home made alternator brackets SBC

im in the process of making alternator brackets for my SBC transplant into a 38 chev.the origional brackets are too wide for the bodywork.id like to see what others have done. c mon show me yours
nunattax

 

Alan Grove makes the best brackets and inexpensive. I have the one that mounts the alt. to the water pump just above the inlet and a bolt into the front of the head. It is totally out of the way and was about $45 with hardware. Check out his website www.agcbracket.com.

 

I second Alan Grove.... So much simpler... Great product

 

I made this one. Yea you can buy them but it was too easy to make

 

About 35 years ago before all the aftermarket brackets were available I took and early smog pump bracket and mounted the alternator on it. Works with the short water pump and mounts the alternator above the right valve cover. gave about 5 bucks for it at a wrecking yard and still have it.

 

Where do you want to mount the alternator? If you are looking for something period correct then you need to hang that alternator either over the drivers or passenger on a longer bracket that resembles a hockey stick. Or if you want to mount it close in the passenger side infront of the head then a quick trip to the junkyard should find you a bracket. What are you looking to do? BTW Allan Grove brackets are expensive and not that great looking in my opinion.
Jay

 

i want the alternator on the drivers side.i want to design the brackets myself.i want to use a merch performance rod to tension the belt.i would like to keep the pivot as low as i can but above the valve cover.i have edelbrock heads with 3 mounting points on the drivers side.there are no junk yards around here any more eu regulations put a stop to that.also there is no junk yard with american cars in it.there was one about 4 miles away when i was growing up but that guy has passed away now.had a couple of pints with him one sunday but he wasn t in the best of health then.seems the DYKER was a bit of a character.my main concern is keeping enough belt in contact with the water pump pulley to avoid belt slippage.i had to put a 10 mm spacer behind the p/s pump to align the belt. has anyone put a spacer behind the p/s pulley to align the belt.i am using 10 mm mdf to cut dummy brackets from to get the design right before i get any stainless cut.you cant beat doing it yourself usually cost as much if not more than buying a mass produced bracket but no where as much satisyfing. nunattax cork city,ireland

 

Take a pic of where you want it to sit man.
Jay

 

Pics are going to help a lot.

Drivers side ? Do you guys drive on the opposite side of the road in Ireland?
I'm not being a smart ass , I really don't know.

Above the valve cover is pretty high and most likely going to need a large elaborate bracket to do that no matter how you skin that cat. Last thing you want is the alternator flopping around up there.

There are brackets found on vans that mount the alternator down low right next to the crank hub. That will help with your belt contact area quite a bit. This bracket is also easy to make as well as commercially available. This would keep the body of the alternator within the width of the engine and if it fits between your frame rails you'll be good. Can do this by cylinder # 1 easily. Can also do this by cylinder # 2 if you aren't using the factory fuel pump.

As far as spacers go, my power steering brackettry needed one spacer at the bolt that goes into the front of the head, the rest bolted in the proper holes.

The brackets and pulleys are designed around the water pump length, there are two- known as long water pump and short water pump. Depending on model there are a few different configurations but All brackets and pulleys from the long system will mix and match - all brackets and pulleys from the short system will mix and match. None of the parts from a short system will mix with the long system and visa versa.

 

Here is a low mount I made for the little Denso alt. There is one very similar that is commercially available for the 10SI style alt. I think.

 

Just about as simple as it gets. There is a bracket that runs from the top pump mounting bolt to the front of the alt. The adjuster bracket could be the adjuster rod you have already. I just drilled and tapped the heater hose boss on the top of the pump. A little thread sealer and you're good to go. This setup is with a short pump and it just clears the valve cover and fits inside the hood of a 29.

 

I made this one for my Austin it mounts backwards on the frame rail, in front of the engine using the small nipendenso alt.I didn't have room to mount it down low on the side of the engine cause the frame rails are only 24" apart.Also the front sway bar is right there between the oil pan and frame.

