Would this work for my conversion?

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Well I went back to the yard to get that alternator and they had lost it, but I was able to get one from a 95ish Geo Metro. It is also a 55 amp and is small also. It is a later one than others here are using, the rear mount does not come off. So I have spent the last week working on getting it to fit and I finally got the bracket welded up and test fitted. I had to trim it to allow it to suck in closer to the engine and so I have a little more welding to do. I will weld it up and post some pictures of it tomorrow. I am very excited, it is going to fit.
I also picked up a 4.25 in pulley from a Subaru power steering pump. I am going to make an adapter on the lathe to space it out to fit, should work real good.
 
OK, I went back out and took some pictures of the progress I have made. As you view these you will see that there are a few things missing from the bike. I am also doing a valve job at the same time and the head is missing the cam and other parts, but is bolted on enough to allow fitting of the Alternator and bracket.
This is the bracket in its raw form. I modified the original motor mount and added a mount for the Alt. and beefed it up due to having to cut some off.
This is the Alt. installed, it fits real tight, but has room to move and does not hit anything.
Back side.
A view from another angle. I have the baffle and it is trimmed to fit, but not shown. Also with the belt tight the upper hose will not hit.
2013-11-07%2018.39.48.jpg
And the bracket, here you can see the mods made to get it to work.
I will post more as i get time.
 
I can kind of understand the desire for an alternator. Maybe this has already been addressed; if it has I hadn't seen it. Putting a 55amp alternator on to charge a motorcycle battery seems like a mismatch to me. The internal voltage regulators in most modern automotive alternators are designed to charge an automotive battery, meaning a battery with a much higher amp ratting than our motorcycle batteries. If you overcharge a battery you can easily destroy the battery or explode it, happens quite frequently. Signs of a battery being over charged are excessive heat, and case swelling. Once the battery gasses are exposed to oxygen you have the makings of a bomb, all it takes is a spark to set it off. What most people don’t realize is even AGM batteries will vent if over heated.
If for some reason your battery got run down and your alternator went into a full rate of charge mode I think you could easily overheat the battery.

We have had a couple of truck led acid batteries explode in our shop, mainly due to somebody doing something stupid, but lets face it, things happen.
 
In all honesty there is more chance of overcharging with the standard charge circuit when we reduce the electrical load (led, HIDs etc) as the dump voltage is higher than most earlier alternator regulator voltages. There is the potential for problems when using late model alternators that have float voltages of 14.7- 15 volts as that can lead to boiling batteries. Any alternator with a float voltage around 14 volts would be fine and not destroy batteries.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=102519#p102519:vp23f8as said:
OldWrench » Fri Nov 08, 2013 7:27 am[/url]":vp23f8as]
I can kind of understand the desire for an alternator. Maybe this has already been addressed; if it has I hadn't seen it. Putting a 55amp alternator on to charge a motorcycle battery seems like a mismatch to me. The internal voltage regulators in most modern automotive alternators are designed to charge an automotive battery, meaning a battery with a much higher amp ratting than our motorcycle batteries. If you overcharge a battery you can easily destroy the battery or explode it, happens quite frequently. Signs of a battery being over charged are excessive heat, and case swelling. Once the battery gasses are exposed to oxygen you have the makings of a bomb, all it takes is a spark to set it off. What most people don’t realize is even AGM batteries will vent if over heated.
If for some reason your battery got run down and your alternator went into a full rate of charge mode I think you could easily overheat the battery.

We have had a couple of truck led acid batteries explode in our shop, mainly due to somebody doing something stupid, but lets face it, things happen.
Oldwrench, I agree with you but as a member of Steve Saunders Forum & the GL1200 site(+8 others) as well as here for many years & having read thousands of posts about the alt conversion, I have never heard anyone ever mention about overcharging. Some of the chaps over there have had the conversion done for better than ten years with no problems. I have heard all the what if's about an external alt such as water damage, damage to the crank shaft due to side pressure, Sand & or water entering the timing belt covers due to hole drilled for pulley & on & on & on, with nothing after 10 of thousand of miles. Hope this clears things up for you. Cheers Angela aka fysty-1 :yahoo:
 
Yea, this is not something that I did without first reading tons of post on here and many other sites. I found that there was enough success and advantages for me to do the conversion. As with the single carb and the hotter neon/CBR coils, there is always risk and those that say it will cause catastrophic failure and the sun to be knocked out of orbit. I feel that if it has been tried by others and they are having good luck with it, why not give it a try?
My stator is still in good shape and working fine, but I want some good driving lights, maybe some more rear lights, CB, better speakers and amp, etc. I know the factory system will not last long, so I am upgrading and keeping the stock system in place as a spare.
I also had to pull the heads off to do a valve job and figured it would be a good time because the bike was down for the winter anyway.
I plan to hook up the voltage sense wire also to allow it to charge based on the load.
 
That is good, It was just a question I had and if it works out well for you that is great. One thing I have dealt with over the years is Truck drivers deciding to modify their trucks and creating some real messes. So I do get gun shy on some mods. What I see here is some really talented folks on this forum that have some great ideas and knowledge. Sometimes I ask too many questions, comes with being a boss at times.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=102510#p102510:3k3ovj39 said:
oldmopars » Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:00 am[/url]":3k3ovj39]
OK, I went back out and took some pictures of the progress I have made. As you view these you will see that there are a few things missing from the bike. I am also doing a valve job at the same time and the head is missing the cam and other parts, but is bolted on enough to allow fitting of the Alternator and bracket.
This is the bracket in its raw form. I modified the original motor mount and added a mount for the
cleaned up this pix for a better view
 

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The Boss is always right? :smilie_happy: That's why I am a sole trader but it is hard kicking your own a$$ when there is a stuff up.
 
[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=102545#p102545:17svcbx9 said:
Ansimp » Fri Nov 08, 2013 3:09 pm[/url]":17svcbx9]
The Boss is always right? :smilie_happy: That's why I am a sole trader but it is hard kicking your own a$$ when there is a stuff up.
Ain't it da trut! :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy: :yahoo:
 
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