Clocking Alternators

When I first started the restoration of my car back in 2011 I had no working electrical parts at all when I bought the car. Firstly there was a fire under the dash were the nutter who owned the car before me had wrapped a fuse with tin foil for some reason. Secondly the original alternator had rusted up and I didn’t trust it. So the only option I could see was a replacement wire loom from American Autowire for the Ford Mustang. Their recommendation is to use a one wire alternator. The choice was limited at the time as a result, so the best option I found was Tuff Stuff. I purchased a standard v belt in chrome with a 100amp rating at the time.

Tuff Stuff Rear connections

Tuff Stuff Alternator

However there was a problem with the terminal for the single positive wire. The stud it connects to sits about 1/4″ away from the block even at the maximum distance on the standard alternator bracket. These pictures of the stud in the normal position for Tuff Stuff alternators.

Initially I had my alternator bracket custom-made to move the alternator much further away from the block with a longer belt to make it work and be safe.

This was fine at the time, but the step for the belt clearance was now in the wrong place which meant that the bracket was just a millimetre away or so from the edge of the belt. This occasionally rubbed as you can see below. I kept a very close eye on the belt for signs of fraying or any damage to the belt. None of which has happened as a result of this modified bracket I might add.

Later on while browsing the net I didn’t realise that the case on these alternators could be adjusted by ‘Clocking’ or ‘Indexing’. Basically this means that you can move the body case around to where you want the stud to be by moving the front fittings. Nowhere could I find a step by step guide on how to do it.

Note: not all alternators can be ‘Clocked’ and you should check before you try doing it.

The only thing I found was these instructions from Tuff Stuff. Note ‘point 7’ mentions the use of torque settings for tightening the centre pulley nut. Interestingly Tuff Stuff use both terms ‘Clocking’ and ‘Indexing’ in the same document.

Nowhere is this ‘torque’ setting documented on the Tuff Stuff website, so I contacted Tuff Stuff for their ‘help’ and advice via their message process, for what good it was. Their automated response said I would ‘get a response within twenty-four hours’. After a few days nothing, so I tried again with a different email address. They responded the next day where they just sent me the instructions above with no words within the body of the email. My response was immediate back to them, stating that I already found the document on their website and asked again specifically for the torque settings. Their response with the following:

On 4 Oct 2018, at 14:12, Matt Oliver <matt@tuffstuffperformance.com> wrote:

We use an air wrench to put on all of the pulleys here. Thank you for your business. Have a great day!

Matt Oliver
Tech Manager

Hardly helpful when they say you should “torque to settings” which they obviously don’t do themselves. Not exactly confidence inspiring by any shape of the imagination, not to mention poor documentation.

So, with the lack of information I decided to do it myself!

As I had already fitted the alternator, the process below also shows the removal. If you have a new alternator you can skip these first few steps on removing the alternator and go straight to the ‘Clocking‘ process below.

First things first is to disconnect the battery.

Disconnect the single wire from the back of the alternator. Remove the tension bolt for the alternator which fits inside the bracket’s slot gap. Then loosen the hinge bolt at the top for the alternator. Unhook the v belt and remove the hinge bolt fully, taking the weight of the alternator remove it to a work bench.

Figure 1

My research and a warning;

If you read some of the forums out there on this subject, they say that you can undo the four case bolts and move the back around then retighten. This saves the hassle of undoing the rotor nut. WRONG. This could damage the springs and brushes internal components within the rear housing. You should only clock/index the alternator by moving the FRONT housing part of the case only.

‘Clocking’ process – also called ‘Indexing’

With the alternator on its side we will need to lock the cooling fan in place. I used a long-handled probe between the fins and resting on the bench surface. A screwdriver could also do the job.

The fins are not evenly spaced, and you will need to find the best place to wedge your locking tool in place. This should be on the same side (left) looking from the front of the alternator when you are undoing the rotor nut counter-clockwise.

