Friday 6 June 2014

Lower Alternator Bracket Upgrade

When I fitted the Denso alternator I fabricated a new top bracket.  For the bottom bracket I reworked the original Lucas ACR bracket from Tiger.  I removed the mounting pieces and had the local welding shop add new ones for the Denso.

After fitting I did worry a little that this bracket had no lateral bracing and may be weakened by the sideways forces combined with it being 'pulled' across the front of the corner of the engine.
A week after returning from the 1,500 mile Euroblat trip I was having a general check under teh



It is not surprising that it failed as it did.  I was just lucky I did not breakdown.  Here you can see where the edge of the engine was contacting the bracket.


It it probably a bit over the top, but for a replacement I used some 5mm right angle steel and got some mounting pieces welded on.  All painted up and ready for fitment.


It is perhaps possible to lighten this further, but I didn't want to unwittingly introduce any weak points into this new bracket.  It was mounted with spacing washers slightly proud of the engine so as not to have the corner of the engine pressing against the bracket where the failure occurred on the old bracket.