This should help you some not same year but its pretty much the same for both 2A or 2B or 3A or 3B
didn't change much
Wiring a Delco alternator
The standard Delco SI alternator uses three or four wires depending on "purity of the user". The fourth wire is a ground wire and is usually not needed.
The "one wire" alternator kit that Bruce mentions in the
CJ-3B Engine Conversion Manual is a slightly modified Delco SI alternator which can be simpler to install, particularly in a pre-1956 CJ-3B with an ammeter on the dash. One thing that I have noticed on the one wire alternator is that I have to rev the engine to get the alternator to begin charging. Once it begins charging, it continues charging even with the engine at idle. I asked about this at the alternator rebuild shop and they told me that this was normal. (Now that I think about it, and how one wire conversion works, it seems normal to me too.)
The Delco alternator is a great improvement over the stock Motorola and Prestolite alternators. Changing the alternators is something to be considered if one is doing an engine swap. It is much easier to find replacements for the Delco should it fail, and depending on the model, the Delco has as much as three times the output current to run the electrical system. This is very important if one is considering extra lighting as the stock Motorola
and Prestolite can provide only 35 amps. About 30 amps are needed to run the headlamps, stop lights, engine ignition system, horn and heater blower motor.
The steps for wiring the Delco in a post-1956 CJ-3B:
- Get a standard (internally regulated) Delco SI alternator and place it so the pulley end is facing away from you. If you look around the edge of the alternator you will see two flat bladed terminals visible through a somewhat rectangular hole in the alternator case. Rotate the alternator so that these flat bladed terminals point upward.
- The left flat blade terminal connects to the charge indicator lamp wire coming through the firewall of the Jeep. The connector for the flat blade terminals should be available from nearly any auto parts store. Just ask for a regulator connector for an "old" Delco alternator. In Phoenix, AZ mine cost me less than $5.
- At the 10 o'clock position on the back of the alternator is a (probably #10) bolt sticking through the case. This bolt is insulated from the case by a plastic washer. This is where the wire from the positive terminal of the battery is attached. This wire can either come directly from the battery or can come
- from the large terminal on the starter solenoid that has the large wire going to the positive terminal of the battery.
- The right flat blade terminal connects to one end of a wire. The other end goes to the #10 bolt described in the previous paragraph.
- With the alternator still positioned as described, at the 4 o'clock position on the back of the alternator is a 1/4"-20 threaded hole that sometimes has a short bolt in it. This is where the optional ground wire attaches. The other end of this wire goes wherever the battery ground cable attaches to the Jeep.
Finding the indicator lamp wire
The only trick to the whole thing is to find the charge indicator lamp wire. In looking at the wiring diagrams of the CJ-5 or post-1956 CJ-3B (see the
Parts Illustrations page), it will be the only wire that attaches to the alternator or regulator from the wiring harness that goes through the firewall. (The wiring diagram of the early CJ-3B might as well be the wiring diagram for a CJ-3A with turn signals.)
Before tearing apart the wiring to find it, you can try this test:
- Turn on the ignition, but do not start the engine. The charge indicator lamp should be lit.
- Remove from the alternator or regulator the wire that you think is the correct one. If it is the correct one, the charge indicator lamp should go out.
- To further verify things, go ahead and start the engine. It should run. You can shut off the engine, as this step was to verify that the correct wire was found. At this point, you can be 99% certain you have found the right wire.
- The final test is with the ignition switch on, but the engine not running, to touch the bare end of the wire you have been working with to the the Jeep's body. You should not get any large sparks. If you do, you have the wrong wire! Don't leave it touching the body!!!!!!!!! When this wire is touching the Jeep's body, the charge indicator should light. When it is removed, it should go out. If this is the case, you have found the charge lamp wire.
If you want to be absolutely safe, go to the parts store and get an inline fuse holder with a 5 amp fuse in it. Connect one wire of the fuse to what you believe is the charge indicator lamp wire and touch the other end of the fuse to the Jeep's body. If you have the
You should not get any large sparks. If you do, you have the wrong wire! Don't leave it touching the body!!!!!!!!! When this wire is touching the Jeep's body, the charge indicator should light. When it is removed, it should go out. If this is the case, you have found the charge lamp wire. If you want to be absolutely safe, go to the parts store and get an inline fuse holder with a 5 amp fuse in it. Connect one wire of the fuse to what you believe is the charge indicator lamp wire and touch the other end of the fuse to the Jeep's body. If you have the correct wire, the lamp will follow the description at the end of the previous paragraph. The incorrect wire will either do nothing, or blow the fuse. If you don't want to go through all this, you can take apart the wiring harness and follow the wire back to the proper bulb in the instrument cluster.
Note: Instead of attaching to the starter solenoid's battery terminal, the wire that feeds the Jeep's under dash electrical system is sometimes attached to one of the terminals on the regulator. If your Jeep is wired like this, you will find two terminals on the regulator with two wires connected. If you do not take care of this "extra" wire that is connected to the regulator your Jeep's
electrical system will not have any power. If you examine the wiring connected to these two terminals, you will find that one of the terminals has a wire that connects to the starter solenoid's battery terminal and a wire that goes into the wiring harness that goes through the firewall. I'll call this terminal B. The other regulator terminal with two wires connected will have a wire that goes to a terminal on the generator and a wire that also goes into the wiring harness that goes through the firewall. I'll call this terminal A. If you can read the printing on the regulator, the B terminal will be labelled B, BAT or BATT. The A terminal will be labelled A, ARM, G or GEN.
The wire from the wiring harness that is connected to the regulator's A terminal should be the charge indicator lamp wire. This can be verified with the tests described above.
When you get ready to remove the existing regulator, the two wires that connect to the regulator's B terminal should be connected together. This will ensure that current can flow to the Jeep's electrical system. The wires that go between the regulator and the generator can also be removed.