The best way to remove the rotor nut is to use an impact wrench. I used my cordless Snap-On 3/8 impact driver with a 15/16ths impact socket. It’s for this very reason that people incorrectly move the back part of the case around, just because it’s easier.

Holding as much of the unit still as you can, buzz the nut until it’s undone. Once the nut has been removed take out the locking bar you have used.

With the nut fully removed depending on your pulley type, (remove the parts one at a time, taking note of how they fitted together). Remove the spring washer next, then remove the v pulley from the face plate, followed by the polished face plate.

The final part is to slide of the fan itself. You will notice it has a key way cut out, but there is no key way on the rotor shaft itself, just a plain round shaft as shown. You can clearly see the uneven fan spacing here that I mentioned earlier.

notice the uneven fn spacing

There are four case bolts 5/16th which need to be loosened from the back of the case, I used a ratchet to break them free before using a cordless screwdriver to undo the rest. The bolts are quite long seated into the front half of the casing.

Once the four bolts are removed, hold the case together while resting the alternator on its back with the rotor facing up.

Gently separate the top from the stator (the black plates between the top and bottom half of the case). Lift up the top part of the case to a max of 1/4″ without disturbing the stator. Turn the front case by 90deg increments to where you need it to be. The pics I have marked below showing the gaps between the case during the indexing process.

Re-align the two halves of the case again and lower the top part of the case back down.

With the top is in place, hold the case together to stop it moving and turn the alternator onto its side again, finger tighten the four long case bolts back up. Spin the shaft to make sure that there is no snagging and spins freely.

Check that he rear stud is where you need it to be, perhaps do a dummy fit to the engine if required. Once you are happy with the location, tighten the case bolts back up. Do not over tighten the four case bolts, I recommend using the manual ratchet for the final tightening.

Spin the shaft once again to make sure it’s all still free spinning.

While the alternator was apart I took the opportunity to clean the case and the front sections. I was not happy to find bits of the chrome flaking of. I used Auto Finesse metal polish to remove the marks on the chrome and then Auto Finesse mint rims wax to seal the chrome.

I didn’t clean the spring washer or the back of the locking nut too much. The simple reason is that friction is required for the hold all the components on the rotor shaft.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Refitting The Parts

At this point you could replace the pulley style if they is your intention to change the look or function to a Serpentine setup maybe.

Replace the fan onto the shaft first making sure the fins are facing backwards.

Next make sure the cover plate is fitted the correct way round with the dish section fitting inside the fan recess.

Next is the v belt pulley that will sit flush onto the face plate, again the raised section fitting into the recess of the face plate now.

Slide the spring washer into the shaft and into the v pulley recess. Finally the nut is fitted and finger tightened for now. Spin the rotor to make sure all is free and not snagged anywhere.

Now insert the locking tool you used earlier on the other side (right) between the fan blades to hold the section still once again. Now re-impact the nut clockwise back into place securely.

Remove your locking tool and recheck that the whole section spins freely again.

Refitting the alternator

Place the long pivot bolt and washer into the pivot section of the alternator and through any spacer required to align the pulleys up correctly to the lower crank pulley. Finger tighten the bolt for now into the engine block. See ‘Figure 1‘ above.

If you are mounting the alternator bracket for the first time, lightly tighten the bolt above the main crank pulleys to hold the bracket in place, but movable to locate the tension bolt.

Next insert the tension bolt and spring washer through the bracket slot into the alternator case. Slip the v belt over the pulley. See ‘Figure 1‘ above.

Pull the alternator to tension and tighten the tension bolt just enough to hold the alternator in place for now. There should be 1/4″ to 1/2″ movement up and down on the belt. I prefer the twist method for the belt, twisting the belt 90deg in the middle between pulleys.

Once you are happy then fully tighten the tension bolt, Pivot bolt and the bracket bolt if needed.

At this point I took the time to clean up the cables up before refitting them. Connect the one wire back to the alternator stud and tighten up. Reattach the battery connection.

Start the car and make sure that you are charging correctly and that the belt is not slipping on the pulleys.

