Ask the alternator shop if they have a pulley to fit? Drilling the pulley rather than machining it accurately is likely to get it running eccentrically.
Greg

 

Would you be able to elaborate on that?

 

I believe he means if you put it on a drill press to drill it out and the hole is drilled off center, even a little bit, then the pulley won't spin correctly. Especially at higher RPMs this could be an issue. I would tend to agree, it would be best done on a lathe where you could grab the outside of the pulley and be sure it was drilled in the center.

 

*sigh* guess I'm off to the alternator shop then. Thanks for not letting me screw up guys. If they have the right pulley I'll see If I can get a part number too or something so that others don't have trouble with this in the future.

 

Update for anyone curious: Took both my old and new alternators to a shop called Auto Electric International up in Southfield Michigan. They found a match for my pulley, and corrected the spacing using purpose made spacers for free. Can't expect them to do it twice, but they seem like a very honest shop if anyone in the Michigan area needs alternator or starter work. Drilled out the larger of the two spade connectors, the smaller one I was able to coerce on. The easiest way to get the new alt in was to attach the bracket outside the car and bolt the bracket in from the bottom first. Found the Thru bolt at Home Depot. Added the redundant ground to one of the upper bracket bolts. I had to adjust the tensioner as well, which was pretty far from a fun job. Well worth doing in the end though. My car used to stumble a bit when starting, I took some friends out in it the other night and one of them even said "whoa" after he heard it start on a dime. I probably need to take the battery to AutoZone to get a full charge or something now, but everything is working a hell of a lot better. The whole only charging at High RPMs is pretty irritating, but I'll probably try and figure out the resistor this winter when I'm home. One last thing, if your existing alternator has a 16mm shaft be sure to get a Bosh unit with an included fan. It does seem like the Land rover unit would be a lot less effort if it's just the pulley that needs replacing. Just food for thought.

 

Hello guys, My 89 HE XJ-S has suffered from various modifications from previous owners. Since about a year ago, the existing alternator isn't delivering anything so the car is running off the amps that are stored in the battery which I need to charge whenever the car is not running. Kind of like a dirty electric vehicle.
Having read all the contributions on this topic, I would like to do what Greg has done by switching to a 115 A alt.@Greg, I'm another French driver, do you by any chance remember where you got yours ? Merci !

 

I got it in the UK from these guys in Plymouth:
https://www.startermotoralternators.co.uk/ and
https://www.startermotor-alternator-...tor-1216-c.asp

But they are on ebay and other places too. You need to e sure you get the right "clock face". That is, looking at the pulley end of the alternator, the hinge is at ten past and the tensioner hole at 20 past.

 

Thank you so much, will look into it.