New Alternator Needed

[Jon Brown]

Had a look at a few places and seem to be in the £120 region, any ideas where I might be able to get one at a reasonable price?

Its a serp engine if that makes any difference

[haircutmike]

Jon, I have a used one.

[ChimpofDarkness]

Be warned, there are a lot of rubbish alternators out there.

Be wary of spoiling the ship for a ha'porth of tar, if it was me (& I had to have a new unit) I would be hunting down a decent make like Denso.

TBH £120.00 for a new Range Rover "Denso" brand alternator is not out of the way.

If money is tight your other option is to have your existing alternator reconditioned.

Just make sure you find a local guy with a good reputation and you should be looking at £60 - £65 for a very thorough & comprehensive recondition of your old unit.

Lets face it the case & pulley rarely wear out, so with new bearings, windings & diode pack it will virtually be a new alternator anyway & should give reliable service for many years.

I would be tempted by the £60 - £65 recon option if you trust the guy doing the work, a properly reconditioned original will be 10 times better than a new Chinese made cheap alternator.

[Jon Brown]

Thanks, was struggling to find half decent replacements. I'll avoid the Chinese rubbish as always.

Peter, I'll drop you an email

Thanks chaps

[Simon says]

Trouble is Dave the Denso unit you refer to is not kosha Denso (but built in Spain,Europe,etc) thus not proper Jap Denso that would probably outlast the car I agree a good recon should last years though i.e bearings, slip ring, brushes, reg/diode pack

Edited by Simon says on Tuesday 4th September 09:28

[brett84]

might not be much help as you are miles away but to give an idea on cost, a local place swapped my faulty one for recon with 12 months warranty and it only cost £40

[Jon Brown]

Im sure some other people would be interested in the £40 swap.

Now sorted thanks to haircutmike again

[Simon says]

brett84 said:

might not be much help as you are miles away but to give an idea on cost, a local place swapped my faulty one for recon with 12 months warranty and it only cost £40

Non-Serp though Brett they are cheap as chips as they also fit many other cars i.e Fords from the eighties the Serp units are are more vehicle specific hence more expensive

[ChimpofDarkness]

Simon says said:

Trouble is Dave the Denso unit you refer to is not kosha Denso (but built in Spain,Europe,etc) thus not proper Jap Denso that would probably outlast the car I agree a good recon should last years though i.e bearings, slip ring, brushes, reg/diode pack

Edited by Simon says on Tuesday 4th September 09:28

Oh no, Spanish Denso

I've been looking at this one, is it not Jap made then?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320842086916?ssPageName=...

Can't you get a proper Jap made Denso any more?

Clearly I've been out of the loop too long

I think I'll go re-con when my time comes

Edited by ChimpofDarkness on Tuesday 4th September 09:55

[brett84]

agghh that would explain it then, thought there might be a reason

Simon says said:

on-Serp though Brett they are cheap as chips as they also fit many other cars i.e Fords from the eighties the Serp units are are more vehicle specific hence more expensive

[Simon says]

ChimpofDarkness said:

Simon says said:

Trouble is Dave the Denso unit you refer to is not kosha Denso (but built in Spain,Europe,etc) thus not proper Jap Denso that would probably outlast the car I agree a good recon should last years though i.e bearings, slip ring, brushes, reg/diode pack

Edited by Simon says on Tuesday 4th September 09:28

Oh no, Spanish Denso

I've been looking at this one, is it not Jap made then?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320842086916?ssPageName=...

Can't you get a proper Jap made Denso any more?

Clearly I've been out of the loop too long

I think I'll go re-con when my time comes

Edited by ChimpofDarkness on Tuesday 4th September 09:55

In all fairness Dave i think the Magneti Marelli unit is fine premature failure in my opinion is brought on by shoddy jump starts and over frequent charging of flat/discharged batteries (typical lack of use victim) the majority of Serp TVR's that I have seen are still wearing the original alternators(date stamped)so changing for a new old stock or even recon MM unit is not such a bad thing IMO unfortunately much of the good old Japanese named products Denso for example have been rationalised and built abroad so share very little resemblance to the quality I once knew of its just the way stuff is nowadays bit like buying a current Honda/Toyota car and expecting quality & reliability as it was in the eighties it just isn't there anymore anyway enough doom & gloom hows the Canems still in love?

Edited by Simon says on Tuesday 4th September 11:10

[ChimpofDarkness]

Simon says said:

n all fairness Dave i think the Magneti Marelli unit is fine premature failure in my opinion is brought on by shoddy jump starts and over frequent charging of flat/discharged batteries (typical lack of use victim) the majority of Serp TVR's that I have seen are still wearing the original alternators(date stamped)so changing for a new old stock or even recon MM unit is not such a bad thing IMO unfortunately much of the good old Japanese named products Denso for example have been rationalised and built abroad so share very little resemblance to the quality I once knew of its just the way stuff is nowadays bit like buying a current Honda/Toyota car and expecting quality & reliability as it was in the eighties it just isn't there anymore anyway enough doom & gloom hows the Canems still in love?

Edited by Simon says on Tuesday 4th September 11:10

Looking through the file my original MM had new bearings after giving 6 years service, it's done another 10 years on these new bearings and still sounds sweet as nut

Re the Canems,..... Quite simply it rocks mate

I've got the cold start just as I want now, which (call me sad) was hugely rewarding.

It's like having a new toy to play with, the thing is I cant really fault the fuelling or ignition map from Lloyds so it doesn't really need any more tweaking

This is leading me to think what the car needs now is some nice 5 litre heads, this will give me an excuse to get the laptop out again

My new fascination for EFI & distributorless ignition is an odd one really.

I rejected all that stuff at college after studying Bosch K-Jetronic, I actually refused a work placement at Hethel in favour of working with a local vintage restorer.

Now I've kind of come full circle after realising I've got more control over an old Solex LE59 than I had with the 14CUX.

The features in the Canems software are totally awesome, for anyone that understands first principles of the fuel & ignition requirements of a 4 stroke internal combustion engine it's nothing short of a revelation.

What a joy, I should have embraced it years ago but I loved the stone age stuff as a kid (& still do) so I went in a different direction.

I now have a huge hunger to learn more, I expect the Canems is just the beginning for me

Evangelical rant over

[Simon says]

Ahh yes the Bosch K/KE Jetronic continuous fuel injection takes me back a bit especially as I had not long left Honda with the full sequential PGM-FI EFI system in use since 1986 when I started working on the K I thought I had gone back to the dark ages it was that primitive I started looking for cogs and springs