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Tech Tips Be sure to pay close attention to the cooling fan on the front of the alternator. The fan on the front of the alternator is designed to draw outside air through the alternator to cool the internal components.

When looking down from the top, a counterclockwise rotation alternator will have the fan blades on the right side of the cooling fan. A clockwise rotation alternator, will have the fan blades on the left hand side of the cooling fan.

It is common when installing an alternator on an older vehicle to have the alternator rotating in the opposite direction for which it was assembled. When this happens the cooling fan runs backwards and does not properly cool the alternator. The result is an alternator that runs hot and overheats just like a car engine.

To prevent damage from excessive heat, Fifth Avenue builds all of their alternators using a special “Bi-directional” fan to insure the alternator will be properly cooled regardless of the application.

Real-Life Adventures

We wondered just how difficult it was to install one of Fifth Avenue’s alternators on an antique vehicle, so we located an article on doing just that!

Fifth Avenue has been building their 6-volt alternators since 1987. In 1993 Street Rod Action magazine featured a “how-to” tech article on installing one of Fifth Avenue’s 6 volt alternators on a 1949 Ford half-ton pickup powered by the original Flathead V8. Here is a reprint of that article.

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Street Rod Action Magazine Installs A 6-Volt Alternator...

Our application is a 1949 Ford Pickup used as a daily driver/parts chaser. The electrical system left something to be desired with a constant battle between dim headlights and dead batteries. It was definitely time for a change but a low buck improvement was also in order as this pickup is just a daily driver and nothing special.

We called Fifth Avenue Rod Action Photo and talked to Randy and explained our situation, Randy explained our options and the 6-volt alternator seemed like the logical choice. A few days later we received the 6 volt alternator, along with a special mounting bracket, and a wide width belt pulley to match our original fan belt.

As per instructions, our first job was to reverse the polarity. We simply reversed the battery cables at the battery, then we reversed the wire loop on the back of the amp gauge.

The next order of business was to remove the old generator and the wires connected to it. The “BATT” wire from the old voltage regulator will connect to the 10/32 stud on the back of the alternator. The rest of the wires were folded back and taped to the original harness for future generations. That done we installed the new alternator on Fifth Avenue’s mounting bracket.

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