1065 replies to this topic

[Kam]

Looking realy good mate , how did you get on with rebuilding your engine , did it all go ok

Cheers mate, yeah the rebuild is going ace at the moment, its coming along sweet

I haven't started it yet

[Kam]

Right, I think I've got the alternator situation sorted out now - it don't fit!

Basically, using the mini tec bracket on an allspeed frame with the honda alternator means it won't fit without alot of grinding of the bulkhead away!

You can see the problem below, I've cut away the corner section by the inner wing for maxi room and placed the honda one as far back as poss on the slotted hole, but still



the back section of the alternator is touching the bulkhead around the main tower bolt, ok theres about 2mm clearance there but I call that touching!



and the gap between the pulley and inner wing is only about 5mm



and thats with this engine postiion, any other lateral position towards the passenger then the alternator back as far as it is means the belt won't go on and will hit the inner wing

this is with the alternator placed as far back as possible in the bracket and my engine position being as forward as possible towards the bulkhead, also as I've got a B18 block so it sits a littler taller but still the alternator won't clear the bulk!

I looked into maybe grinding away the lug on the alternator thats catching on the bulkhead but it houses the bolt for the casing so thats a big no then! I then looked into grinding away the lower part of the bulkhead but theres no way I'm doing that as its the front plate where the tower bolt is! As I've already cut into this bracket now.......things weren't looking good! So no the honda alternator doesn't fit using this bracket on this frame

Next up - alternator Plan B (sorry Burnard!) time for the little swift to show the big honda how its done properly!

Chucked the swift one on, loadsa room, around 10mm! Massive!







Apologises for my makeshift alternator belt, a long section of plug wire from my handheld lamp is good enough for me!



Thats how I roll!

The wire is thick enough to maybe gauge the same width as a belt, also my lower pulley is at its furthest setting towards the front of the car in its slotted hole



Which means its got plenty of room to move back to limit the point where they sit close together and still clear the corner gusset of the frame - this can also act as my tensioner aswell



Only two problems I got now is getting this swift one to fit in the honda bracket and the pulley, I'll get the pulleys swapped over so its using the honda ribbed one but will need to source some spacers for the mounting points





The only other problem with using the swift one is the pulley (honda ribbed on suzuki) might not be inline with any of the three ribs on the crank, so far it looks like it will go in the center one which means the spacing has to be precise when its sitting in the bracket, the lower pulley (tensioner) is easy to space

Other than that I'm quietly confident this will work, also any belt changes can be done "in-house" rather than removing the engine mount if I was to use the extra pulley at the front of the engine like the other idea I had using the longer belt - cheers to Gingermonkey for pointing that out, I totally forgot about it in my excitement of getting this working

Next up - finishing off the front end

Got some front securing bolts put on



Then put on the early external release system for the bonnet which I got from MiniJosh92 (cheers mate) and hacked away some of the front slam panel aswell



Incase your wondering why the external release and not internal? its simple - pull away front end!

But the problem is where I had to hack away the center bar on the front panel, its housed the bit where the spring sits for the release to work! so now I'll need to weld in small section where the spring attaches, somehow......

I know most people just use a lift off bonnet held down with pins but I don't want that, car has to look normal

Finally thats the front end done, its actually been a nightmare, the clubby was alot more straightforward! I chucked on my old bumper and found a problem, bolt sits too close



I can set the bolts back a bit which aint an issue but it means I need to remove the bumper before taking off the front end so I can the main bolt off, thats no worries though as taking off this front end will be a nightmare anyway!

Next up was seeing where I stood in the rad world

With the front slam panel cut back I threw my trusty old kneeling pad in (only 250mm height) at the lowest position resting against the headlamp bowl to see how it looked





I've still got to cut into the top of the wing if needed to raise the rad so tried it at its highest position without cutting the wing and again resting against the headlamp bowl





That above picture has also got my 12" fan behind it so gives me an idea on space, but the fan is at the very top and not in the center, I will more than likely put a smaller fan near the headlight bowl, we'll see on the rad space first

The wing gutter section will need to be cut out a bit to give the maxi room as poss, but I need to start searching for a rad first before cutting, my local scrappys said if the rad you choose don't fit then keep bringing them back until you find one that does! Thats customer service!

Next job - some more chicken!

[mike174]

Looking good Kam have it running by the weekend then?

[Burnard]

Looking at the bracket it looks like you could drill a new hole further away from the bulk head, to move the bottom of the alternator towards the front of the car.

Ill draw it in paint

............

[Burnard]

Should move the bottom away from the bulk head.

Should be easier than finding spacers for the swift alternator, or am i missing something?

[eagle-co94]

Nah, just do what I did...cut a half-circle section out of the frame, giving you enough clearance. Luckily you have a LOT more room there than I do. I still have to fit it, but I couldn't even get the alternator into place without cutting.

[Kam]

Should move the bottom away from the bulk head.

