Tiny Alternators? Hide one? Disguise one??

Most of those small tractors use Nippondenso alternators. Some are not much bigger than your fist, but the amperage ratings are low on the really tiny units.

This is a Denso unit off of a 92 Suzuki Swift. It's rated at 50 amps and is pretty small. I put this on my T. Just to give you an idea of the size, a late model GM alternator would barely squeeze in where this fits with no problem. I did have to convert it over to a V belt pulley.

If you need some dimensions, I can go out to the shop and get them for you.

 

how much room do you have infront of the motor???

you can use a harley stator and rotor mounted to the crank pulley it will add about 1 1/2 inches to the front I think a full dresser makes 45 amps

 

I swa one run off of the drive shat at the rear of the car once. Hidden and really cool!!!!

 

I had the same problem on my 392 w/6 carbs...no more room, so I ended up with it on the axle:

Here's a pick before the 6x2 w/gen:

 

So... unless I'm missing something here, you've just run out of space lengthwise, right?
Why don't you do the alternator inside a generator case conversion, and just cut off some of the generator case to make it shorter?

 

Hey Scooter, if you find something alot shorter than the Mopar unit be sure to let us know. I have been searching for quite some time to find a suitable unit for use on a 241 Dodge that needs to sit in front of the head and not push the pulleys out....not much room in the 40 Ford pu.

 

take alook at this

http://store.jetracinginc.com/rmcs21v.html

 

Got any pictures of this setup?

 

I seem to recall this is "The Green Grenade" and it has one running off the flywheel & appears to be mounted on the bellhousing...

Sorry, can't find the full size one, but you get an idea...

This is looking down onto it at the rear of the motor.



Hope it helps?

 

Racers use the Geo Metro Alt because of its small size. 80's/90's cars. You might try a parts house to look at the size or a bone yard. Those cars have a 3 cyl motor.

 

look into a lucas gen. off a 60s british sports car, like MG. there really small. you can order them rebuilt from NAPA. get the lucas voltage reg too.

 

Awesome redneck fan belt man.... (Yeah, I know you were only mocking it up, but its great)

 

Suzuki motorcycles have alternators that can be adapted - pretty small too.

 

I figure this is probably no, but do you hve any room under the oil pan (again, I'm expecting a no here)?

I saw a ford picup w/ a flatty at a show that was setup that way (took me a while of looking to find it too, cause I didn't want to touch the guy's truck).

 

I am thinking that the setup would make for some ***-tro- nomical rpm!
You know,from a big 'ole pulley,to the small one on the alternator.

I too,would like to see this setup.

 

this is just a suggestion.
I have a Ural Motorcycle that was the BMW design stolen by Stalin back in WW2
The new ones (still made in the Ural Mountans of Russa) has a bosh alternator on the back of the engine..this ****er is small but mighty. i believe they told me 65 amp..im sure that would be enough for that car? maybe?
if your interested in dimensions and pictures PM me and I'll send them to you.
to get an idea of the size its about the size of both your fists held togeather..maybe even smaller if your a big guy.

 

Actually it is just a normal crankshaft pulley from a Big Block Chevy that is mounted on a spacer between the flexplate and the crank. The alternator is mounted on the top of the bellhousing on the inspection cover boss (long-bell Hemi). A small removable hump in the firewall allows access to the alternator from the inside of the car (just like working on a van)...

 

All this reminds me of a light on my old schwinn... pressed a ****on and a little gear dropped on top of the rear tire to power the light.

Hey... how much room you got in the wheelwells?

 

Didn't Troy Ladd from HHR have a pretty cool set up on the Orange Hemi Roadster. It was like the alternator was put under the body between the frame rails and was driven from a shaft that ran to the front of the engine? I tried to look for pictures but could not find one. I am pretty sure that is was in the Rod & Custom Feature but not on their online article.

 

Hey there are some really innovative solutions here!

Kris! That alternator setup from the rear is AWESOME! Was that a 354? What transmission and adapter was behind that?? Very clever. I may look into that. I'm not sure if I can do it with my setup, but very cool!

I like these little Japanese car alternators I see. Painted black they may not be so bad. I think if I can't fit the early style Mopar on there then I will try out one of these little compact car alternators like the Geo or Suzuki units.

 

Different car. It was a 32 roadster I think. I'll try and find the pictures. I talked to him about it at the show. It was the flexi-shaft setup from McMaster Carr.

 

A pulley up front running a shaft with bearings would allow the alternator to mount just about anywhere depending on how long you want the shaft to be. (i.e. back by the transmission) The shaft would have to be supported with brackets obviously, but that should give you the flexability to mount it father back in the ch***is.

EDIT : JefferyJames suggestion is the same idea. He beat me to it while I was typin. LOL

 

The Orange Hemi Roadster was a '32. This was the car, but I still cannot find a pic of the alternator.

 

It's NOT this car. I have tons of pictures of this car. He just has an alternator (or maybe it was a generator) mounted down low on the right side on this one. It's an entirely different roadster that has the shaft drive. I'll put the picture up of the shaft drive setup in a minute.

 

Even if it's not the car, you get my drift and know what I was going after. T'was my two cents and since you talked to Troy about it already, you know the general idea that I was thinking of. I am over here on the Poor Ol' East Coast so I don't get to see these cars first hand. I will trust your judgment if your saying it was a different car.

 

1951 331 Hemi (long bell). Homemade trans adapter (700R-4). About half of the transmission bellhousing is cut off and an aluminum plate with the Hemi bolt pattern is welded on the trans case. The trans ended up being about 5 inches shorter than stock after the mods...

 

I thought I took a picture of the actual pulley arrangement on the engine, but I didn't. Here is the shaft drive setup with the alt. mounted in the frame.



Anyone have a picture of the pully arrangement? I'll try to dig it up in McMaster and post it.

Even then... I don't have room for something like this, which brings me back to just a good 'ol small packaged alternator.

 

AHHHH!!! I was thinking that was a 354 for some reason. Now that explains it. That would totally work with a long bell. Great idea and great execution! Was it a total ***** to get to the flywheel bolts with that pulley mounted in there??

 

You guys suggesting the alternator mount on the rear end or drive shaft forget one important fact. If the car isn't moving down the road at a decent speed it isn't charging. That means no cruising around town at slow speeds, no cruising the fairgrounds for any length of time and you may run into trouble if you get caught in traffic for length of time. Also for those of you who can't live without the big sound systems blaring away, no power to recharge the battery when it goes dead while cruising main at the rod trot.

The belt driven off the flywheel is interesting but what the hell are you going to do if you loose a belt on a road trip besides call a tow rig. You have to pull the trans to swap belts. Not practical in any way on a rig that gets any miles besides in and out of the trailer.

Pop one of those small case alternators shown above apart, paint the case the same dull black as a generator or other belt driven accessory or paint it the engine color and stick it on and 60% of people won't notice it, 35% of the guys will take photos, say way cool on how you mounted it and the other 5% will whine because you didn't run a generator that you can't find a replacement for on the road unless one of the guys with a similar engine has one stashed in his trunk.