A better adjusting bracket for the Denso Alternator

[pharriso]

Many of us here in the States have purchased the Gustafson Alternator conversion (http://www.gustafsonmachine.com/alternator.htmlwith a 55 Amp Nippon Denso Alternator. The kit is sold complete with lower pivot bracket, alternator, turnbuckle top mount, wiring & instructions by RD Enterprises, Dave Bean, JAE & other distributors.

While the kit is generally well engineered, the top turn buckle mount has to be spaced out with a stack of washers to ensure the turn buck clears the alternator body and the dip stick. Every time I looked under the hood (bonnet) the bodge made me cringe:

I've seen many cars using this kit & all have this arrangement in some way...

So, being a little OCD I have re-engineered the top bracket based on the original Lotus Alternator mounting with reinforcement bracket between 3 front cover lugs:

Installed it looks like:

The curved portion of the bracket started out as the Edge alternator bracket available inexpensively from Burton Power in the UK (http://www.burtonpower.com/edge-alternator-tensioning-bracket-edgealtbk.html

If anyone is interested in Fabrication drawings I can post them here.

[Certified Lotus]

Phil, I am very impressed. Much better than the custom bracket that Drew and I made for my Elan. Yes, please post the drawing! Better yet, why don't you have a bunch made and sell them?

[The Veg]

Very interesting! A precious owner converted my car to alternator, but I'm not sure what the mounting setup is. If it's less good than this, I too would be interested.

[gus]

Just as a note:

The belt is a tad long, rotating the alternator [clockwise]in such a way that the body of the alternator starts interfering with the bracket


If you wind the inboard turnbuckle almost all the way in to start, leaving the outboard one sticking out more, the threaded part of the turnbuckle will clear the case.

The rod ends allow quite a bit of angle, so washers should not be required.

[prezoom]

I created the same style of alternator bracket when I installed a Denso alternater in my S2 back in 2006. Has worked perfectly since. My arm is quite a bit thinner, but the entire bracket and arm is made of 4130. I preferred this style over the turnbuckle, as it looks more period. Added lightness had something to do with this.

[pharriso]

If you wind the inboard turnbuckle almost all the way in to start, leaving the outboard one sticking out more, the threaded part of the turnbuckle will clear the case.

The rod ends allow quite a bit of angle, so washers should not be required.

Tried that Gus... Still interferes...

The belt is a tad long....

This is the one supplied by Ray for this alternator.

[1owner69Elan]

Below is my Denso alternator setup. Not sure who the supplier was but probably Bean. This within the last year.

Looks like my Denso alternator is a bit different.

alt1.jpg (71.19 KiB) Viewed 2376 times

[mbell]

Quite timely. I decided against the Bean/Rdent options as the seemed a bit pricey to me and never like the look of the angled turn buckle.

I bought a re-manufactured alternator for ~$75, $10 of 1" x 3/16 bar to make a new lower bracket. I need to sort the the top bracket, I was thinking about turnbuckle system but there is good alignment to the rear of the top mounting lug and rear of the timing case. So thinking I just go for a simple & light slotted piece of metal + bolt into threaded lug.

So total cost of $100.

[Briggs1]

I went off the back with a piece of flat stock and used a turnbuckle. Mine is 100% DIY - bought a forklift alternator for about $50 on Ebay

[The Veg]

So this is what I've got- again, provenance unknown as a previous owner installed it. Delco-Remy alternator with an upper bracket that I couldn't see enough of (brake servos in the way) to tell much about.

[The Veg]

I removed the servos (which I've been meaning to do for a week or so anyway, for unrelated reasons) and got a better look at the mounting. The bracket looks commercially made, but I have no idea by whom. I wonder if it's something from another car that was a close-enough fit.

Also to my eye, the Denso units in pictures above look quite small compared to this Delco-Remy. Might swap to Denso if this one ever dies.