Should be easier than finding spacers for the swift alternator, or am i missing something?

The honda one was already as far back as it will go against its back plate, you can't move the bottom section of the body anywhere as its resting pretty much against the head

I know you want the swift one, but so do I now

[Kam]

Nah, just do what I did...cut a half-circle section out of the frame, giving you enough clearance. Luckily you have a LOT more room there than I do. I still have to fit it, but I couldn't even get the alternator into place without cutting.

I love my angle grinder but I can't cut into the bulkhead anymore!

I reckon my way will work without cutting, there has been alot of scientific research and development gone into it my end

[Burnard]

Well atleast tell me what year swift it came off of

Looks perfect size for what i need

[Kam]

Well atleast tell me what year swift it came off of

Looks perfect size for what i need

Mine came off a 88 E reg, BUT I've just looked at the receipt and its actually off a 1.3 SJ413 not a swift, the swift ones might be the same - I don't know, its only 110mm wide, its basically the smallest body alternator you can get on everyday cars over here, race ones might be smaller but will cost a bit.......

I'm still on the look out for another alternator though, one off a daihatsu, thanks to Alexcrosse's build I've seen he's using an alternator from that (which is pretty much the same size as mine) but the bottom mounting lug might be a bit more user friendly for my bracket - and its got a ribbed pulley

Hope alex don't mind me using his pic



You can see how it might save me from getting mine spaced out as its got the same bottom lug as my honda one which obviously my bracket is made for



So if I find one from the same daihatsu you can have this one, again

[Burnard]

Sounds like a plan to me

I found one in a dawoo/ chevvy matiz today, but im not sure on its fitment, definatly that sort of size though.

[charie t]

I found one in a dawoo/ chevvy matiz today

All the ones i've seen are huge, compared to a suzuki swift/vitara alternator

[Kam]

Right, I definitely don't think this car will be taking a trip to Le Mans in june so that deadline is off, theres a fair bit to do and I still gotta get it MOT'd and mapped and get the bodyshop to throw some paint on the front end, and as I've decided to make a change now to the engine I'm gonna take things easy and head for the next deadline - TMF 'ring run in september!

So as for the build, I think I have now got the alternator situ sorted out so its time to concentrate on the rad, I haven't looked at any rads yet as its not that important right now but I was having doubts about how much room I will have in the end at the very bottom for the depth of the rad? So started off with doing the usual Kam thing and taking one step forward and two steps back!

So cut off the section that I had already made!



Used some section from the original allspeed dog leg and added my own



Got ready to tack into place so put the wheel assembly on (correct tyre pressures) but as my coil conversion springs were already out I lifted the wheel to the bump stop so I know its maximum travel to replicate full lock under max travel to the bump stop - will that happen much out on the road????



You can see how much clearance I got here before my tyre touches the gearbox and the newly placed bar, about 10-15mm (also known as tyre flex!) thank god for KAD limiters and spacers!



I cut that longer bar underneath down as an extra support



I've got plenty of thread left on the bump stop so I might space it out a bit to limit the max travel or I might just get a larger bump stop, but I think I should be ok as the tie bars and lower arms are still set at there original settings so I know the castor and camber angles are fine, this car won't be lowered it'll still be like before but I still might space out the bump stop though

Also this was trial fitted with the A539's with a 60 profile, apart from full lock it shouldn't get that close to the bump stop on the roads, and even on track I should also be ok as I got some 048's for that with a 55 profile, yeah that'll be fine then with a massive 5% difference!

After welding it in I did the quick obligatory test - vid



Yep thats certified that then!

Incase your wondering why I cut this bar up in the first place its because of two reasons, firstly I now have an extra 10mm at the bottom, so more choice for a deeper core rad and being able to get it sitting more flat and space behind for some fans

Secondly, I think my welding is getting better now and I wasn't 100% happy with the previous welds, so decided to just do the whole lot again and get some better welds down





well pleased with that, will give me more confidence when it first starts rolling

Now I just gotta take the engine out and start rebuilding it, this will take me some time seeing as it'll be my first ever rebuild!

Next job - some more KFC

[ginger_monkey]

yes mate those welds look very nice. i think it would take a great deal to make them come off. Your bar is about as close to the tyre as my bottom hose is I'm gonna put a little cover plate on it to stop anything punching or rubbing a hole in it. But as you say, how often on the road normally is your wheel gonna be like that.
Keep it up mate. If your missing the mini I'll take you out in mine when I'm down your way for a laugh.

[Kam]

Cheers Chris I'm gonna drill out a couple of holes in the frame and put some HT bolts in as a back up, end of the day the frames been cut so the receipt with allspeed is well and truly out the window, we are now on our own, well, four of us that is

Just remember kids, if you cut the frame then your on your own, if you crash because of a direct result of the frame then you have no one to sue? Food for thought eh?

So, who wants the first passenger ride in mine?