which would have been a big problem, it all comes off/goes on easy enough. I found a youtube video about replacing a dynamo on a beetle really helpful when I was doing mine, it would be more or less the same procedure for an alternator. I'll see if i can find it in a mo. here it is!
hmm, am looking at making the same decision soon as i was told that it'd be better for a leisure battery. just had 1776 engine fitted and the bus is still having problems with batteries
No brainier for me swap for a alternator not much extra work than replacing the dynamo as you will have to take the fan out anyway, Give the fan a look at to make sure its not been damaged . Dynamos hardly keep up with a stock van, if your adding halogen headlights, radios and leisure systems you need a alternator.
I changed my Beetle 1600 (therefore the same as your bus) one for a Machine 7 kit, after a few (self induced) niggles, it's been 100% reliable.
Just an update . I decided to fit an alternator and got a 70 amp conversion kit from VW Heritage. The kit comes with all the bits you'll need. I did the conversion with the engine in situ using a Haynes manual and instruction sheet provided. The job is fiddly but various posts on You tube helped to make sense of it, also the instruction sheet gives step by step guide including the wiring up. The alternator fitted without the need of a spacer for the standard carb and using the standard fuel pump. Shims were needed to move out the lower pulley, which were included in the kit. A wiring kit was included which was a great help, some kits for sale don't include this for some reason. It's been up and running for about a week now and everything seems o.k. Next step is a leisure battery set up, decent interior lighting and some driving lamps!!
