Quote:
Originally Posted by secondchance
Hey Raymond,
There is a get together at Dimitrios?s at 1799 Brookshire Ct, Finksburg, MD.
I?m not sure if I can make it since my younger son may be coming by.
Call Charlie at 443 745 0349 if lost.
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Sounds good, thanks! On what date? Saturday (7 AUG 21)? Sunday (8 AUG 21)? Next weekend?
Is there a formal schedule?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Erik
So, what was wiping out the alternators?
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Two things:
1. Not realizing that each replacement alternator had a different pulley size from OEM and thus needed the appropriate belt; a very rookie mistake. Wrong size belt = more stress (electrical or mechanical, depending on too loose vs. too tight); most of my belts were apparently too loose, but I lacked sufficient experience with the car to make that call on the spot when I put the belt on and not realizing that what I thought was a pair of standard parts would have this sort of variance meant I never asked the question. Basically, never trust website claims that such and such part fits your vehicle. Verify on the forums (or, in this case, Jerry's store's item descriptions).
2. After figuring the pulley out, the next issue was the fact that the replacement alternators have pulley shafts that are too short, meaning the pulley was too close to the face of the engine and the belt bath is misaligned. Once you have the alternator installed with the correct size belt, the lack of slack means the engine tries and succeeds to yank it off the rear lip of the water pump pulley when it turns over. The air horn will keep it in place, but it will wear quickly and put mechanical stress on the system. We had the air horn off when the latest alternator (an AC Delco reman, no less) was installed and tested, thus the problem was immediately made evident. The issue was fixed by removing the bracket that doesn't seem to do much supporting of anything and applying some spacers to push the whole alternator assembly outward by about 4 mm; I don't know if there is an OEM part that performs this function, but what I have now seems to work and the belt path stays true.
TL;DR: newbie errors = dead alternators. I will say, though, that one of those 4 alternators was, in hindsight, a visibly incorrect part put on by a shop in the region that advertises being familiar with C4s, and the ZR-1 in particular, and definitely should have known better than to go with it. Unless I'm throwing in the towel and shipping the car to Haibeck, I'm not ever sending it to a shop again.