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New Alternator

Lateral - July 10th, 2013 at 03:09 PM

Hi Guys

I need to replace the alternator in my bug and I am thinking of the Compu-Fire Dual Cool 90 Amp Alternator. ( http://www.compufire.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&l...) scroll down a bit.

The reason for the extra amps is that I have a extra bits and pieces such as sound system, heated seats etc.

Has anyone had any experience with these units or can suggest another option? The existing alternator was a no brand Chinese version.

Thanks
Regards
Greg

Bizarre - July 10th, 2013 at 03:42 PM

Could be expensive getting it shipped in from OS

I have always had original units rebuilt, but I don't run heated seats.

Lateral - July 10th, 2013 at 03:53 PM

Hi Bizarre

The problem is finding an original unit and then somebody who can rebuild them.

I managed to get my hands on a Brazilian unit that is not working and I have given it to a Auto Electrician who is tracking down parts for the repair but I am looking for a "Plab B" if he can't fix it.

Thanks

Regards
Greg

Bizarre - July 10th, 2013 at 04:17 PM

The hard bit is getting the $30 internal regulator from CB in the states if yours is shot.

It is mainly the rubbish bearings in the cheap ones that is their downfall. Once they are replaced I believe they are pretty good.

Crowhurst Electrical at Auburn did mine.

Lateral - July 10th, 2013 at 04:51 PM

Thanks mate

68AutoBug - July 10th, 2013 at 08:24 PM

You can buy the two bearings and new brushes for the Bosch alternators on ebay.. as a kit..
Not expensive..

The 90 Ampere alternator you mentioned looks good as Compu- Fire is a good brand..
Freight would be expensive..

Shame the chinese don't know how to make things right..

cheers

LEE

Lateral - July 13th, 2013 at 04:18 PM

Hi guys

After much mucking around and emailing back and forth to the various overseas and local supplies trying to get my hands on an internal regulator and a rectifier, and due to the fact that I needed a new alternator quickly, I decided to bite the bullet and get a new 75amp EMPI unit from George. I had it tested at the Auto Electrician and it is working fine and pumping out about 14.9 volts.

I'll install it over the next week and let you know how it goes.

Regards
Greg

Lateral - August 7th, 2013 at 10:28 PM

Alternator has been installed now for a few weeks and going fine.

vwo60 - August 8th, 2013 at 07:42 AM

I paid $11.00 each for two genuine bosch internal regulators from Amazon, i got quoted $50.00 for a second hand one in Australia. condition unknown.

Lateral - August 8th, 2013 at 08:51 AM

Hi mate
I could get the regulator but couldn't get the rectifier

vlad01 - August 8th, 2013 at 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 68AutoBug
You can buy the two bearings and new brushes for the Bosch alternators on ebay.. as a kit..
Not expensive..

The 90 Ampere alternator you mentioned looks good as Compu- Fire is a good brand..
Freight would be expensive..

Shame the chinese don't know how to make things right..

cheers

LEE

Don't get bearing from ebay, get the correct high speed/torque rated one from CBC bearings, regulators and brushes are available from good auto electricians.

Lee China knows very well how to make stuff good, they also know now to make money of western world suckers.

1303Steve - August 8th, 2013 at 10:04 AM

Hi

I had a Chinese alternator fitted to a 1300 Twin port, it really sucked power out the motor, I had to raise the idle speed a few 100 rpm to compensate, it always made noise like it was charging as well.

Steve

vwo60 - August 8th, 2013 at 11:28 AM

The guy at the bearing place told me that the bearings that are fitted to new box trailers (chinese crap brand) do not last to the first repack, usually taking the axel with it, SKF, Timkin,NSK are bearings to concider, pay the extra as it is worth it in the long term.

vlad01 - August 8th, 2013 at 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vwo60
The guy at the bearing place told me that the bearings that are fitted to new box trailers (chinese crap brand) do not last to the first repack, usually taking the axel with it, SKF, Timkin,NSK are bearings to concider, pay the extra as it is worth it in the long term.

yes thats right, I pay in excess of $25 for 1 bearing in an alternator/starters depending on model, most around 10-15 mark for small bearing, and over $50 for in AC compressor clutches. But at least I know it will do over a billion or 2 turns or about 200-300,000km

go to bursons or some crap shop and pay 4 buck for bearing that flys apart after 10,000km.

