65's covers were held on with a Corbin clam, and from all reports are a PITA to service. At some point, it was switched.
66s had 3 phillips head screws, and while more serviceable, the screws are still a PITA.
I see you've got the Leece Neville regulator. Can you please post (or pm me) some detailed pictures of it, its mounting bracket, and the alternator and its bracket? I'm very interested in it, as it's the first I've seen.
Ross - any idea on the difference in the part numbers between the early build and later part numbers? If it were yours, would you leave it as or put the Corbin clamp on it? We had a an original Corbin clamp on it but it broke. I do have another used one that is not in fantastic shape. Don't know if its a standard size or not - its a bit inaccessible at the moment - still on the column hanging in my basement ceiling.
Oh that Leece Neville alternator and brackets........... What fun it was!
My great uncle bought the car at auction in 1966. 13k miles. 3 speed manual on the column manual steering. When I was a wee lad, I watched him convert it to an automatic, power steering and move the alternator from the original location to what we would consider a conventional location. With that he threw out all but 2 of the brackets. I searched for years, and never found a set. I was very fortunate that he kept the original alternator.
Extremely fortunate that Sharon (from Sharon's seat belts) restored some seat belts for an almost identical car. I was able to make contact with the owner and was able to look at his car twice. He was an absolute godsend. I had no idea that my car was to have a black steering wheel (anyone need a NOS tan steering wheel for a 65 Plymouth?), along with other details I would never have known about. He car was mostly unmolested. I took rough measurements and from that made the brackets. Made all but one.
I was able to find a picture of the main idler bracket on the web - it was a spam site. But from the picture I scaled it best I could and that started all the dimensions for all the other brackets. Setup uses 2 idler pulleys, but the water pump one is the same as the newer AC idlers.
Could not find anyone really interested in rebuilding that alternator. That was probably a good thing. Ultimately I spent quite a bit on used alternator parts that I did not need, but it was an education. I learned a lot about these alternators, and consider myself almost an expert now. I can help anyone that needs help with one of these. I now have a spare alternator and many good spare parts. Bought a Leece Nrville parts book on ebay and that was a big help. Pretty much has my alternator but its a 65 amp in the book instead of my 60 amp. Basically the exact same alternator.
The alternator pretty much now has all new parts with the exception of the front and back brackets. Ultimately once I figured out what I needed, I was able to locate new rotors, stators, diodes, etc. Bought some plastic insulators, but made the ones I could not buy. Also made the pulleys and the data plate. It all came out pretty good.
The alternators in 65 were rated 60 amp, but they morphed into, 65, 70, 105 amps and maybe even more. Most of the parts interchange if you know what to look for. They also came in 130 amp but the use thicker diode heat sinks.
I will post a bunch of pictures shortly. I started restoration in 1996 and gave it to a resto shop about 10 years ago to finish. Just about ready to come home. Been a long 25 years.........
