• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!

    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

TR6 Anyone have a spare alternator fan spacer?

sammyb

Luke Skywalker
Offline
The good news: I got my TR6 running today. (Cleaned the float chambers of old fuel and gummed-up stuff and freed up the choke and it started as soon as the fuel filled!)

The bad news: my MacGyver fix of using a cut-down spark plug boot as a spacer failed for the missing alternator fan spacer, so the fan is still grinding against the housing.

DOES ANYONE have a core alternator sitting on their shelf boneyard from which I could source the spacer? It seems foolish to buy a new alternator (since there are no sources for this specific part in the catalogs) when this one appears to work fine otherwise. I have a boneyard of TR parts, but no alternators. If you have this piece and could part with it, let me know. I could certainly paypal or send a check for the part and shipping.

Thanks guys!!!

Tomorrow is clutch slave cylinder rebuild day. Then maybe I'll be driving it soon!!!
 
Aloha Sam,

I'm trying to turn my former "parts car" (74.5) into a daily driver so lots of formerly boxed parts are seeing the light of day. I'm looking at a fan-less ACR18 with that spacer right now...trapped by a rusted key. I'll send a pix as soon as the penetrating oil does its thing; I can mail it tomorrow. I can send the dimensions; would several stacked washers work?

Jeff
Waipahu, HI
74.5 & 75 TR6
 
Jeff -- I think you've hit onto something -- that the key collapses, which is something I didn't know. Given this stacked washers would do the trick. But here's another thing -- I was just up at my garage with one of my car buddies and before he even looked at the car when I was saying that I was getting contact he said "y'know, it wouldn't spark on that aluminum, so it must be hitting something else, like the bracket." We looked into the engine bay and I had the alternator bracket upside down, so the fan was hitting the end of the bracket. The previous owner had it totally reversed, so I got it flipped half right, but upside down. Now it's fixed and my MacGyver fix on the spacer seems to be holding.
 
Way to go! I got the key pulled out and for the record, the spacer is ,375" long, OD=.830"; ID=.595". I guess the unusual dimensions are to fit on a 9/16 shaft and have clearance in the alternator front housing. That bracket is easy to get on wrong. Pretty good car buddy to have around - now you owe him a beer...

Jeff
 
Again my memory is fuzzy, but ISTR there was a felt insert that rides against the spacer, to help keep dirt out of the bearing. So in a sense it is a seal as well as a spacer.
 
Thanks so much, Jeff. Maybe I'll just fabricate one out of nylon bushings. With the measurements you gave, it should be a piece of cake.

Randall, I think I still have a seal washer that is sitting there -- don't know if it is firm or felt. Weird how the spacer is missing, but the washer/seal is there!

And I made my buddy dinner last night -- I owe him for much more than the bracket help: he pulled the TR6 home with his car and trailer for me AND he was the lead on fixing the rear quarter rust (fabrication and welding) on my Ferrari 308 GT4 earlier this year. He wins the "car friend of the decade" award.
 
Of course I should also say that having y'all as BCF friends is worth its weight in gold. I was just chatting with family this past weekend on how restoring/fixing cars now is so much easier than in the pre-Web days. We get answers to confusing issues from a group of hobbyists all over the world and can find and order parts from many different vendors within minutes.
 
Back
Top