Karl Nielsen
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    • Junkyard Toolkit
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    • "Hornet 450" Frame Design
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Active Projects
    • '64 Dart Restoration >
      • '64 Dodge Dart
      • History
      • Slant-6 Revival
      • Fuel Delivery >
        • Intake Manifold
        • Carburetor
        • Electric Fuel Pump
      • Alternator Upgrade >
        • Project Overview
        • Bracket Design
        • Bracket Prototype
        • Belt Tensioner
        • Paint & Install
      • IGNITION - GM HEI >
        • 'Hide-a-HEI' Concept
        • MOPAR Ignition Box Modification
        • HEI Module Plate
        • Assembly and Wiring
      • Ford 8.8 Swap >
        • Background
        • Finding a Donor Car
      • Engine Bay Re-Wiring >
        • New Wiring Diagram
        • Power Distribution Module >
          • PDM Part 1 - Headlights
          • PDM Part 2 - Engine Control
          • PDM Part 3 - Horns & Starter
          • PDM Part 4 - Overall Layout
      • Cluster Harness
      • Body & Chassis >
        • Black Engine Bay
        • Sound Deadening
        • Carpet
        • Heater Box Rebuild
      • Parts Donor Vehicles
    • Relay Tester
  • Other Pages
    • Junkyard Toolkit
  • Archived Projects
    • "Hornet 450" Frame Design
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YOUR CART

 Alternator Bracket - Concept & Mock-Up

There are already some good forum threads and articles out there on how to upgrade the factory "30-amp" alternator to a later NipponDenso 90-amp alternator, so I'm not going to go into too much depth about that. What I want to focus on here is why I decided to not modify (grind to fit) my stock alternator bracket and how I went about designing and fabricating a brand new bracket designed to accommodate the NipponDenso alternator.

First let's analyze this image that I found online where it was prescribed to grind up to 0.300" (not quite 5/16") off the front of the stock Slant-6 alternator bracket.
I compared this with my own stock bracket, and what I found was disturbing. What the above picture doesn't show is that the alternator pivot-bolt support that is being ground down is not a complete cylinder. It is partially cast iron webbing in the middle as seen here:
I measured how thick the casting is on the front support area and it's around .375" thick (approximately 3/8")! So if you go grinding off up to .300" all you are left with for front support structure is ~0.075" or slightly more than 1/16". Not Good. With vintage cast iron, that's a recipe for something to crack and bad things to happen.

So I decided to design my own replacement alternator bracket based off the stock bracket but designed specifically for the NipponDenso 90A alternator.

To do this I started by making a cardboard mock-up. I then used this as a template to create 3D models.
In the process of studying my assembly I made some tweaks and changes. Perhaps the two most notable were the elimination of the small gusset on the underside (seen in the cardboard mock-up) and extending one of the top gussets out to overlap the pivot bolt bushing.

Once I was happy with my model I created a set of drawings for each piece. One thing I made sure of was that all dimensions were 'nice' numbers that could easily be found with a tape measure.

With a complete drawing set in hand, I started making a wood mock-up from a sheet of .224-in thick MDF. Since the two main structural plates are supposed to be 3/8-in thick, I glued two pieces of MDF together to make pieces that were .448-in thick. This is thicker than 3/8-in (.375-in) but for the purposes of mock-up it would be fine.
Satisfied with this wood mock-up, I contacted one of my co-workers who is a very talented welder and also happens to be a classic car enthusiast. I don't own a welder (yet...) and haven't welded since high school, so I asked him to help build this bracket out of steel. He was eager to help and saw no problems with fabricating this part from steel.