Magnum EQ Heads, what alternator fits?

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JRapley

JRapley

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Has anyone on here upgraded to magnum heads on their LA block, and if so, what alternator and bracket setup did you use?

Original engine is a '79 360 in a LRE, stock electronic ignition and square back alternator. 1 piece alternator bracket and large idler pulley bracket in place due to no A/C. I planned on using all my accessories off this engine and putting it onto my new one...unfortunately this idea seems to be fighting me at the moment.

Engine on the stand being put together is a '72 block with EQ magnum heads. I can easily modify the one piece alternator bracket to mount correctly (shorten by approx. 1/2"), but the issue I'm having is the alternator itself is contacting the front of the head.

Has anyone been successful in using a square back alt with mag heads. If not, where there any years of a round back alternator that will work with the stock '79 ignition system?

Thanks
 
I'm actually running the Denso (Toyota pickup/4runner) alternator. You can get the brackets from AR Engineering. Great alternator. Runs 14.1 volts at idle. I have the EQ Magnum heads on my LA block. Before running the Denso alternator, I was running the stock squareback alternator.
 
@MOPAROFFICIAL, the ignition is the stock ignition that came on the '79 LRE. Only thing that's not stock is an MSD 5300 box.

@JoesEdge, what's the bracket setup you used to run the stock squareback? I cannot seem to see how it would work without a horrible belt misalignment.

@Lelo Dart, thanks for the link, there's some really good info in there. My main issue is also that I have a bracket that shares the one bolt hole that houses an idler pulley where A/C would have been. I'm wondering if my best solution is to remove that bracket and idler pulley and get a shorter belt to just eliminate it.
 
I use a square back with stock 68 brackets. I had to make wider round spacers and add shims behind the water pump pulley and the balancer pulley.
 
@bobscuda67, how long have you been running with spacers behind the pulleys? Any issues? I would assume as long as the centers of the pulleys are still on the 'hubs' that there wouldn't be any issues with them staying centered properly.
 
JRapley said:
@bobscuda67, how long have you been running with spacers behind the pulleys? Any issues? I would assume as long as the centers of the pulleys are still on the 'hubs' that there wouldn't be any issues with them staying centered properly.
Click to expand...

I have been using the shims behind the pulleys for seven years with no issues.
You can find them online at different places and different thicknesses
 
@Lelo Dart, What size of belt did you have to use to run from your damper pulley directly to the alt. pulley?
 
Got the bracket in last night, had a piece of stainless pipe kicking around that I bored out to make spacers, got a 5" long bolt and success! I have a little more adjusting to do, as it's still too close to the head for my liking, I'll probably just be using a washer to space it out just a touch more.

Only other issue I've ran into was running two belts direct from the damper pulley, the inner one is juuuust touching the water pump where a rib is cast. A little time with a die grinder and that'll be fixed.

I'll post up pictures tonight if any one is interested, just to show the setup. Basically it's the same as the setup on the dart without PS, minus running on the water pump pulley.

Thanks everyone for the help, glad to have it worked out.
 
Just in case anyone is interested. Here's how it turned out.

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bobscuda67 said:
I use a square back with stock 68 brackets. I had to make wider round spacers and add shims behind the water pump pulley and the balancer pulley.
Click to expand...

I kind of did the same but instead I used a piece of threaded rod cut to length and then added washers to space it away from the head and get the pulley lined up. Also held up for 7 or so years, no issues whatsoever. For the bracketry I ordered a set off eBay because I converted from A/C and didn't want to use the giant factory bracket that holds all that stuff together.
 
I am just running the outside belt because I don't need dual belts to just run the alternator. Some will say it is hard on the bearings in the alt but I haven't had a problem.
 
Looks good. Does the crank pulley and water pump pulley all line up? I had to shim mine.
 
@bobscuda67, surprisingly the belt alignment isn't far out. The small amount that it is isn't concerning my enough to make shims or buy shims. I went and checked the bely alignment on the Dart and it's actually a little worse, bone stock!

@Lelo Dart, I thought about just running one belt, but unfortunately I know that every time I opened the hood it would bug me to see a 2 groove alt. pulley running one belt. Just would look unfinished in my mind, even though I know it would just be looks and not function.
 
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