Hey guys thanks in advance. Long story short my generator is on the way out. Making tons of noise but not bearings. So thinking of getting it rebuilt. Also car runs a little hot on idle in heavy traffic. Want to toss a pusher in front jut to help. Do you guys think an alternator would be better suited for this? Other than HEI it's all stock. I'm not sure if the extra amps from an electric fan is to much for a generator on idle. 1961 Chevy Impala with a 350 by the way.
Electric fans draw around 7-10 amps each, an stock alternator will give you around 35 amps output. It sounds like your commutator and brushes are havinga fight (worn down copper segments on the commutator). Nowdays probably not worth fixing up the generator. An alternator with an internal regulator would be an easy cheap fix, and give you more current capacity.
The amp draw is why I was thinking of going alternator. Only reason I was thinking of keeping the generator was ease of installation. The alternators that look like generators are out of my price range lol. I kinda figured I would be putting an alternator on but figured I'd ask. Thanks guys. HAMB helps again
I bet the car will run stronger once you switch to an alternator. Why? Because you are running and heir dizzy. I didn't think you could even use one of those with a generator.
There is one in the cl*** ads as we speak. I think his price is probably close to retail though. http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/stealth-alternator-conversion.967105/ Ok so here is my question and remember that I do run alternators myself and make no excuses for it. My car overheats in traffic and my generator needs rebuilt. So I want to install a pusher fan and should I get an alternator. Mounting the alternator might be hard to do. One piece at a time, my car overheats and I want to install a pusher fan. Installing a pusher fan is like putting a Band-Aid on a cancer. deal with the problem and forget the pusher fan, there are lots of threads on here that will get you around the overheating problem. If you must go electric go full electric behind the rad and loose the mechanical. Do it correctly and gain some performance in the process. or just deal with the problem at hand and forget electric all together. Now onto the genny, the generator keeps you looking cool if that is important to you and if it is then you don't have an electric fan at all and you have dealt with the cooling problem properly. Getting it rebuilt is not going to be cheap so I know if you are considering that the cheap route is not an option for you anyway. Or buy an alternator, well the one listed in the cl*** ads is certainly an option but it isn't cheap. or you could get a mini that also isn't cheap or you could get a 65 amp GM fairly cheap and deal with the mounting. Actually mounting isn't really a problem either. if you are somewhere close to mainstream someone probably makes a mount for it and if not I have fabbed mounts in an afternoon with just what I was able to find laying around my garage. So that's that I guess. next?
Yep cool as a pig in a prom dress. When I first joined the HAMB there were some of the fellas making their own with a mini and an old genny case. I doubt that any of those old tech articles are still around though.
Pork******: the car isn't over heating it's running hot and only in nyc style traffic (sitting still for an ungodly amount of time). I just milltown this weekend and the car didn't run over 200 the whole way up. Went over 220 waiting to pay at the throgs neck bridge. That was the first real shakedown on the motor. It's a crate 350 from jegs. When I first put it in the thing would overheat and I went down the line and found the radiator to have been made incorrectly. Had it re cored and it wouldn't over heat. Sunday was the first time it ran hot. Figured a pusher would be good for that situation. Not being a **** but come down and tell me what I missed! No really I'm at a loss y a new 350 can't stay at 190 forever lol! The generator just started making noises on the way home from milltown. Got a price of 190$ to rebuild. Figured no new wiring no new belt no new brackets. Only thing that made me ask was because I didn't think a generator would be able to handle the extra amps of an electric fan. Well that's the long story lol
Actually you are not being a **** at all and even if you were its me you are talking to not one of those Namby Pamby HAMBers. If I were flush today I would say throw some sheets on the guest bed, I would like nothing better then to spend some time wandering around helping people sort through their problems. If your battery is good unless you are spending hours idling, your genny would handle your traffic fan just fine. It should be pulling from your battery and it doesn't run that long. A generator trick that I have discovered ( quite by accident) is to take a 6V genny and convert it to 12V. I don't know that it ups the amps at all but it makes for a much stouter generator. The 6V generator has a more robust armature and all that it takes to convert is 12v fields and regulator (you already own a regulator). A few tricks that I have discovered about cooling is that one not all water pumps are created equal. I use a flow cooler on my SBC. A lot of water pumps that you buy do little more then stir the water where as a flow cooler (TRW makes a good one too) actually pumps it and it moves a far greater volume than most off the rack pumps. They actually make a plate that you can buy that attaches to the back side of your impeller that is a cheap easy fix and makes it move a lot more water, kind of like a poor mans flow cooler. Another trick that I started using a few years back is a fast acting performance thermostat. Moroso markets one as does any number of aftermarket companies. But if you want to save a buck Mr Gasket markets a good one, that is what I use. part of keeping your cooling under control is to stay ahead of it and a fast acting T stat gives you a little edge. Making sure that the air has to p*** though your rad helps more then you can imagine, don't leave it any place to get around the radiator. the rest of any of that is just common knowledge so no reason to go into it. I am not sure that you are aware but your small block will last forever 210 +/- granted we like them to run in the 185-195 range and in a perfect world they all would but they will survive just fine @ a constant 210. Anyway all the BS aside, if your genny and the rest of your wiring is up to par no more then you are using the electric fan it will survive just fine. Your HEI by the way only draws about 2-3 amps to run unless you have a monster coil.
Thanks for those tips! And not to get into the heating thing because I want to stay on task with my original question I would've been fine if the damn thing maintained 220. It started to crawl over and that's y I am looking at the extra fan. I might try one of those thermostats u mentioned. I have a regular napa 180 in now. Wats anyone else say about the electric fan and generator? Being honest I'm leaning toward the alternator. Figure spend the money once. But anyone else use a generator with an electric fan?
The downside to a generator is that it puts out almost nothing at idle. Since you need the auxiliary fan primarily at idle, an alternator would probably be a better choice. FWIW, I had a 96 Vette that had 2 electric fans. When sitting with the car idling, you'd hear the first fan come on about 190*, but the 2nd one didn't come on until it got to about 235*, so that might give you an idea of what sort of upper limit the engine temp can run to intermittently without causing any problems.
Metlmunchr: that was my concern about sticking with a generator. Just wanted to ask since there are a ton of people on here with way more experience on this stuff then me. Thanks for your input. And that is good to know about your 96. This motor is a replacement or mid 70s and up 350s. So that temp might apply to this motor since it's never spit a drop even hitting 230.
You have gotten some good advice. My two cents: It's very very inexpensive to overhaul a gen. A caveman could do it. Total parts cost maybe 20.00 (replacement parts). Second point the basic cooling on a 61 will work quite well. Fix it! Good radiator, fan shroud, fan correct space from radiator, hoses that don't collapse. I had a 409 61 that was my go to college car. Raced on the streets and commute to cl***...no problem!
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