So, what alternator is everyone running on their drag cars(the ones that run alternators...)? This is for my 351C street/strip Maverick with electric fuel pump and fan. I am just on a fact finding mission.
I run one out of a 91 Ford Tempo... I had the car so I used the plug and made it a 1 wire conversion. Works good. Im sure there are a lot easier ways to go... just buy a 1 wire, so you dont have to hunt down the plug for that alternator
The GM one wire jobs usually don't charge very well at low speeds.....Once the alt. gets up to ~2500 RPM (alternator speed, not crank speed) it will charge normally. Just have to overdrive the alternator. I use a 40 amp tractor alternator. Small, light (under 2lbs), 40 amps, and easy to fab up a mount for it. I think it's made by nippondenso, IIRC.
I run a 1-wire gm.....had it upgraded to 110 amp. As mavman said, mine needs to hit 3,000 rpm before it starts working. Never had any trouble with it and would never have a race car without a alt. makes life to easy.
I have the one-wire GM. Once I figured out which lugs to jumper, it seems to be working fine. I will be buying a larger pulley to turn it faster at lower engine rpms.
I use a one wire hookup from http://www.performancedistributors.com/. I think its a 100 amp. I have around 13 volts when just running & jumps to close around 15 when driving. This was with the factory gear so I never got above 2500 RPM. It does the same now with the new gears.
Andy, they quit sending the alternators on the crate engines....or I'd have about 25 of them stashed away. They used to send the starter, alternator, intake & exhaust manifolds, everything but a battery and a tractor to go around it....but now it's just intake, flywheel, and the engine...nothing else. Eric's got one on that all-aluminum gas powered battery charger that I built, and that was the last one I had. Geo metro is real close, but the pulley is different. It uses a 15mm shaft just like most any other denso alternator, so you just have to get a alternator from a Metro and a pulley off of a toyota that has a v-belt drive instead of a serpentine. The Metro alternator is probably a little bigger than 40 amps though....I think they're 65, IIRC. I like the little Denso alternators because the rotor inside is smaller & lighter than the GM units are. Usually if the engine speed is "up there" (let's say 7000 RPM), with a 2:1 belt ratio, the alternator is at 14,000. Most belt ratios are much higher than that though. My old Maverick was a 4:1 give or take which meant at 6000 RPM engine speed the factory alternator was turning in excess of 24,000. What usually happens is when you shift gears, the engine RPM drops quickly but the intertia of the alternator rotor keeps pulling the belt which usually results in either slippage or thrown belts. I HAD one of those little Denso's on the yellow car until I put the Toilet on...the fuel pump took the place of the alternator and I never put it back. besides, being that it's just a footbrake car, I can run all day without charging the battery (no transbrake, delay box, electric fuel pump(s), etc) so I just left it off. Maybe someday I'll put one back on it....that is...if I can find a place for it. Maybe on the rear end. I've got a mount for it but no pulley.
Hrm, I'll check into that. I shoulda kept the dang alternator off my brothers old 87 toyota pickup now that I think of it... oh well.. What is that alternator in the shed on the shelve off of? I like that size alternator and want to something about that size.
I knew it didn't work. I was just curious what it was from. Now that i know what it is, I'll be looking for one like it. Thanks
My car likes its new one wire alternator that we put on tonight. It is a newer Ford small case 108 amp. It was great to rip out that nest of wires. Thanks for everyone's input. The reason we were making the change is that we just went through two standard alternators recently that were both bad from the store. It just seemed like a good time to upgrade. The first one we masked because we would charge the battery between days at the track. This last time I raced it we didn't charge it ahead of time and ended up switching the car battery and the trailer battery in the staging lanes after it died. There was still 1 hour left of test and tune so I wanted to make a few more passes. But still no towing, not embarassing....
i had a 91 ford tempo alternator and the case was different. i coulndt get it to fit on the car... i guess i really need a welder so the old stories of it wont fit, will fit
Yea, you were who I was thinking of when I reposted that info. I know it works on a mustang w/ a 302. A guy i know in TX sent me a pic of an alternator he bought from ford motorsports (IIRC) and it was identical to the 91 ford tempo alternator in every way.... kinda ironic. But he showed it on his car and looked good. Why didn't it fit your motor?
east coast electric. they make them for race cars, so they seem to survive the higher rpm usage better. its a 1 wire. had it 13 yrs, still good. of course now that i said that, it'll stop working.
