Denso 40 Amp Alternator

[Whiskerfish]

That sounds about right. I am about 1.5 to 1.

[Cookie]

Tall?

[peteybug]

[Larrycole]

I used to have a 1200 and all the blogs and web sites devoted to them are chock full of external alternator conversions. The 1200's are a bit more of a pain to work on than the earlier models, but they usually have a lot more electrical gee-gaws on them so they need more output than the stock system can provide. The fuel injected 85 and 86 models have a larger stator that helps, but the carbureted models have a pitiiful charging system, just like the 1000-1100's. I think the main reason more 1200's get an external alternator is that almost all of them have fairings and they can pretty much hide them. It's a really easy conversion, you have to find or make a pulley, fabricate some brackets and the electrical is just one wire on some of the alternators with internal regulators.

I've got this thing about keeping mine original, or I would consider it if my charging system failed, but being the way I am, if that happens, I'll just replace it the original. Boring, but that's what I like

[Larrycole]

Looks very good!

Do you just leave the old (original) alternator stuff in place then?

Yeah, just leave the original parts in place and disconnect the 3 wire connector so it just spins but doesn't do anything electrical. One of the reasons a lot of people use the external conversion, is that you have to pull the engine to remove the stator, if you're gonna pull the engine, why not just fix it? That is unless you're doing it to get a better charging system, but in that case, I would leave the stator in place and just disconnect the wires. THe external alternators can be had with a single wire hook up, it goes to the battery by way of the ignition switch, you won't need the original regulator / rectifier either. It can get its ground through the mount, and it dern near impossible to short one out with water or regular trash coming up from the road.