Installing Powermaster 200A Alternator

[jforest1]

So I looked all over for the turnbuckle body to go between some of those rod ends, looked at various sites for turnbuckles, visited tractor and hardware stores and never found something that was satisfactory...   

So what the heck, I got out my cordless drill and jigsaw.  Fabricating a bracket would be a VERY NEW and difficult experience for me, but I ended up pulling it off (at least that's what it is looking like now--I have yet to actually fire it up because I've still got to do the big 3 upgrade).

Here's the rough draft version of the bracket installed.   Note the sliding and stationary portions of the bracket are juxtaposed.  That allowed for fan clearance because the curve the bolt travelled on would come in contact with the alternator fan as it rotated around the alternator mounting bolt.


What isn't shown is that there is 5/16" clearance between the bracket and the alternator at the stationary bolt.  I was considering making the alternator in two pieces, stagger-stacking them, and and then welding them together.  But the learning curve was steep enough already, so it's got a stack of washers behind it right now to bridge the gap.


Straight belts at last (to be confirmed audibly)!  I had to cut a 3/16" bushing on the right to slide the alternator back.  Yeah, my other bushing on the left side was mis-measured so it's piecemaled for now. 


Now that it's pushed back to align the belts, there's not much clearance left between the back of the alternator and the valve cover. 


The finished bracket, inspired by the scimitar.


JF

[Jesus H Chrysler]

nice job!

[jforest1]

Thanks.  We'll see once I get the electrical finished and fire it up.  Proof's in the pudding and all that. 

Not too shabby for the first time
1.  working with cardboard to make a template
2.  drilling metal
3.  cutting metal (with curves)
4.  grinding metal
5.  brushing metal
6.  polishing metal

It's not the David or anything, but I'm certainly feeling pretty good about myself right now, considering the last two weeks of working on the car have been riddled with errors and problems.


JF

[jforest1]

Alright, so in the interest of self-improvement, I'm looking for some constructive criticism from the experts here.  I purposefully constrained myself on expenses here, because this is not a task I believe I'll be doing a whole lot of in the future. 

However, when the day comes that I do it again, what would have been the ideal way to cut out the center slot?  I used a cordless drill and jigsaw to get it out, but obviously they aren't extremely accurate tools and by the end of it I was left with a slot that I didn't really have a good way to polish.

And what would have been the ideal setup for cutting smooth curves to begin with?  This looks like a best low-cost solution, but I couldn't find many router bits for metalwork.  Are they out there or is this something a router generally doesn't do?

JF

[IMNCARN82]

um. a water jet or plasma table would have been the best.  maybe a mill.          A belt sander or shaping sander. Spindle sander might get the outside. Nice file.  That slot is tough though.  maybe drill a series of holes. Router, No.   Aluminum is pretty soft,But not that soft. Jig saw would have been my choice too.  Looks great for a first time! WoW  ya, messn' with stuff is FuN.   Did you weld up that bracket?      I've learned so much on this site.   Now I'm addicted to welding stuff... Customizing anything.  There's a ton of metal gods around here.   R/T

[jforest1]

No, I was considering welding because the depth of bracket wasn't enough where it attached to the alternator, so I was considering cutting it in half and making an overlapping half, thenwelding the two together.  5/16" gap on the back I ended up filling with washers.

JF

[jforest1]

 

So I installed the new alternator (1-wire 200amp powermaster) and the first fire up test.  Wife starts to crank it, and it doesn't start (common for it when it's been cold for a while).  She turns key back to try again.  Starter motor is still going.  Wife pulls the key out and panic sets in--her eyes get big.

I laugh, unscrew the + battery cable, and it turns off. 

Take 2.  We try it again, engine cranks this time.  Now car is running, she turns key off and pulls it out, but engine is still running.

Wash, rinse, repeat and this time it turns off!  Many more starts and turns off and it seems to be working properly now.

My wiring that matters is:

alternator_output -> battery_pos -> starter, starter relay

and

battery_neg -> chassis, engine_block

So I'm trying to understand what happened and if it's really over or not...

I have read that 1-wire alternators are "pre-spun" so that the field coils are pre-charged or whatever...  Was the alternator supplying electricity to the starter motor initially until this residual charge depleted or something? 

My gut says something like that is going on, though my brain is telling me that turning the key back should have disconnected the starter motor circuit and killed it.

Thoughts?

JF

[jforest1]

Another clue--woke up this morning the battery is dead.  Pretty sure I didn't leave anything on.

JF

[jforest1]

Think I've figured this on out.  Will know tomorrow morning when I can test.

JF

[Challenger6pak]

Are you running stock wiring with the factory ammeter?  I don't know a lot about it, but I do know that when the alternator amperage is changed the ammeters are giving people trouble. 

[jforest1]

Are you running stock wiring with the factory ammeter?  I don't know a lot about it, but I do know that when the alternator amperage is changed the ammeters are giving people trouble.

Right.  I've done the ammeter bypass already (in another thread).

JF

[jforest1]

Okay, so ONE issue was that while doing the big-3 upgrade I forgot to hook up the 12gauge black wire from the power out to the ammeter (or what used to go to the ammeter--now bypassed).      

But the battery-draining issue is that the power out on the alternator is somehow grounded.

Engine off, I checked with a test light and power out post on alternator to battery positive gives reading.  Voltmeter reads roughly 13 volts.  So I believe that the power out post on the alternator is grounded, and if so, how can that be?

JF

[the_engineers]

Back to you bracket fabrication question. I have used a 1/4" shank carbide burr in a router before to port a turbo manifold. It worked very well and I had a lot more control than with a die grinder. If you re-do, you could try this. Just be careful about "trapping" the bit, i.e. material around more than 50% of the cutting contact surface of the bit. It gets VERY angry and will chatter like crazy.

[jforest1]

Spoke with Powermaster techs at length about the issue and they came to the conclusion there must be a bad diode or something.  Happy they are sending me a new unit, upset that I have to press that bushing again (it took a 20 ton press last time!?). 

Something like this really highlights why it sucks to be a newbie to mechanics.  90% of the time you are wondering if what you are doing is wrong and trying to figure out how things that don't make sense could be, etc.; whereas someone with experience would've taken a few minutes, and reckoned that something was up with the alternator.

JF

[jforest1]

Got the new one in the mail.   ATM, looks like a bad alternator was the problem, as the new one is not suffering from the same electrical issues according to the multimeter.  Have to get it pressed, but should be able to drive around with it this Saturday.

JF