My 6 volt generator once again tried to self-destruct

[Luis]

Hi guys.

For the second time my 6 volt generator has tried to self-destruct by eating away the rear bushing. I run the belt pretty loose but it still buggered up the bushing in about 2,000 miles. This time the rotating mass (forgot the correct name...) rubbed up against the field coils enough that it shorted out in several places.

Does anyone have a 6 volt generator in any condition that you'd be willing to sell?

Thanks,

Luis

[mcmil]

Check ebay for Bosch 6 volt generators, also used on Opels and Volvos!

[Luis]

Looking on eBay I found a place out west that will rebuild it to as new condition.

[jgerock]

Can you use a Bosch generator from a VW ('66 and earlier)? I think the voltage regulators are the same.

[vinceinIL]

Ron at Prix Parts near St. Charles, IL rebuilt the Lucas starter in my Alfa van. Did a great job, too. He could probably do the generator as well as he is used to working on such things...

Ronprixpts@aol.com

Good luck,

vince

[tjones02]

Check ebay for Bosch 6 volt generators, also used on Opels and Volvos!

Also on Mercedes of the same era. Though, the length of the regulator wires might be different they operate the same.

Can't remember if you repaired or replaced the voltage regulator? Carl Nelson sold me an NOS one 10 years ago, might have more.

HTH

[Luis]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. As we all know, a lot of equipment under the hood looks like it is the same from car to car or make to make, particularly in the case of electrical stuff. In the case of Bosch parts, there is a way to sort through this. I just discovered the greatest treasure trove of vintage Bosch product information at:

http://www.automotive-tradition.de/en/wissen/recherche.htm

It will require you to create a login name and PW and after that you will have access to a good amount of reference material on vintage Bosch equipment. I downloaded about 20 pages of tables and info.

Among many other things, you can select a car maker, model and year and it will tell you all the Bosch equipment and PN's that it could have come with from the factory. You can enter a P/N and it will search for part diagrams. There are many cross-reference tables for superseded P/N's. ...and more and more... For instance here's a screen shot of a table decoding all the jargon that is embodied in a generator's identifier such as LJ/GEG 180/6/2500. What does it all mean?!

If you use Google Chrome as your browser (not sure if Explorer does) it translates the webpages of the site on the fly. You still have to look up and manually translate the words on the resulting PDF's, but it didn't take me long just typing away on Google Translate. I spent some time using all the available options and was able to determine that the generator for the 63-65 Opel is electrically the same as the 6V one on my car, the main difference being that the endcaps are offset at a different angle. I'll just take the the armature, field coils, brushes and bearings from a re-manufactured NOS unit I bought off Ebay for substantially less cost than having my generator rebuilt and waiting a couple of weeks, at best. I also get to keep my original generator with its nifty "512" date code, indicating it was built 12/65, when my car was also built.

BTW, every Bosch item, down to minute stuff, has its own 3 digit date code following that convention. Check this webpage out: http://www.enginesinback.com/OEM%20Date%20Stamps.htm

Here is the complete reference through '73. The same method carries through to at least 1979.

Hope this helps!