I had wheel bearing noisy out of the box, failed before they got to 10k, the cone and roller were at different angles to each other. It was all that load just riding on the very edge of the race.

worth paying for good ones, the end!

68AutoBug - August 8th, 2013 at 07:45 PM

Quote:

Yes
Most bearings are OK except if they are made in CHINA..
I don't know why anyone would buy chinese bearings??
CHEAP... YES.. CRAP.. YES

so why would You use them??
Who wants to do the job twice??

Timken SKF NSK KOYO federal etc all good..
plus any made in Germany are excellent..
Japanese bearings are also excellent...

I presume Korean bearings would be OK seeing all those cars on the road..

alternator and VW wheel bearing kits on ebay I have seen
don't use chinese bearings.. usually SKF
They tell You not to use chinese bearings..

LEE

psimitar - August 10th, 2013 at 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vlad01

Quote:

bought my AC pulley bearing from Ebay UK for $10 inc P&P. Was NSK too. Cheaper one was under $7 all up

Uber Kafer - August 12th, 2013 at 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lateral
Alternator has been installed now for a few weeks and going fine.

thats good, cos if you went to the trouble of importing the Compufire one Im pretty sure you would have just been buying a chinese alternator.

68AutoBug - August 14th, 2013 at 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by vlad01

Quote:

If they know how to make things good in china Vlad
How come most of their carburetors and alternators plus many other parts are just NOT quality controlled.
Parts can be smaller or larger as they have no idea what they are doing...
AS YOU ALL KNOW THE BEARINGS ARE JUST RUBBISH.. ALWAYS HAVE BEEN... ARE VERY INEXPENSIVE TOO.
ALL THE BEARINGS YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT VLAD CAN BE BOUGHT FROM EBAY, FROM THE BEARING SHOP IN BRISBANE [I THINK] THEY TELL YOU THE BRAND.. ALSO TELL YOU NOT TO BUY CHINESE. YOU DON'T NEED TO SPEND EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY TO GET GOOD QUALITY GOODS..

LEE

PS; i sold bearings for over 20 years..

68AutoBug - August 14th, 2013 at 07:17 AM

Quote:

This has been happening for over 20 years. since chinese bearings are being sold to boat trailer owners... In the summer near the coast, even on the expressway, You will see boat and trailer sitting on the side of the road with a wheel missing...
water goes straight into the bearing... when they put the boat and trailer into the water...

LEE

psimitar - August 14th, 2013 at 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 68AutoBug

Quote:

Originally posted by vlad01

Quote:

People are unaware that a majority of car parts are made in china these days. the difference being in the materials used and quality control of the parts for BMW, Mercedes, Ford etc.
The aftermarket tat uses the same casting etc most the time but to cut the costs the company paying for the parts asks the chinese manufacturer to make the part as cheaply as possible to maximise their profits. Therefore the manufacturer uses the bare minimum of metals/alloys to make the part useable and everything else as cheaply manufactured as possible. This is why EMPI gear is so shit now. Hold an old Ford DGVA carb in one hand and the EMPI progressive carb in the other and by weight you can feel how cheap the EMPI casting is.

vlad01 - August 14th, 2013 at 04:06 PM

I am really concerned when I bought CSP conversion stub axles and when I open the CSP package to find the stubs are laser etched with "EMPI" on the side :no:

As far as I can tell the material and machining seems spot on and that they were expensive about $300 for a set, but anything "EMPI" has me worried :crazy:

vwo60 - August 14th, 2013 at 04:14 PM

You cannot lump all of empi stuff into one basket, there oil cooler is a trucool made in the USA, there are very good, i know some of there other parts are very good quality, some are crap, be selective. i run there alloy tappet covers on all my engines, never leak if fitted properly with the correct oring and good gaskets, even fit a set of pauter 1.4 roller rockers without hitting. i just get them powder coated satin black, just as good as the more expensive boutique brands that cost a fortune that does not do the job any better.

vlad01 - August 14th, 2013 at 04:30 PM

I just did a search on the conversion stubs from EMPI.

