Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1999 11:59:06 -0500
Reply-To: Martin Jagersand <jag@CS.YALE.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Martin Jagersand <jag@CS.YALE.EDU>
Subject: Re: alternator upgrade
In-Reply-To: <199901250758.CAA03947@cayuga.cs.rochester.edu> (message from
Automatic digest processor on Mon, 25 Jan 1999 00:00:03 -0800)
>From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
>
>This is what I know about VW alternators.
>
>- stay with Bosch - Motorola and others are not that good.
Both Bosch and Motorola are OEM. I didn't know there was a quality
difference. To make them last longer you can
lubricate the bearings through the little hole in the end of the case.
Only other maintenance is to replace brushes when worn. Cost about $2
for a new pair that you solder to the brush holder. This is easy on
the "square box" style holder, but a bit of a pain on the other
style. (The one that look like a TO3 transistor)
>- most all Bosch alternators will work on almost any VW. Currently I am
>running my Vanagon 90A alternator on my Audi 80 engine. This means that
>any inline four alternator will work on your Vanagon. Basically you have
>to swap over your existing belt pulley to make it work.
The alts have different diameters and depths. The Vanagon Diesel came with two
kinds of alt mounting brackets (both difficult to find used). One
accepts only smaller alts and one that is adjustable.
>- try to find a Passat or Corrado 120A Alternator - some EVs have 150A
>alternators. I have almost 1kW of high beams and the 90A alternator drops
>below 12V with all the lights on. 90A isn't enough especially in the
>winter with the blower and wipers on all the time.
>- The wire that runs from the alternator to the stater should be changed to
>at least 4 gauge. Lots of loss occurs here. From the starter to the
>battery it is pretty thick stuff.
>
>Now, does anyone have any info on how to wire up TWO alternators? :)
Actually there is some reference to this on the early microfiche, but
I wasn't able to figure out the details on how it was done.
For people running 1.9l TD or TDI's with either my or Winkler's
modified motor mounts it might be possible to do a dual alternator
(and AC) setup using brackets from the B2 Passat/Quantum. These
let you put the second alt (and compressor) on the other side of
the block using the bosses for the motor mount.
/Martin
--
Westy 1.9l Turbo Diesel
Quantum 1.6l Turbo Diesel
Martin Jagersand email: jag@cs.yale.edu
Computer Science Department jag@cs.rochester.edu
Yale University
Slow down and visit the VW diesel Westy page:
WWW: http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/jag/vw
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