So some of you may be following along my nightmares with the alternator that I put in my car. If you have ever heard me start the square and heard a noise like there was a cat stuck in there, what it was is the fan belt screaming. You see as I have explained before, the alternator waspart of a home made conversion kit that I got from a friend on another mailing list. It's a simple conversion but he didn't know the part number for the alternator that he used for it (you know the story- no sticker on the alternator and he threw out the box) So after working with a local FLAPS I finally found an alternator small enough to fit- a nippondenso alternator out of a lawn tractor. The only problem with it was it had the wrond style pulley. (See the photo below)
The pulley on the right is the pulley that was on the alternator. The larger pulley is of course the split pulley that comes on the VW's. The notched fan belt in the picture is the one we all run. It's V shaped so when it runs on the new pulley, unless the notches align perfectly, the belt sqeuels! LOUDLY!
Trying to repair this I tried different things- Changed the mounting area-shimmed it up higher to creat more tension on the belt (this resulted in cracking the mounting bolt holes on the fan housing that I had to replace) Different belts, alignments, etc. Then Uncle Jack comes along and says, "why dont you just change the pulley" My answer- because nobody sells pulleys. "Oh, then why don't you just adapt the VW pulley to your alternator" HHMMM! Good idea, Jack. When can I come over?!
Yesterday at Jacks garage we took apart both alternators. The VW pulley is almost a perfect fit for the alternator, but the bolt that you mount the pulley to is too short (the pulley is too thick) so not enough threads are showing. Jack says, "no problem, we'll go to my brother's (or brother in laws- sorry jack, I don't remmember) He's got a machine shop. So we head on over and go to the shop. After getting the oversized drill press put together the idea was to drill down the one side of the pulley so it will fit into the alternator. Just as we start, the pulley slips out of the vise and the drill takes a dig at the pulley. Crap this isn't going to work. Then the son in law comes into the shop. His idea- why don't you just get a smaller V shaped pulley. "Because nobody sells just pulleys!" He leaves the room, comes back two minutes later with an alternator in his hand. It has an exact same size V shaped pulley on it. Says we can have it cause the alternator is fried anyhow. shocked
After taking it apart and making one small adjustment on the pulley, it fits perfect!
I installed it today- the car starts up and all I hear is Volkswagen. BO** BO** BO** BO** BO** BO** BO** BO** BO** BO** BO** BO** BO** BO**
there is some play in the belt though- usually you should have about a half to 3/4 of an inch play on your belt. I have about an inch and a half. I'm running a 38 1/2 inch belt on it. A 38 inch belt is too tight.
Does anybody know if they sell belts in 1/4" sizes???ALL THANKS GO TO JACK AND HIS BROTHER. Once again friends are what this club is all about!
