Hi All,
In a similar vein (to Mike Munson's post), my TR6's Lucas ACR 18 more or
less "gave up the ghost". Actually, it gave up a couple of years ago, I
just kept driving it and watching the voltmeter to make sure there was
enough "juice" to keep the electronic ignition running. This worked fine
except for one trip from Mid-Ohio to Boston where there was a traffic jam
in Hartford, CT (there's always a traffic jam in Harford, CT -
unexplainedly, I might add). In that "jam", it was 11:00 PM, so I had the
lights, CB, stereo cranking and the heat. The car "skipped" a beat or two,
and I looked at the voltmeter - 11 volts! Turning off the headlights and
the heater and stereo and CB made things come back... I proceeded without
heat or sounds the rest of the 90 miles home without incident.
At any rate, I just installed a huge Delco unit that happens to be the
same as my tow vehicle (a 1/2 tonne Chevy van) and the install was pretty
smooth. I did have to fabricate an upper bracket (actually, I bought a Mr.
Gasket dress up chrome bracket and modified it by shortening it and
drilling a locating hole for the end that attaches to the water pump
housing. The only other mods were pretty simple - the swivel bracket on
the front cover was about .25" too long to mount the belt flush, so we
dismantled the unit and turned the cover on a lathe to get the proper
location of the belt. The hole for the swivel on the GM product was made
for a 3/8 bolt, so we fabricated a sleeve to neck down to 5/16. I had to
buy a 4" 5/16 grade 8 bolt to actually mount the thing.
Everything just bolted in after that.
I now get 14+ volts at the battery at idle with all the accessories on,
much better than 12.1 or whatever I was getting before.
I am concerned that the output voltage is a bit high, but so far so good.
We'll road test it starting tomorrow on the 700 mile trip to Mid-Ohio.
THere's nothing like driving an untested car (rebuilt motor over the
winter with under 100 miles on it) with a "new" electrical system - yes,
I'm a bit nervous.
On the plus side, I'm caravanning with a few other Triumph-iles from New
England, and one has a trailer. On the minus side, if something does fail,
I have to drive the tow vehicle (or the Spitfire). Yeow!
Fingers crossed,
rml
p.s. if you see me broken down on the side of the road, be sure to wave. I
have AAA-Plus, so if I make it to Akron - I'm there (to Mid-Ohio)!
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