EDIT: read all the way through so you don't miss some of my corrections/adjustments on wiring.
There is a lot of info out there about swapping a cs144 in your chevy. There is also a lot of alternator set-ups, so you have to find the right parts to match your set-up. Here is how mine worked. (I couldn't find anything definitive here about putting a cs144 in a serpentine belted, driver side alternator'ed stock rig, but maybe I missed it). I found this info via a lot of googling, and I found a guy that did this in his 95 suburban, which has the same set-up as mine.
I have an 89 burb w/350 tbi. The 105a cs130 I have has feet that are 120 degrees apart. The 140a cs144 I needed can be found on a lot of chevys from 1996-??. My donor vehicle was a 97 G2500 (Express) van with a 350. This one was a "remy new 91400" and it tested good at O'Reilly's. If you want a new one, tell the parts folks this vehicle or say, a 98 suburban or most other chevys of that era (I think 96 was the starting year for this specific alternator). Some folks need the 94 pontiac trans sport version. NOT for my set-up. These ones have the 180 degree feet. The cs144 I mentioned also has 120 degree feet, but it doesn't match perfectly to my bracket due to the fact that it is a larger alternator, so the 120 degrees of arc is longer.
Luckily the bracket is aluminum, so I spent a few minutes elongating it with a drill until I could push a bolt through it (I snagged the bolt from the donor, but you will need a nut now that the threads are gone). Here is some progress:
The rear support bracket will not allow the fatter alternator to fit, so I hammered it flat and bolted on an L braket from some scrap I had. Later I added a ground here.
All mounted. The stock belt fit for me, but I think my belt was a tad long before. My tensioner does not go down as far as with the stock one, which makes sense since the pulley is a little further away (pulley sizes are the same). The factory one wire exciter plug matches as well, but there was 12 volts running to it. I read the the cs144 needs a resistance (typically a dummy light) or you can damage something. Since my truck doesn't have a light, I had to cut the plug wire and solder in a home made resistor pack that rated at 55ohms and 1.5 watts. I read that the minimum is 35ohms and 5 watts (some say 1/2 watt works), or up to 350 or 500ohms and 1/2 watt. Time will tell if my set up holds, it might be light on the wattage side. I am pretty sure you can buy the harness plug with a resistor built in from napa or somewhere.
While at the boneyard, I also sourced some good quality 2, 4, and 8 gauge wires with ring terminals. I swapped a 4awg charge wire for the stock 8awg. I then routed the old one to my ford starter relay so I could take a ring off of my battery post. I added a 2awg ground from the engine to the frame. I also added a 4awg from the alt bracket to the core support and I want to beef up the ground to the firewall later on. I made sure to shine em up and protect them with dielectric grease.
I decided to do this since I did the headlight mod, added a fuse box for future items, and added windstar fans. With all things running, I was about 11.5-12volts at the battery. Now I am at 13.8 volts at full load (I still have some voltage loss in the cab, but that's another unrelated story). Turning on my windstar fans hardly makes it flinch now. My windows even go up faster and they will improve even more when I find the source of the ignition switch voltage drop.
There is a lot of info out there about swapping a cs144 in your chevy. There is also a lot of alternator set-ups, so you have to find the right parts to match your set-up. Here is how mine worked. (I couldn't find anything definitive here about putting a cs144 in a serpentine belted, driver side alternator'ed stock rig, but maybe I missed it). I found this info via a lot of googling, and I found a guy that did this in his 95 suburban, which has the same set-up as mine.
I have an 89 burb w/350 tbi. The 105a cs130 I have has feet that are 120 degrees apart. The 140a cs144 I needed can be found on a lot of chevys from 1996-??. My donor vehicle was a 97 G2500 (Express) van with a 350. This one was a "remy new 91400" and it tested good at O'Reilly's. If you want a new one, tell the parts folks this vehicle or say, a 98 suburban or most other chevys of that era (I think 96 was the starting year for this specific alternator). Some folks need the 94 pontiac trans sport version. NOT for my set-up. These ones have the 180 degree feet. The cs144 I mentioned also has 120 degree feet, but it doesn't match perfectly to my bracket due to the fact that it is a larger alternator, so the 120 degrees of arc is longer.
Luckily the bracket is aluminum, so I spent a few minutes elongating it with a drill until I could push a bolt through it (I snagged the bolt from the donor, but you will need a nut now that the threads are gone). Here is some progress:
The rear support bracket will not allow the fatter alternator to fit, so I hammered it flat and bolted on an L braket from some scrap I had. Later I added a ground here.
All mounted. The stock belt fit for me, but I think my belt was a tad long before. My tensioner does not go down as far as with the stock one, which makes sense since the pulley is a little further away (pulley sizes are the same). The factory one wire exciter plug matches as well, but there was 12 volts running to it. I read the the cs144 needs a resistance (typically a dummy light) or you can damage something. Since my truck doesn't have a light, I had to cut the plug wire and solder in a home made resistor pack that rated at 55ohms and 1.5 watts. I read that the minimum is 35ohms and 5 watts (some say 1/2 watt works), or up to 350 or 500ohms and 1/2 watt. Time will tell if my set up holds, it might be light on the wattage side. I am pretty sure you can buy the harness plug with a resistor built in from napa or somewhere.
While at the boneyard, I also sourced some good quality 2, 4, and 8 gauge wires with ring terminals. I swapped a 4awg charge wire for the stock 8awg. I then routed the old one to my ford starter relay so I could take a ring off of my battery post. I added a 2awg ground from the engine to the frame. I also added a 4awg from the alt bracket to the core support and I want to beef up the ground to the firewall later on. I made sure to shine em up and protect them with dielectric grease.
I decided to do this since I did the headlight mod, added a fuse box for future items, and added windstar fans. With all things running, I was about 11.5-12volts at the battery. Now I am at 13.8 volts at full load (I still have some voltage loss in the cab, but that's another unrelated story). Turning on my windstar fans hardly makes it flinch now. My windows even go up faster and they will improve even more when I find the source of the ignition switch voltage drop.
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