Alternator Woes

[WhoreMouth_Jr 0]

Haha ya I tried emailing you a few times about it, but you kept saying you were still busy.

[Okidriftjr 0]

Whoremouth,

The lower voltage is tollerable in fact any charging voltage above 12.7 is considered technically charging. I don't pull the alternators down below 13v during testing because that test is not sustainable.

When I load down alt's for testing I add load until I start seeing the voltage drop at a consistent current.

Example:

If an alternator sees 160 amps and can hold 13.3 volts solid, but then you add 5 more amps for 165 total load and then the alternator shows 13.3 volts, then 13.1, 13.0 12.9 etc that means the alternator wont sustain 165 amps of draw for any length of time.

 

If an alternator company rates their shit at 200 amps, they damn should be able to hold 200 amps without voltage sag.

 

My summary of this alternator from driftmotion?

 

For the money it does really close to what they claim. I wouldn't spend the extra 160 bucks for the mechman 240amps. That's a lot of dough for 40ish more amps

[WhoreMouth_Jr 0]

Sweet man! I appreciate your insight and the work you put into checking this out!

 

I'm not super worried about getting ~200 amps, just something a bit more sustainable then the stock 90-100.

 

I was between the DM one (but I'm still skeptical on it's life) and mechman also has a 170 amp one that looks pretty sweet and is 100 dollars less then the 240 one.

 

Did you end up upgrading your main fuse in the fuse box when you swapped this out?

 

Thanks again man!!

[Okidriftjr 0]

No I didn't but unless it pops I won't mess with it and upgrade the wiring.

[aphxero 0]

whoremouth, I'm sorry you slipped through the cracks. Shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do.

[WhoreMouth_Jr 0]

What about adding a another wire from the alternator post straight to the battery with a fuse in the middle, feel like I remember reading something about that somewhere. They would add a wire ~4 gauge

 

No worries man I know you were slammed last year!

[jzxseven 0]

the wire would probably melt if you used a blade type fuse. you would be ok with a fusible link though.

[Okidriftjr 0]

That would work pretty well but why not just upgrade the diameter of the charge wire to the fuse box buss bar?

If/ you were to add a secondary charge wire, it might be better to use an automotive rated breaker vs. a fuse.

Fuses add a resistive value to the circuit and breakers add far less resistance since they work off of heat.

 

I'll look into this more when aphxero gets done with my new engine harness for the AEM.

[Gordo 0]

This !

I'm using a circuit breaker on mine. You find high amp (200) in the audio world.

 

And although I love my 1-wire on the Datsun, I chose to not go that way on the X8, as I cut the field wire under full throttle to dump the drag of the alternator under full throttle.

[Okidriftjr 0]

^that's drag racer tech stuff!

I'm guessing that frees up close to 10hp?

[Gordo 0]

Many Hondas from the factory are wired that way.

On a road course, you are on & off the throttle so much that it's never an issue anyway.

Had my stock alt wired that way for years. Just a full throttle switch, and a 12v relay.

 

10hp ?

Wow, no wonder I make 30hp on a 7M !

[WhoreMouth_Jr 0]

 

 

Thanks for your efforts Chris(I think thats your name)!!! Ended up grabbed the DM 200 amp one. Tested it just to make sure it was good before mounting it!

[Rue 0]

I jumped on the DM 200 amp bandwagon... being delivered today

[RickyFromThePark 0]

Anyone still have a working stock alt and want to sell it?

[ChriSOL 0]

you could probably find one local cheaper than having someone ship you one. round plug?

[RickyFromThePark 0]

Oval plug. Mines boned, borderline on buying the dm but I'm cheap as fuck.

[Kyle 0]

You guys don't have local rebuild places?

[Rue 0]

I have the oval alternator that came off of my motor

[RickyFromThePark 0]

Not in my town Kyle.

Rue shoot me a price, might grab that if I cant find one locally.

[Okidriftjr 0]

Ricky.

You still in Oregon? I have one

[Rue 0]

You just pay for shipping

[JimmyHoffa 0]

My alternator died today. Fucking car had been in storage almost two years, had it out 24 hours and I got pulled over, got a ticket, and had a semi-serious electrical failure. Fucking thing hates me.

 

Anyway, I got real creative since nobody in town had anything new/reman stock, the rebuilder is closed weekends, and I'm cheap as fuck. Went to the junkyard and grabbed the closest thing I could find in the pouring rain. '91 celica alternator. 70 amp, round plug, mounting ears spaced the same as the JZ alt. Had to swap pulleys because the JZ is 6 row belt and the celica was 5 row, had to open up the diameter of the mounting holes a bit, grind a bit off the side of the alternator housing to clear the water pump, and had to make a .355" spacer (stack of carefully selected washers) to get the mounting correct on the top bolt, but for $40 bucks and about 3 hours of fucking around from failure to back on the road, I got it running. It's not ideal at 70 amps, but the stock X7 alt is 60 amps, so it'll be fine until I can get a proper replacement.

[Kyle 0]

Good to see you're still around dude

[Tbone 0]

You got a ticket? for what ? exceeding the zero fucks given limit?lol.

Not looking forward to the day my alternator shits the bed.

Good on you for still being a glutton for punishment and fucking around with your cressida.

[Kyle 0]

Yeah, thought Canadian Brian died when the wedding happened.