More Alternator Kit Issues

[bassman1]

Just recently purchased a Bull Motiff alternator conversion kit, tried to fit it yesterday and the alt pulley is not in line with the fan pulley, the fan pulley and crank pulley are inline and we double checked with trying the old generator , it looks like the alternator pulley is too deep , it throws the belt offline by around 3/16" see pic, i have laid a piece of white hacksaw blade flush to the fan pulley to illustrate, i'm concerned that this will cause the belt to wear quickly ,possible cause wear to the water pump and alternator bearings too, bull motiff said they have sold 5 kits recently and not had any complaints, i wonder if those people noticed the discrepancy, i was a bit niffed as this is going to mean i cant attend the woodvale rally ,had to cancel the mot again , really close to finishing the renovation now . i was just expecting to bolt it on and it fit ! They have asked me to provide pics and they will let their engineers sort it , but its pretty obvious that without butchering the water pump and or the alternator bracket their is no chance of moving it rearwards, no reply as of 5pm to my morning e.mail .

[simmitc]

Most unusual - I've always had to use a packing washer between the pump and the alternator in order to bring the pulley forwards!

[MarkyB]

Use the back edge of the blade as a straight edge, to be honest it doesn't look to bad to me and I wouldn't be cancelling an MOT because of it.

[moggiethouable]

I dont know if the misalignment is acceptable to you, but I fitted a long impeller water pump instead of the short type.
This meant the pump/fan belt is .6mm further forward, I know this because I packed it out with 2 additional gaskets at .3mm,so the impellers did not foul, (when one is up to ones backside in crocodiles, one does not stop to feel the temperature of the water) I am merely pointing out here that mine is also not perfectly square, not suggesting you change the pump of course.
It works fine after 2000 miles only, but my instinct says it wont come to any harm,the purist engineer in me is twitchy,but as time progresses, I realise it aint a fat lot,especially when I travel 2-3 thousand miles p.a.
Is backside ok mods?

[bmcecosse]

Asked and answered in another place........ There is no such thing as a 'long impeller' water pump...... There is a ' large impeller' water pump for later/1275 engines.......... - but it is exactly the same length........ Packing out with gaskets is not a solution....

[bassman1]

hi marky i had no choice but to cancel , i dont have a spare alternator and i have changed the loom to an alternator only one so would not have been able to run on my old generator,its a brand new engine with no running time , i'm not going to run it untill BM get back to me with their solution, i have already worked one out that i think will work , if they want to supply me with a flat pulley that fits the shaft on the x drive alternator it will lie flat against the fan and it should be almost bang on inline , i had an auto electrician look at it today , he said it definately is not an acceptable set up , it runs the risk of wearing the belt out , wearing the alternator bearing and also the water pump, the belt is sitting diagonally in the pulleys and will exert more pressure on one side of the pulley putting strain on the shaft,o.k it might run for a few thousand miles but i could end up with several items wearing out before their time thats going to cost me money and not the supplier. as i said i was trying for the show this weekend mot thursday would have given me 2 days to fit carpets and interior trim and possibly the headlining it was a tight schedule its not run under its own steam for 8 years , tonight i got the front bumper and surround on , instrument panel fitted and choke and throttle cables , filled it with water and oil , new plugs and ht leads , still excited its been a long ride

[kennatt]

well I know what I would do and it involves a grinder,and 10min ,but that is up to you .

[bmcecosse]

A file - and two minutes will get it done...... But it's no reason to not go for an MOT.

[chickenjohn]

As said above, either file it, grind it (the alternator) so the pulleys are in line, or do as I would do and just stick with the dynamo! I've never really understood why folks fit alternators to Minors. There is so little electrical equipment they don't need them even with a stereo fitted.

[bassman1]

So the answer is to spend £70 on a conversion kit that is supposed to be researched and factored to be a fit, then butcher either your existing water pump or the alternator or both to make it do what it said it did on the tin !!!!!!! and if the lug breaks off either the alternator or the water pump its going to be 'sorry squire you shouldn't have messed with it ....nullifies the guarantee if you mess with it sir ' from comments i've had and after mulling it over i think if i can get bm to supply a flat pulley which can be bolted up tight to the alty fan it will bring it almost into line. chopping it is a last resort and one i really dont feel happy about , are all of the modern replacements like this ? i spent a few hours last night reading the messageboard comments about alternator conversions to minors and there is a debate whether lucas are reliable it seems they are a bang on fit though.

[bassman1]

@chickenjohn ...you have no idea what my wife wants fitted into the motor hair dryer ,tv, fridge,surround sound system 3d tv this all started with a duff sealed beam unit, so changed over to halogen, then realised some of the future plans for the electrical gizmo's would probably require an alternator, so with the interior out and dash in bits it seemed a good time to get rid of the old loom which was in a very poor state having been cut into over the tenure of previous owners, and at the same time change to an alternator , i got the loom for an alternator so removed the possibility of a get out of jail card with the old relay box and generator, in hindsight it would have been a good call to go with the old style loom.

[bassman1]

WHOOP WHOOP, Bull Motiff got back to me and the alternator that has been sent to me has the wrong pulley , the ones they have in stock have a flat to the fan pulley, so a rogue pulley is the prob, a pulley swap is in progress and we should be back on track , thanks for the suggestions , it couldn't be right having pulleys out of alignment and didnt fancy chopping the brackets, i dont mind chopping here and there to make things fit in other areas, the traveller has plenty of places where we've had compromise to get a decent fit but things with warranties naaaaa.

[lambrettalad]

got there in the end remember you may need to re-position the coil,the dynamo bracket will not fit around an alternator.mine didn't

[bmcecosse]

[bassman1]

hi lambrettalad , i have a solution the original washer bottle fitting is on the drivers side inner wing and if i place the coil in the holder and grip the top springy clamps together , drill and put a fine nut and bolt through it clamps the coil perfectly the loom just reaches too so jobs a guddun you can just see it hiding behind the old loom on the left of picture