Pictures of the Week August 13, 2003
I just got the mounting flange for the alternator back from the machine shop. The outer diameter was turned down to 3 inches to allow the alternator to resemble a Slick magneto. This is a 40 AMP Hitachi LR140-707 alternator that fits just above the starter in the magneto drive. The nominal RPM range of this alternator is 400 to 4000 RPM so it is perfectly suited to being driven from the end of a VW crankshaft. I'm waiting on new bearings for the alternator so that I can reassemble it and begin work on the drive coupling.
Update August 16, 2003
I manufactured the alternator hold down clamps from 0.125" x 4.0" aluminum stock. The first step was to mill .092" relief from the end of the bar stock to fit over the alternator mounting ring. This was accomplished with an X-Y table and a four fluted end mill in my drill press. Not very high precision, but acceptable for KR work.
The next step was simple cut, sand, file and drill to make two mounting tabs from the bar stock.
And here's a left and right side view of the installed alternator. It is a very tight fit for the mounting bolts under the alternator. The bolts must be put in place fully seated in the tabs and then taken up a turn at a time side by side to bring the alternator into the magneto mounting boss. It's one of those things that it fits but there's no extra room for bolt installation if the alternator is pushed all the way home before tightening the mounting bolts.
The alternator bearings arrived yesterday so today I'll install the armature and begin the task of fitting the alternator drive to the magneto drive on the end of the crankshaft.
Click on the pictures for a full sized photo.