Thanks Greg. You may be right about all this as it relates to my car. An alternator is in my plan. Too much angst on my part when I pull into the staging lanes. I like bulletproof when it comes to equipment. I may run a second battery also like airford1 does. It may slow me down a bit but I'm not concerned about that.
When you run an alternator and relocate the battery you will need a master cut off switch in back. Now that is not a big deal, but when you get the switch you need the one with an extra small terminal to shut down the feedback from the alternator. The tech inspectors get a lot of guys on that one.
That's good info. I already run a master shutoff, but I didn't know that they make them with an extra terminal. I will have to figure out how to wire up the alternator. I have rewired the car and only have a few circuits now and no voltage regulator since everything runs off the battery.
Alternators are a well kept secret in bracket racing. They flat work. If the front end of the engine on mine wasn't already "busy", and I had more electrical load, I'd run one too. And I did for a long time. I could still fit one in there but don't want to mess with it; as the only electrical load on the thing while running is the MSD and 2 electrical gauges. Plus I'm running 16 volt battery. A good alternator is one of those little Denso units that come on smaller tractors. They're all over eBay, and not real expensive, and can be had from 30A to about 80A output, and only weigh about 4 lbs. Lot of guys bolt one one and wire it correctly, and many will pick up a little consistency, with an occasional ET improvement. Thing is, though, if you go that direction, you don't have to drive it that fast. A 2.5:1 overdrive is fine. These little boogers will charge at a fairly low speed as compared to a GM 1-wire setup, and they're a LOT more efficient. Make sure you use the correct master disconnect switch (cole-hersee, I forget the part number but it has 2 sets of lugs), make sure you have a FUSE in the wiring too. I've seen expensive equipment burn to the ground because there was no fuse, which IMO is dumb. 2 batteries. I thought for years that 2 would be needed even when I had an electric fuel pump and a lot more electrical load. One never failed me, ever. Even with no alternator one was sufficient, a single Optima red top 34/78 I think it was. Now that I'm on 16v, I can run an entire race day without charging if need be, and it still starts just fine in the finals. It's really the way to go if you can do it, but it means changing the alternator to a 16v regulator (which charges 18.5-19.2v), and as well getting a new battery charger. It's not cheap but it's the end-all for your battery worries in later rounds.
Mavman, thanks for the info. I have all the circuits with fuzes. I'm assuming I will need the alternator fuzed. I will look at the Denso alternator. A single wire internally regulated alternator would be ideal. My single battery worked fine all season, but always had me worried. It's just a regular automotive battery. Are you running a 16V alternator with a 12V battery?
Mavman, is this the alternator you are talking about? http://www.ebay.com/itm/MINI-ALTERN...ash=item234a5c9739:g:THEAAOSwm8VUyrwZ&vxp=mtr
No, I'm currently not using an alternator. Just 16v battery and 12/16v charger (it will charge both via a switch). That's the type I was referring to, though if I were buying new one, I'd probably look at this guy: http://houseofpayneperformance.com/products/alternators/ He gives back to the racers and his customer service is unrivaled.
Airford & 77,you guys have the same idea I have,other than minor chassis adjustments,air pressure & tuning,I want to drive my car when I get out there,not spend all day working on it.That kinda takes the fun out of the whole deal,& not planning to win money as that is not my goal.I just want to take my skill & ability in putting a car together & see what I can get it to do.Now if I did win a little money on the side that would just be an added bonus.
Here's an article on batteries that may explain some of the issues with race car batteries: http://www.onallcylinders.com/2016/...ampaign=Feed:+OnAllCylinders+(OnAllCylinders)
I like the simple principle. The less stuff that can go wrong the better...... And KrazyKomet has a point. Bracket racing is getting tighter all the time. Used to a .050 package could win a number of races. Nowadays, if you aren't .020 or better, you're toast. Which brings the question, how do we tighten up the packages? First off...the driver's got to do his part. The race is "usually" won or lost in the first few inches of track (reaction time). Then you need to work on making the car reliable and predictable. This is the area where I find simplicity works really well. It's a lot easier to change the car than it is to change me, and it's a lot easier to change the car if there's less stuff to have to change........(or second guess). hence the reason for footbraking all these years, mechanical injection, old 6AL, and 16v (among many other things). Reliability and simplicity -they kinda go hand in hand.
