1984 Granada BOA; small progress & Civic 25/10/24

So lunchtime today was spent testing the alternator on the car.

All things switched on, and Russell held the throttle at 3000rpm for me.
60amps out of the alternator, and just over 12 volts charge

Alternator whipped off to send back, and a phone call for me to make tomorrow

Yup! Just a tad
It would appear to work fine, until there is load on it. Shall bite my tongue for the mo, and give the guy a chance of redemption first tho!

So lunchtime today (May 5th) I borrowed the courtesy car and shot off to PCM with my alternator.
Swiftly attached to the lovely old test rig, and all checked out OK

No drop out at all, and spun as slow as 700rpm it still produced 13.8 volts!
So some musings later, I returned to work with the alternator with the hope I find the electrical gremlin on the car!

Current thinking is that as I drove the car out of the workshop yesterday and it idled perfectly with no stalling issues (that it normally does) it may be the power steering pump causing the voltage and charge problems

(In fairness, the pump has never been out of the elements, and it is the 2nd pump I've acquired from wrecked cars)

Yeah I'd start tracing bits back in the wiring and start scrubbing all the earth points. At least it's free!

Should be pretty easy to test the pump being a drain though. Just pull the plug and see what it does to the voltage

Alternator back on at lunchtime today, and road tested on the way home with the steering pump relay not energised.

It was better, but the voltage still takes a dive when the cooling fan kicks in

So either something amiss with my wiring escapades of late, or something I've overlooked

This is a possibility. Also need to get my spot thermometer back from my friend and check that the temperature gauge tallies with the coolant temp and that isn't also a resistance issue

May be a duff thermostat I have fitted not fully opening, and a dicky cooling fan

Not that I know of.
And Mk2 Granada forums are few and far between now, especially with the loss of FGCUK that mr created many years ago

The ammeter thing hadn't worked since the BOA was installed back in 2008 (ish) and just lately the battery had been draining if left for more than 3 days to the point of not being able to start the car. Several suspect batteries later (which the supplier said checked out fine) I decided to sort out the soldered main lead from the alternator to the fuse box/ammeter/positive distribution box and do the joins with proper crimped ends.

Ammeter was then fully functional, but still the battery drain issue. Alternator tested, and appeared to be not fully functional after 200k miles. So that was refurbed. Also checked the earth leads for voltage drop and negligible voltage drop there (highest reading was 0.03volt between engine and chassis leg). Oh, and drain on the battery less than half an amp when tested with my friends posh meter.

So next port of call is check the distribution box, the cooling fan current draw, and the thermostat for correct operation

Erm, it is a voltmeter 3in1 thingy from the late 80s at a guess.
Seems to be pretty accurate so far, and the ammeter is the original dash mounted one for Ghia models.
With the steering pump not energised, it is behaving slightly better (still takes a hit when the cooling fan kicks in mind, but not as big a hit).
mr has suggested checking the amps for power drain, which is a possibility!
Spent Saturday at work changing engine oil and fuel filter. And making up a better bracket for the alternator
(Shall upload some pics of that later on this evening)

So Saturday morning (the 8th May possibly) was spent looking over the tyres, brakes and suspension, oil and filter change, and replace the fuel filter.
Correct oil filter for the engine doesnt bally fit! So the old one was wiped over and refitted (filled with fresh oil too), and the fuel filter changed as the fuel tank was almost empty so gravity wouldn't syphon all the fuel out!

And whilst it was up on the ramp, I decided to have a look at the alternator lower bracket.
Since removing the original cast bracket for the PAS pump, alternator and automatic tensioner, the current alternator hangs off the right hand cylinder head and had a slotted bracket on a long bolt spaced out from the block.

Decided I could do better than that, and as I had some 10mm thick Dur-Al plate left over from my brake caliper brackets, would use that.
Many hours spent making that up/so it would fit, and my friend also popped over so I could fit a CV gaiter on his 340bhp Corsa C. As he couldn't manage to strip the shaft to get to the inner CV

So my bracket making started off with a bit of the usual CAD, and a piece of sacrificial plastic...




And that will live up in this dark spot




Fitted now with some reclaimed cap head bolt/machine screw, and also a pair of drilled and tapped holes now on there (I didnt photo any of that, or the finished article due to wanting to get done)




That was chopped and shaped with 1 of my finest 1mm cutting discs and a carbide burr in my 14.4v die grinder!




And the slotted lower bracket was replaced with a male/female rod end, so where it gets adjusted to is where it stays 
Seems to have kept the belt tight, but not too tight so far! 
Really should swap the steering rack over next