scottb

The Vertex housings are reputed to be difficult to install; requiring some "massaging" with a grinder. Did you experience any difficulties installing it, or did it go in as expected?

Lorenfb

"Are you referring to the alternator as the junk or the fan + housing?"

Others are more experienced to comment on the fan & housing.
My comment referred to the regulator used in the rebuilt alternator.
I use the OEM regulator, Paris-Rhone/Valeo, which can be purchased
from Pelican Parts. Where reliability is key, why not use the better
regulator and reduce the likelihood of an alternator failure while
driving some remote back road?

scarceller

Loren,

Can a bad regulator cause damage to a DME? Have ever seen a regulator failure cause over voltage? and if so is it common?

ivangene

I also agree with Loren regarding the PP VR vs the one the guy at the rebuild shop has on his shelf...spend the $40 and get the good one, supply it to your rebuilder OR make sure your rebuilt one has the good one - the one in the pic isnt the good one (see PP parts for a picture, they are different looking on the connectors)

vracer

Yes, yes, & yes.

Lorenfb

"Can a bad regulator cause damage to a DME? Have ever seen a regulator failure cause over voltage? and if so is it common?"

As others have said, yes.

The alternator can output over 25 volts with a bad regulator.
DME ECM failures the result of that is among the top 5 common
failures.

A mod of the DME relay has been posted by me here on Rennlist
to protect the ECM from over-voltage.

rusnak

It looks like there is an alignment issue with the original fan/housing/alternator, or possibly something was sucked in, causing the cracks. I would have tried to have the housing welded, and bought a used fan. But I'm glad everything worked out.

Loren was referring to the voltage regulator, I believe. But who knows?

divesnob

I thought I was buying a decent alternator from Pelican Parts - PRA067 (http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/....cgi?pn=PRA067). I do see what you're referring to now though. Guess I'll be popping it all out and swapping the regulators - appreciate the heads up!

scottb : I did not have too much difficulty with the housing. The housings looked to be pretty much the same. I did have to wiggle it a little to get it in there and the new alternator strap was a little tight - thus the reason for using the original alternator strap bolt. Perhaps this was why.

rusnak : The cracks appeared recently and I'm unaware of the cause. Thinking that the housing may have been cracking (and there are a lot of cracks in the metal) and that it expanded and hit one of the blades. I am hanging onto both the old fan and housing just like I do with everything on this car. So perhaps I'll take your suggesting and have the housing welded as a future backup.

rusnak

Take another look at that fan. Is only one blade damaged? See the scrape all around the fan shroud? Those two things are not normal. The cracks in the fan are not normal. Usually, a fan scrapes the bottom of the fan shroud when the belt is overtightened, and the top of the shroud cracks. It looks like a bolt or something hard was sucked into the fan, got lodged in the blade, and got dragged all the way around. The thing that needed to be replaced was the fan, and the shroud has fairly normal looking cracks that could probably be fixed with a good welder who has a vacuum cabinet or is experienced with magnesium.

Lorenfb

"when the belt is overtightened"

That's correct and a common mistake which can also shorten the
bearing life.

Kidasters

Divesnob -

I'm going through this exact same thing right now. How did you get the alternator into the new housing? Just set it in there and tightened until everything was flush?

I had mine all together, and noticed that the belt was rubbing the fan on one side, so it's all back out now - I think it was slightly crooked in the housing. Going to make a second attempt in a bit.

Ken

yumyum1667

Great pics. I wish I would have had these when I removed my fan an alternator for the first time. In the end I only had about one crack and my alternator was working fine. I just put in a new voltage regulator and new battery. If I need to repull the alternator it will be much easier the second go around.

divesnob

Ken,

Sorry for the delay, but I simply tightened the bolts on the housing. Then I reconnected the wires, connected the housing to the air shroud, and put the housing into place and tightened it down with the new strap. Then I put the parts for the pulley back on in reverse, then the belt, and the last pieces of the pulley. Put the AC compressor belt back on, tightened it down, and then tightened the main pulley. I gave the starter a quick little blip from the ignition, and then retightened (didn't need a retightening though). Then I drove it around and made sure the belt looked/sounded/ran fine.

I had Jim at Cars Dawydiak take a look at it (was in for some HVAC cable/controller investigation... another story in development) and he said it looked really good. Then I told him "good", since I had to rip it all back out to put on a better voltage regulator.

divesnob

Nearly 12 years to day and the alternator I installed then failed me last week. The reason for updating this post is that sometimes it's really handy to go back to something you did and have all the details available. Made the job so much easier this time around - helps that I didn't have to replace the fan and shroud this time around.

It's worth noting that I bought another voltage regulator from Pelican Parts - seems like the right thing to do each time. The Porsche OEM (911-603-913-02-OEM) is Valeo and looks inferior to the one I purchased last time.