 

I have a 38 Chevy coupe and mounted it low just like Russco's pics except I'm using a GM 70's alt. When I purchaced the car in 1978 it had an ugly heavy air conditioner type bracket on the pass side. The first time I seen the low mount driver side alt I had to get one. An alt wont fit unless it's above the engine with a fan belt running almost verticle or down low.

 

i have been working on this for most of the day,taking pictures as i go.i cant upload any as i cannot find the cardreader for the camera.if it doesnt turn up i ll have to buy another.

 

31 VICKY we drive on the opposite side to you guys,but the pickup is an American import so drivers side is drivers side it is LHD.i cut a few templates today from 10 mm mdf.the material was not very strong but i was able to see how the alternator would move and how a tensioning rod would operate and where i would mount it and the length i would need.i duplicated the best one in 10mm mild steel plate.bolted it up and mounted the alternator to it.it was very rigid .it should mount similar to the alan groves bracket only look cleaner.i have three pulleys on the crank .the inside one is for the air con not used .the middle one will turn the water pump and the alternator and the outside one turns the power steering pump.i will tweek the design tomorrow put the design on paper and get the design burnt outa 10mm stainless plate

 

russco,thats a very neat setup but my power steering pump is there.i would prefer to keep it up high out of harms way

 

i tried this one but i have the long water pump it wasnt working out

 

i have the same valve covers,i had previously had clearance problems with them so this time around i am using thicker cover gaskets.i need to move the pivot point up a little to compensate for the thicker gaskets

 

My son has one he made like Russco's, (he's a CNC machinist, bracketry is very clean...)

About 500 miles and it spit one of the 3/8" standard bolts out of the cast iron mounting hole...
Rich locate-drilled and inserted it, replaced the bolts with studs and nuts.
10K miles and counting, no more problems...

 

http://www.alangrovecomponents.com/images/New_Images/Large/215R.jpg .
ive been on the alan groves site this one looks neat,but it mounts on the water pump.reasonable price though.

thanks for your replies and pictures i will get the photos up in the next few days.i was worried about slippage on the waterpump pulley but if the alan groves high mount brackets work mine will too

 

Probably not what you're looking for, but here's the one for my wife's T roadster and maybe it'll help someone else: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8840780#post8840780



Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Here's one I made that comes off the bosses on a late 60's Chevy pickup rams horn manifold. The heads I had at the time didn't have acc. holes. Tensioner bracket comes off the front motor mount holes.

[/URL][/IMG]

Blue

 

I bought different Allan Grove brackets for my BB and did not like the fit so I made my own alt bracket and modified the A/C bracket to have it sit about 1/2" lower.

 

dropped my tech drawings to the engineering shop to be burnt by the laser on monday .niall said friday we will see.hopefully, waiting is a pain

 

well lads thanx for all the replies.i dropped the brackets off in june or july but only got the brackets back recently and they were 2 x 4mm instead of 2 x 5mm stainless plates.got a few spot welds on them anditlooks great but needs to be 10mm( 3/8) cause its not strong enough.have one done in 2x5mm mild steel and its really strong.i need to take the rad off to get a good pic but heres some i took today.

the curved bracket on the waterpumpis made from 8mm stainless has a tapped bush/spacer silver soldered on.i want to put spacers behind the large bracket to allow air to circulate through the holes and cool the head better.hopefully i wont be waiting as long this time and get the spacers welded up and tapped for an arp bolt

 

getting there.brackets bolts /washers in stainless , adjuster and alternator in aluminum .just the alternator pivot and bolt to sort out.the bracket bolted to the head is spaced out 5mm to aid cooling

 

You'll want 3 point mounting on the alternator, I only see 2. And one doesn't count because its got swivels on both Ends.

 

I agree, a lot riding on that one bolt

 

maybe the photo is not clear enough.if u look at the photos in post#25 it shud be clearer.the brackets are rock solid and it all works as it should.the pivot is not finished yet

 

I see that the bracket is very stout, but the alternator is only held to the bracket by the one 3/8" bolt at the bottom, look at other after market brackets and you will see that the bolt is supported at BOTH ends, not just one like yours