You nailed it! Failed alternators suck regardless of what kind they are.

I sometimes chuckle when I see one of those stickers that reads "I'd rather push my Chevy than drive a Ford" or similar. My first thought is "I'd rather drive some kind of car that works than push any kind that doesn't."

I've been fortunate with the alternators I've run, though I've toasted a few. I'm also fortunate to live in a city where there are 24 hour auto parts stores that can supply both Delco and Bosch rebuilds in a matter of hours.

There are some really cool high output alts that are physically much smaller than any of the Bosch or Delco units I've seen - Mitsubishi comes to mind - and I think that the next time I need an alt, that I'm going to experiment with something like that. Gobs of amps, and smaller than a grapefruit. This'd be handy on my 122, as it's impossible to remove the alternator without first removing the supercharger (removing and replacing the SC easily takes 4 or 5 hours). Maybe even devise a way to mount the alt on the distributor side of the engine, as Volvo did in some markets.

Best,

Cameron
Rose City