Most of the water cooled Vanagons came with 90 amp alternators. If the
engine had a three groove pulley the 90 amp was there.
A larger alternator does not provide any benefit unless you need the current
capacity and/or are regularly burning them out. The Vanagon wiring does need
some upgrading to use what is available also.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Don Hanson
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 10:47 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Higher output alternator?

  It's my understanding that most VW Van alternators are like 65amps?  I'm
guessing that is what I have... a Bosch rebuild..That is what is on my
inline 4 Golf motor in my 84 van.  I am in the process of swapping in a 2.0
liter Jetta bottom end for a bit more oomph and because there are under the
piston oilers on the Jetta, but not on the 1.8 liter Golf...and because I
got a good Jetta motor for a hundred bucks with quite a bit fewer miles on
it than my current motor.

  So anyway, the "new" motor came with a newish looking rebuilt Bosch 90amp
alternator.  Should I use that one rather than the smaller one?  Any
advantage?  I have two batteries in my van, one for starting and one for the
other stuff..both are 'starting batteries' not deep cycle.  I don't usually
run out of juice when camping.  But I do have some macho lighting that
likely draws a lot...two KC daylighter driving lights, a Unitiy spotlamp and
the Hella E-code headlamps.

  What say you electrical guys?  Go with the bigger output alternator?  I
have power "nothing"
 in my van if that makes a difference..

  Don Hanson