At this point I tidied up all the cables around the solenoid, the battery cable to the alternator, the cables for the engine block and starter motor so it all looks neat and tidy again.

That’s it, all done and took three hours in total which included the cleaning, rewrapping of cables, photos for this walk-through and tidying up of cables. I also have to clean all my tools after I have used them. It’s all part of my OCD problem regarding my tool box. I intend to get the proper bracket and belt shortly, but it’s not important right now as it still all works.

As far as I know, this is the only guide for a Tuff Stuff alternator clocking. I hope it helps somebody else out there. Apologies for the more tech styled post, but I had to share it. 🙂

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Making Head(er) Way

This weekend was going to be a little different, on the way to Mustang Maniac. A good friend of mine has been badgering me to come and look at my car and of course Adam’s collection of cars. Gary turned up on time and loaded some bits into my car. Before we even had a chance to say hello we were in our way. We had a good catch up on the way down there with the radio on, we did decide that Joy Division tracks before 9 am when Gazza hadn’t even had a coffee yet wasn’t a good idea. The journey was quicker than normal, we arrived parked up and looked for Adam. After formal introductions it was coffee and cakes time in the boys club. I spoke with Adam to see what was the plan for the day and decided that my aluminium coated headers were to go on the car then the rest of the engine parts.

I got my headers from the storage area and took them to the workshop and prepared what I needed to do. Adam kindly took Gazza out on a little “road test” in the recently completed Shelby KR tribute. I must point out at this point I wasn’t to impressed as I ain’t even been out in that one yet. Jealous? Yep. Anyway Gazza came back looking quite pleased with himself and decided he was going to help instead of having joy rides all day. Yogi and Adam came over at this point to check all was OK, the left side header was going to be a problem as the 3″ pipe was tight and not going to fit. The answer was to drop the steering ram and try to get up to the block that way. I was a lucky boy, it just and I mean only just fitted in. We were thinking that the engine may have to come back out to get them in.

The spark plugs were removed and the rocker covers to give us as much space as possible to work in. We were going to try a new set of header bolts which are supposed to stop them coming undone with vibration.

As it turned out the bolts were very tight to fit in place against the pipes. We held the headers in place with a couple of the bolts each end and dropped the gaskets in place.

The rest of the bolts were put in but there was an issue with cylinder five inner bolt, notoriously difficult at the best of times, but these new bolt washers were a fraction to big to fit so we had to use a standard bolt in place. Yogi left us to it and Gazza got some gloves on to tighten the bolts up before the final tightening. Just prove it Gazza hard at work, well working anyway. 🙂

With the headers in place we gapped and put the spark plugs back in. Next was the power steering pump, coil and one wire alternator. All looking rather good, but there again I would say that wouldn’t I?

Adam found me the a fuel tank sender a fitted it for me, it’s a tricky job and I forgot to take photos of it as I was holding the torch. Well, that’s my excuse anyway. All in all a good day and I help too. Thanks to Adam for letting me bring a mate to his yard. Cheers Gazza for your help.

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Pretty Bits

The car was loaded up Friday night, full tank of gas and I was ready to rock. The weather was supposed to be nice so it wasn’t going to be a case of layers on layers again I’m glad to say. The trip to Mustang Maniac was uneventful and I couldn’t settle on a mood of music for the radio. I arrived and was greeted by Adam walking through a new gate that he has just had put in to make it easier to get to the yard from the offices. It has only just happened this week after a couple of years of nagging to get it done.

Anyway, I knew what my task was I was chomping at the bit to get going. The wires and dash need to be tidied up and the pretty bits fitted to the dash. Yes, I say pretty bits but what I meant was the essential bits. The wiper and light switches, ignition switch, cigarette lighter and heater controls. The first part was the lights as a big block that clamps on the back of the switch so it needed to be located and fixed in place before fixing it to the dash.

Dead simple to fit as the dash ring locates into a groove and the light switch is held to the dash by a centre screw in part. Once that part is fitted the long bar with the knob on the end just pushes in and clicks into place.

