After a bit of a break from this car (two other projects kind of took over) I wanted to get back to work so I started off with a small project that had been nagging at me, the fan. I wanted a mechanical fan but didn't have the room for the stock set up. I initially thought I'd modify an alternator and put a fan on that. Well this worked (can't find the photos) but looked a bit out of place plus the fan ended up really close to the water lines to the radiator. So I thought about it some more and dug out the horse apple of a generator I had and thought I'd try a different approach. I found that if I flip the stock fan support around and install the fan more or less where the base of the generator should go the fan clears everything and lines up with the water pump pulley. So I got an off set generator mount and machined off all the bits I didn't need from the alternator to mount it as a generator and bolted it all together. Needs a couple of slots in the outer tube carrier for the alternator and a coat of paint (plus I need to track down where ever I left the pulley for the alternator) but looks like it should do the job
Are the slots in the tube to let it cool off? I feel like I've read ofnpeople doing a similar thing in hiding an alternator in a generator case but I think they were failing from the heat
The alternator only touches the support tube in 6 spots. After I add the slots ( like those on the original generator ) and paint it I plan to use a little thermally conductive grease to help use that big Aluminum surface of the support tube for keeping things cool. All the original vents in the alternator case are still open to air flow so I think it has a fighting chance of not cooking itself. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
The Jalopy Journal
