I know you guys think I'm the post ***** from hell, and yeah, you're right, but I have to share this with everyone. So I get my 47 all wired up right? Fire the engine, everything lights up and blinks like it should. But I got nothing at the voltmeter. Just sits there like a frog on a rock. I'm driving the thing shaking out different problems,"fettling" I think the Brits call it. In the meantime I'm charging externally with a battery tender every night. Done it with motorcycles for years. I go to the Decatur swap meet last week and I buy a nice Powermaster 100 amp alternator, more power than I'll ever need. I get the bracket and pulley from Speedway, it's all good. Just came in the mail last night, haven't installed it yet. So I go to breakfast with the sprint car team every Saturday morning. I drive the Ford. On the way home I'm watching the voltmeter sit there like a frog on a rock when it occurs to me that maybe the commutator is "cruddied" up. When I get home, while the engine is idling, I shoot some WD40 on the commutator. BAM!The voltmeter jumps to about 14 at idle, and almost 16 at half throttle! I'm feeling a little stupid that I didn't think of this first, but no problem, I'll still replace the generator with the alternator eventually. This gives me a chance to drive the thing and settle it out before I have to do that. Just goes to show you, it really could be something simple.
Leave it alone If it ain't broke don't fix it. Right now your alternator is NOS and can be resold. install it and it's 20 dollar used piece. Did I tell you I'm partial to generators?
So you probably really have sticky, hung brushes. The WD helped them slide in the holders. You need to free them up by either taking it apart or working them up and down in place if you can reach in there. Having oil(wd) on the comutator is not a good thing. Get them free and spray some brake cleaner on them. Oil will make the brushes glaze and have too much resistance.
Gas pumper, I wondered about that. I'll go spray some brake cleaner on the commutator now that I have it charging. If I take the generator off to repair it, an alternator is going back in it's place. Thanks, Mike
It wouldn't have been a vacation if Dad wasn't under the hood messing with the Gen brushes Heck my mom could short a solenoid with a screwdriver while holding 2 babies. Never had to worry about the hood hinges rusting up, they got plenty of workouts on our cars.
so true---he would end up screwing everything that was adjustable down tight then hit the road---you are so funny
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