Made my own alternator bracket!
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 587
Likes: 0
From: Overland Park Kansas
Made my own alternator bracket!
Wanted to make my own instead of buying one, and was tired of the tension the big L gave and how it put the alt belt so close to the power steering reservoir.
Wooden template:
Right after casting:
Before paint:
After a really bad job of spraypaint:
Gonna use a turnbuckle to the rounded end to keep tension.
Wooden template:
Right after casting:
Before paint:
After a really bad job of spraypaint:
Gonna use a turnbuckle to the rounded end to keep tension.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 587
Likes: 0
From: Overland Park Kansas
I have a small metal furnace so I melt lots of metal and cast lots of things.
Edit: oh I guess it's not obvious. The part is solid aluminum. The wood was just a template for sand, in which I poured molten aluminum to make the part.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,028
Likes: 1
From: SOUTH ELGIN IL
Yeah, I cast it. I don't have a CNC or access to one (or any other kind of mill), so I cast most things I need. It's cast of aluminum and just over 1/4" thick, so it would have been hard to cut out of anything by hand.
I have a small metal furnace so I melt lots of metal and cast lots of things.
I have a small metal furnace so I melt lots of metal and cast lots of things.
Awesome.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 5,948
Likes: 72
From: Oxford MA-----You just lost the game!!!!
Yeah, I cast it. I don't have a CNC or access to one (or any other kind of mill), so I cast most things I need. It's cast of aluminum and just over 1/4" thick, so it would have been hard to cut out of anything by hand.
I have a small metal furnace so I melt lots of metal and cast lots of things.
Edit: oh I guess it's not obvious. The part is solid aluminum. The wood was just a template for sand, in which I poured molten aluminum to make the part.
I have a small metal furnace so I melt lots of metal and cast lots of things.
Edit: oh I guess it's not obvious. The part is solid aluminum. The wood was just a template for sand, in which I poured molten aluminum to make the part.
Scott
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 1,839
Likes: 45
From: nassau co. new york
neuroclast that is very interesting what you did but as i usually do when i redesign something, i always try to somehow test it's strength.have you tested any of your castings?i too have altered my alternator mount with stainless steel hardware that i know won't crack.looks great btw and best of luck.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 587
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From: Overland Park Kansas
No bullets. I could I guess, but I don't shoot much so I have no reason to.
neuroclast that is very interesting what you did but as i usually do when i redesign something, i always try to somehow test it's strength.have you tested any of your castings?i too have altered my alternator mount with stainless steel hardware that i know won't crack.looks great btw and best of luck.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 5,116
Likes: 5
From: Livonia MI
neuroclast that is very interesting what you did but as i usually do when i redesign something, i always try to somehow test it's strength.have you tested any of your castings?i too have altered my alternator mount with stainless steel hardware that i know won't crack.looks great btw and best of luck.
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,986
Likes: 21
From: Columbus MN
I'm curious of this too. While "neuro's" casting looks pretty cool, I've done my share of metal working over the years, and from experience that type of casting isn't very strong. Not trying to be a wet blanket, but no way I'd put that bracket on my car. If fashioned from flat steel stock, that would be another story.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 587
Likes: 0
From: Overland Park Kansas
I'm touched everyone is so concerned with my safety. This bracket is way more than strong enough to handle what it was designed for, which is to be a leverage point for a turnbuckle to tension a belt. It is already on the car and working. It's not like I cast an aluminum u-joint to go on the axle behind my 383. All this has to contend with it a little drag from an alternator and the tension of the belt, something I think almost 3/8" aluminum can handle.
And just for the record, there are aftermarket kits with basically the exact same thing made out of aluminum being sold:
Last edited by neuroclast; Sep 20, 2011 at 10:31 PM.
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 1,232
Likes: 6
From: Tucson AZ
St. Jude Donor '12
I would feel like I could make anything at all if I could do what you did there.
Now that would be fun.
" The alternator's
connected_to_the
carburetor..."
I'm solving a similar need on my alt using a couple of 3/8x3/8-24 Heim joints and a piece of 3/4 DOM tubing. Sort of a panhard thing for an alternator bracket I guess.
EDIT:
I just saw the pic above this post after clicking submit. They sell them already made! Mine is about $14 before chrome. That one looks costy but very nice.
Now that would be fun.
" The alternator's
connected_to_the
carburetor..."
I'm solving a similar need on my alt using a couple of 3/8x3/8-24 Heim joints and a piece of 3/4 DOM tubing. Sort of a panhard thing for an alternator bracket I guess.
EDIT:
I just saw the pic above this post after clicking submit. They sell them already made! Mine is about $14 before chrome. That one looks costy but very nice.
Last edited by RobbSalzmann; Sep 20, 2011 at 10:51 PM.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 587
Likes: 0
From: Overland Park Kansas
Now that would be fun.
" The alternator's
connected_to_the
carburetor..."
I'm solving a similar need on my alt using a couple of 3/8x3/8-24 Heim joints and a piece of 3/4 DOM tubing. Sort of a panhard thing for an alternator bracket I guess.
EDIT:
I just saw the pic above this post after clicking submit. They sell them already made! Mine is about $14 before chrome. That one looks costy but very nice.
" The alternator's
connected_to_the
carburetor..."
I'm solving a similar need on my alt using a couple of 3/8x3/8-24 Heim joints and a piece of 3/4 DOM tubing. Sort of a panhard thing for an alternator bracket I guess.
EDIT:
I just saw the pic above this post after clicking submit. They sell them already made! Mine is about $14 before chrome. That one looks costy but very nice.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 5,948
Likes: 72
From: Oxford MA-----You just lost the game!!!!
The reason I asked about the bullets is because everybody that I have ever known who had a metal melting furnace had it for melting down lead for casting bullets for handloads. Until now, I guess!
Scott
Scott