Next up was the windscreen switch, now this is an aftermarket switch and had to have an extra fitting screwed to it make sure the spacer cup was in the correct position and the knob didn’t stick out from the dash by about two inches. Again the dash ring is screwed into the middle to hold in place via the lugs at the bottom. While fitting the connections to the rear I remembered that there has to be an additional wire that runs to the washer pump from the switch. The Newport Wipers kit does not come with the wire nor did the AutoWire kit except for the washer connection due to the many configurations that there could be at the time of manufacture. To get round this I found a wire for a Variable Speed Sensor that would not be used for my car. I reallocated that wire to the washer pump and followed it back to the inside of the car. The VSS wire runs to the dash gauges so I cut the wire and again rerouted it to the wiper switch. A female spade connector was fitted and pushed in place on the back of the wiper switch, job done. The wiper switch is a pain because unlike the lights that have a large cross in the middle, you have to tighten wiper switch centre tube up with a pin in the way. To get round this I made a tool that fits over the top with two legs that twist the locking centre tube into place thus holding it to the dash. The pics here are outside the car to make it easier to see.

on the main switch shaft

close up of the pins in place

The tool was made from an old wiper blade not the cheap aluminium ones now days, but a real old solid one I had laying about. Anyway it worked although I bent it a bit still. The knob for this was a tiny 5/64ths Allen grub screw, having the correct key is important not to damage the fine flats inside the head.

The next part was the heavy wires for the ignition switch. This is again held in place by a spacing cup behind the dash and a set of locating lugs for the dash ring. There is a special tool that holds this in place while you locate the back of the switch. But I found that by thumb wedged in the hole and then twist the back to the dash ring via the spring, it clips in nicely with a reassuring click. The plug from the wire loom pushed onto the back and the tiny nut to hold the accessory feed and the plug in place is tightened up. The final part was simple cigarette lighter. This is a twist into position effort with a female bullet connector for the thread at the back for the live feed.

Now for the heater controls, this plate is located via two holes in the dash and two clamps at the back. The trick is to thread the control cables through the opening and direct them to the top of the heater box. Clamps at the top of the heater box hold the cables in place so that the levers can pull the wire freely in and out to operate the flaps on the box. This was a much quicker process that I thought it would be and was fitted in about fifteen minutes flat.

The ash tray was is slightly broken and if you pull it to hard from the mount then the it will come straight out. But, as I don’t smoke I wont be using it, so it’s there just to fill a hole and still be part of the original car. Two bolts on the side of the recess holds the bracket for the ash tray and two at the top hold it flat. Again another ten minute job. The ashtray slid in and looks a awesome colour matched to the dash. I will take it out and fix it at a later date when I have nothing better to do.

While I was inside the car I took the courtesy light wires to the door jam switches and pressed them into the A pillars. A bit of a fiddle job making the wires disappear, but I will tidy that up a bit later once I know all is well.

That’s the inside done for now at least anyway. I decided to fit the washer pump into place with just two self tap bolts, but not connect the wires up just yet. I must say it looks quite good against the satin black.

While I was at it I thought I would screw a voltage regulator onto the inner front panel where they are supposed to be. Those that have been reading my blog from the beginning may remember that the American AutoWire kit requires a One Wire Alternator so the voltage regulator is not needed. As this is blown one that Adam had lying around he gave it to me. Just for show of course and the wire loom pig tail that goes with it will be a dummy set of wires into the main loom to give it that more stock look, all be it polished chrome. But shhhhh – don’t tell anybody as it’s a secret!

Time was drawing to a close so I fitted the two horns to the front of the car, just to free up some more space that don’t have to laying around in the way anymore.

I know I have more to do under the hood, that can be tidied up later as there is no rush right now. Next week I am not sure what I will be doing. All of a sudden the car seems to have moved on a big step forward. Perhaps it’s just the chrome going on blinding me for just how much work remains to be done. But for now I am well chuffed. 🙂