:fakesniff:

vwo60 - August 15th, 2013 at 08:41 AM

You really have to concider the legal implications of using parts in your car that have the potential to cause injury or death, there is no way that things like the above stub axel has been complied with the ADR's, reseller obviously have not concider the issues that cauld cause them a lot of financal grief, the unfortunate truth is that the end user is responsable to comply there car for road use, if the part is not a propriority part it cannot be used on the road without the nessaccary engineering tests carried out, i see a lot of after market disc brakes that are fitted to vv's have non propriority hubs, rotors calipers and the mounting bracket made from a jam tin, yet they are run on the road with only a cursary inspection, you would think that the reseller would have a obligation to provide the engineering compliance for any item that they sell that will be used on the road, I designed and fabricated a complete set of disc brakes including machining the hub and caliper brackets and had to engineer these from start to finnish, at least i know that in the event of a accident they are complied and plated.

vlad01 - August 15th, 2013 at 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by vwo60
You really have to concider the legal implications of using parts in your car that have the potential to cause injury or death, there is no way that things like the above stub axel has been complied with the ADR's, reseller obviously have not concider the issues that cauld cause them a lot of financal grief, the unfortunate truth is that the end user is responsable to comply there car for road use, if the part is not a propriority part it cannot be used on the road without the nessaccary engineering tests carried out, i see a lot of after market disc brakes that are fitted to vv's have non propriority hubs, rotors calipers and the mounting bracket made from a jam tin, yet they are run on the road with only a cursary inspection, you would think that the reseller would have a obligation to provide the engineering compliance for any item that they sell that will be used on the road, I designed and fabricated a complete set of disc brakes including machining the hub and caliper brackets and had to engineer these from start to finnish, at least i know that in the event of a accident they are complied and plated.

I AGREE 100%!!!

bajachris88 - August 15th, 2013 at 11:18 AM

Be careful with chinese alternators...

a few years ago i learnt that they consider cutting a keyway in the alternator shaft 'optional' for holding the gen. pulley on. Resellers reply to that issue said it was the 'new latest design'. :td:

The pulley would just spin in place... making a lovely squark!!!

Here's the old thread (For curiosity sake):

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=91322&page=1#pid849053

68AutoBug - August 15th, 2013 at 12:31 PM

You are learning VLAD that because the part costs a lot of money does NOT mean its a Good Quality part...

I usually steer away from EMPI parts if I can but the alternative can be 3 or 4 times the price [or lots more]

I also run the finned alloy EMPI High clearance tappet covers with no problems.

The quality of metal used seems to be the major problem with chinese parts, along with the machining..

Their machining of hubs etc can be way off... and when talking about clearances for bearings etc.. a few thou is enough to make it unuseable...

Chris
What did you do with the faulty alternator???

LEE

bajachris88 - August 15th, 2013 at 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 68AutoBug

Chris
What did you do with the faulty alternator???

LEE

I still got it packed up at the folks house somewhere, never been used. Might sort it out and put it on the new engine i'm building

I figured the cost of shipping and time stuffing around with a dodgy seller overseas was a long hard road with little gained. So i cut my losses, bit the bullet and got another from a different supplier, which works great!

vlad01 - August 15th, 2013 at 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 68AutoBug
You are learning VLAD that because the part costs a lot of money does NOT mean its a Good Quality part...

I usually steer away from EMPI parts if I can but the alternative can be 3 or 4 times the price [or lots more]

I also run the finned alloy EMPI High clearance tappet covers with no problems.

The quality of metal used seems to be the major problem with chinese parts, along with the machining..

Their machining of hubs etc can be way off... and when talking about clearances for bearings etc.. a few thou is enough to make it unuseable...

Chris
What did you do with the faulty alternator???

LEE

the thing here Lee is that they were re-badged as CSP parts which have good rep for quality. I had no idea what I was buying was EMPI, I thought I was buying a German made aftermarket part.

This is not the first time this has happen, its getting quite annoying and costly.

my other option now it to buy 924 or 944 stub axles (which I did not know were the same stubs before I bought these) . I found some genuine new 924 subs but a costly 480 USD each!

I just email a Melbourne Porsche wrecker who mainly does 924 and 944s

We'll see what happens.

psimitar - August 15th, 2013 at 03:10 PM

Interesting on the CSP parts as they are meant to pass TUV regs which are far more stringent than ADR. Tis a worry when a market leader starts selling shite

As for EMPI, it's really hard to tell cos when the dude died the family sold many of the product licences overseas i.e. China. These are the parts that can be dubious but trouble is no one knows which products are still produced in USA and which aren't :spin: