When is an alternator correct for a custom ?

Many customs never have the hood open while profiling so who gives a care?

 

Not me

 

When you don't care what other people are doing and make a decision to build YOUR car, YOUR way. 100% isn't for everybody and doesn't mean you don't have a nice ride. Just build your car to the best standards you have. You'll sleep well and can concentrate on the important points of your build.

 

If you show the vehicle at shows that require the hood to be open then only in cars that came with them. Note this applies only it you are a trophy *****. If you do not then who would know or care.

 

When it needs to drive somewhere other than off the trailer.

 

The alternator and the single master cylinder debate will continue as long as there are two guys together talking about old cars.
Plain and simple a dual master is just common sense now days on a car driven in this hellish traffic. As for an alternator I suppose it depends on how much drain is on the battery with all the other non traditional **** we like to add. Cars of the 50's up until alternators came out also performed well with the generator that came with it. We spent hours parked on lovers lane listening to the old tube type radio and the car always started. Radios worked better parked in the country!
I've been driving cars with generators as far back as Model A's and Model T's. Not the highest amp generators known to man. Yet those cars performed as designed and the yeller colored headlights did a fairly good job pointing me home.
Same with single master cylinders. Only one time did I have one totally go out. Lucky it was as I pulled into my own drive way slowly. That's also when I realized dad was right. The parking brake really was an emergency brake.
To me an alternator does not belong on a non hooded old car. Still I can see adding one when that car is street driven out of town. But buy one of those generator looking alternators. But when your little deuce coupe has AC, power windows, etc. put a pretty chorme alternator on it.

 

QUOTE: "When it needs to drive somewhere other than off the trailer."

My newest car i have came from the factory with a generator, and EFI and points....a 1970. Yes, it was on a trailer once, as I bought it as a non running car without an engine installed. Imagine ****ing that, a generator keeping up to EFI requirements..

Been on the road, and never towed, for 7 years now,.... never garaged, and it's my only year-round car here. .....And I am single and live alone, so I can't secretly borrow "the wifes yuppie car" when I need to go somewhere.


QUOTE: "Plain and simple a dual master is just common sense now days on a car driven in this hellish traffic" This is nonsence talk. A single cuircuit system is not dangerous. I don't give a toot how old you are or what you lost a brake on. I am old too, and was ASE certified on Brakes and Front End. Lets try reading the rules on hamb. It does not say "spreading ******** gospel to hoodlums worldwide"

I am really pissed about the hamb content lately. You streetrodders have many other sites to use. There is/was only ONE traditional site, and it is overrun with nonsense.






I couldn't care less what a builder uses or not. But I don't like reading incorrect statements about older traditional parts on a traditional website........... Because someone might think it is correct.

 

If you can't live with the appearance of an alternator consider a power gen. A little spendy but they look great and I have heard nothing but good things about them. I run a generator in my buick and the next time it quits I am replacing it with a one wire gm alternator. My roadster will get a power gen.

 

Not here to argue...But----- I didn't say a single master cylinder was dangerous. I said "Plain and simple a dual master is just common sense now days on a car driven in this hellish traffic". I also wrote that I drove many cars with a single master and only once had trouble. Only once is all it takes to kill your family and others when that single master goes out. ASE certified has nothing to do with bad or worn out parts.
I'll admit it may not be traditional but if mounted under the car in the location where many were, no one will know it's there. I have a 1939 Ford. The first year Ford had juice brakes. The only way you'd know it would have a modern dual master is to crawl under and look. It sure makes sense to me.
I do understand that if the car is built to copy a traditional old car of the time period it should not have an alternator or a modern master cylinder hanging on the firewall.

 

I love customs but they always look better with the hood closed,,,do what you want to. HRP

 

Just mount it under the AC compressor and nobody will know.

 

That's the way I like to see them, as well. I like the way the lines on a nice custom flow. That flow defines the car. They really should be displayed with the hood closed. New parts or not.

 

I think Customs should have all the mechanical 'advantages' they can, as they are hidden.
Alternators have served us well, although my cars (all HAMB friendly) still run generators...
but my '55 F100 has a105 amp Police alternator. (on its SBC, not a 'recommended motor'...LOL)
Dependable. Good service truck.

My '47 Ford sedan will be finished as a 1950 (thereabouts) 'Semi Custom', like a bucks-up rodder would have had as a near new family car. (one he wasn't ashamed to drive!)
Dropped, tail dragger w/skirts, dual spots, no serious bodywork...like a 2 year old car with shiny black paint, but modern Chev power...301, single 4 bbl., mild cam, dual exhaust, pencil tips...and a Delco alternator.

I agree with F&S, I am also certified Brake and Front end, but about 20 years previous to ASE...
My early certs read 'SAE'. ASE came later, a written test...

 

I had a GM alternator and dual master cylinder on my Merc. Yea, they are not period correct, but I don't care. I answer to no one but myself and build my cars the way I want them.



Plus, customs should always have the hood shut.



But, like that one guy said, to thine own self be true....

See ya, -Abone.

 

what a stupid thing to even worry about. what say we ***** about long water pumps on SBC's or no oil fill tube in the intake next.

 

And they are ALL Poncho powered! HRP

 

Flamedabone, If you know they aren't "period correct" than why are you posting/talking about them here?...great looking custom you have.

 

I have to alternate here... FlamedAbone's Merc is LOVELY!!!

 

I am looking at this thread in the Hokey *** Message Board, not the traditional customs section. If in some parallel universe, my reply is showing up in the traditional only customs area, please forgive me.

But, still I build my cars to suit myself and sometimes they enjoy the benefits of a nice crispy 12 volt charging system.

I miss that car sometimes...



-Abone.

 

i always say build it however you want... but me, i like generators... plus i've never been left on the side of the road from a genny. gotta love simplicity.

 

This is what happens when the line in the sand gets drawn

 

I recall a similar debate 2 or 3 years ago on here. About the same time Kirk's highly publicized cross country tour was going on. Anybody remember that? Guess what failed on him, put him on a flat bed, with no replacement parts available for a week or more, and put him put him a day or 2 behind after he finally found someone that could rebuild his.

 

No one said this **** was easy.

 

It really depends on how you use you car. If you have to depend on you car to get you to where you need to be then run an alternator. On an OT race car I finally got tired of approaching cement walls at 100 miles an hour with single circuit breaks. If I only drove the car on the street I would have been fine with single circuit brakes. Racing with single circuit breaks is stupid and shows a lack of respect and responsibility for your family. How many of you that are saying only generators are acceptable are still running cable brakes? Cable brakes can be made to work and if you car still has a 4 banger under the hood then they might be adequate along with a generator. Like it or not, if you are going to drive in todays traffic you need to have a car that runs and stops dependably.

 

I just finished reading Randy Rundle's 6V to 12V conversion guide and it's very clear why an alternator makes much more sense than a generator, which produces the least amount of power when you need it most - a bit like vacuum wipers. If the generator had been so good they wouldn't have needed to invent alternators. Let's put it this way - if you live in a house built in the 19th C or earlier would you not install central heating because it is not traditional?

If they had had alternators back in the 1920s and 1930s they sure would have used them instead of generators.

 

They did have them back in the 30s and aftermarket for up fitting vehicles with high loads. Post war they became a bit more common on heavy duty things like fire trucks.

Leece - Neville corporation.
Founded 1909 in Cleveland Ohio

 

Just the same, I like to actually drive my cars a lot.
I also got a kick out if the electric fan thread that was closed earlier." Electric fans ****, here use this Zips riser to make it traditional " they even come complete with alternator and A/C compressor mounts cast right into it ....
I don't really see the big deal, didn't they start using them on cars in '60 and even before that on military stuff?

 

1961 Chrysler was the first to get alternators from the factory.

 

If they had alternators back in the 20's and 30's they would have used them, yep, they sure would have. The would have used radials, efi, tandem masters, disc brakes, 12 volt, electric fans, full syncro trans, power steering etc. as well. However this site is about how it was, not how it could have been, why is that SO hard for some members here to grasp?

This is a site for us car guys who apreciate how it was, many here build what we do so we can experiance that look and driving experience of great time long past. Why do so many come here and try to change that? I agree with F&J there has been alot of OT fluff as of lately, threads like this with strong opinions for both sides rage on while great content slips pages back, ironicly this post helps to keep it up front...sigh