Approx. two month's after
doing the diode modification to the alternator, the charge light began glowing.
I could only think, that the diode is not working........ BUT, thankfully, it
had nothing to do with it. One of
brushes on the (new) voltage regulator was totally worn down to nothing. Weather
it has something to do
with the fact it was a after market part or maybe it was installed wrong ( not
likely ), I have no idea.
I got to thinking, do I want
to continue playing with the Bosch alternator or should I upgrade to an
AC Delco/Delco-Remy alternator. I had a Delco alternator on my Land Rover in
Canada, I do know that they
do produce 14.4V, plus they have an excellent track record as conversion units
on series Land Rovers.
At the wreckers I picked up
a Delco-Remy alternator from an Opel Astra, 2.0L, which is rated for
65Amps. ( Even higher than the Bosch unit) Before installing the alternator, I
gave it a thorough cleaning
and replaced the brushes.
The Delco alternator differs
from the Lucus and Bosch units in two ways. Firstly, the mounting points
are different, in different locations, secondly, the pulley is slightly larger (
4mm ) . When the belt sits
in the pulley, it actually sits lower than either the Lucus or Bosch units. With
all of my measuring, I
couldn't see/find a difference that warrant me to change the pulleys, so I
didn't change it.
The original upper mounting
bar on the engine is too short for the Delco alternator, so back to the
wreckers,
again. While searching, I found the upper mounting bar from a Saab 900, is the
right length, curve, once
the lower mount bushing is removed. I simply removed the lower bushing, re
drilled a mounting hole and
placed it in the original position on the motor. On the alternator, the
upper mount has a small tab that sticks
out from the house needed, that needed to be removed. ( All of the cutting
that I did on the alternator housing,
I did by hand, ensuring that I had square cuts. )
Then I loosely fitted the alternator to the upper bracket, to
see how it was lining up and to see how
the lower mount needed to be modified.
Of course, it wasn't going to line up perfectly, 2 extensions had to be
made, so that the alternator could
be bolted to the original mount. I used two pieces of 7mm stock, cut to
6cm lengths. Clamping the extensions
together, I then drilled the holes. This trick gave me accurate distances
between the holes, so that the
alternator sat square in the bracket.
The lower mounting position on the alternator housing had to
trimmed. I cut back the mount by 14mm.
The extensions are individually bolted to the lower mount, then I used a long
bolt through the extensions and
the lower alternator mount. Then I used washers to fill the gap at the back of
the alternator to the extension.
The whole idea with the one long bolt at the alternator, is
that it tied the extensions together, giving a
sturdy base.
With everything tightened, the alternator sits square with the other pulley's and its firmly in one place.
Wiring it up, simple !!
large brown wire to + .
Small brown wire to + .
Brown/yellow wire to D+ .
The Delco alternator works a treat, producing
14.4V at the battery. I'm very happy with this alternator.
When it was hot this summer,
the Land Rover was running hotter than normal, causing the electric fan to
switch on/off quit often, actually, more than I expected.
It appears that I placed the fan too far from the radiator
and I shouldn't have used the original plastic
shroud. The fan wasn't effectively cooling the radiator, because it was 8
cm away from it and the shroud
was actually blocking the air flow through the grill to the radiator.
The shroud was removed and I made up 4 new brackets, that
bolted to the radiator side mounting bolts.
Because of a lip at the radiator sides, the brackets had to be notched out, so
that I could position the
fan directly against the radiator. The brackets are made from 4 mm X 4 cm
aluminum stock. As you can see
they do not obstruct the air flow to and through the radiator.
I immediately could
see on the temperature gauge, that the motor was running cooler and the fan was
no longer cutting in so often. Actually, on the open road, it never cuts in, no
matter the outside temperature.
It just cuts in during stop and go driving and if the
the Land Rover is parked for a long period, while
the engine is running.
