The thing that I have created in my mind and slowly building require that much of the "normal" stuff mounted on the front of the engine not be there. I have a remote water pump with the radiator mounted out back, a Hilborn style fuel pump mounted on the timing cover and a 3" blower belt is the first thing that greets you after the Eelco tank...get the picture? So I was thinking that I should mount the altenator someplace else also...but where....******, rearend...remote with an electric motor like they use for waterpumps?
Look at Lance Reventlows Scarabs of the late 50s, he ran them off the yoke on the rearend. They only charge while moving.
sorry , running an alternator with an electric motor will not work....that would be perpetual motion... i have run them off the rear end , that works only when you are moving..which seamed to be fine as long as you don't have a big elecrical load like air, power windows, fans,etc...worked great on a basic car with a heavy duty battery
Not to hijack, but I would be interested in info on mounting off the rear end... If someone could PM me with some info I would be appreciative.
build a slide braket off your frame, and put the belt around your drive shaft. it will charge more than enuff while your driving to keep you in good shape.
If you do any of those things, you will wind up doing it all over. Just put it where it's supposed to be, with a belt to the engine pulleys. You can mount it down low where it's not too noticeable, just make a bracket. (If you mount it on the rearend, and the battery becomes degraded a bit, you will be wondering why your off the line response is poor, and there's weak power, even missing, until the alternator comes on line. Low voltage to the coil will be the problem.) pigpen
If the car does not have a huge demand for electric you would be best off mounting it to the tail shaft of the trans with a pulley off the yoke. there is too much movement in the rear for the wiring and to make a clean setup.
On mine, I made brackets to mount it way down low, and so close to the engine that I had to turn it around backwards. Works fine, since the alternator doesn't care about the direction of rotation, as long as it's brushes get tickled. I've even had some people find it down there and ask me if it's some new kind of va***e pump. And several people have told me it won't work. It's been working for about 19 years now. I've never personally tried the driveshaft mounted setup, so am interested what others are saying about that. Good post...
I don't have anything that I can send you but stock cars mount a pump with pulley on the rear u joint yoke for a rear end cooler. An alternator mount would be almost exactly the same thing. Wouldn't do for a car that runs at low speed for more than a few minutes, though. I once left a belt just barely too loose before driving several hours through the country. Everything was fine at highway speed. When I went through a town the lights would start to dim after a few minutes and the stereo would make a "crunch" noise through the speakers when I it the brakes. Had it figured out after about the third town but no tools in the car. I learned 2 lessons that day.
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