I know this has been asked before, but with more blacktops from foci being used than silvertops, can i check:

A mondeo 2.0 silver top has a serpentine belt which runs on a ribbed pulley from the water pump. if a triangulated arrangement is used between crank, waterpump and alternator, I will require an escort water pump to ensure the pump is drawing water in the correct direction.

does this still hold true for the later black tops from foci and mondies.

The standard zetec alternator is over kill for the application, is their any disadvantage in using it. I have limited fabrication skills for a smaller (daihatsu charade?) alt, is there an off the shelf bracket(s) solution.


cheers ta, Ed.

[Edited on 21/9/11 by mrwibble]

The easy way to tell, is if yout water pump pulley is ribbed to take the belt it runs in the same direction as the crank, i.e. is in contact with the 'inside' of the belt. If the pulley is plain, it runs in the opposite direction to the crank, all blacktop pumps run the opposite direction to the crank.

Silvertop and blacktop pumps are not interchangable, you can use the escort pump in the seilvertop as you suggest, with a blacktop the easiest solution is a jockey wheel to wrap the back of the belt round the pump pulley, look in my archive for one done.

There was a company in the USA building crankwise rotating pumps for blacktops, I did try to get one, but had no success.

I have a blacktop from a Mondeo and the water pump / alternator bit was really easy.

I used a jockey wheel that came on the Mondeo [or could have been the Focus as I've had 2 engines] to make the pump run the right way - there is a hole in the front of the engine [can't remember if in the head or the block] that is in the right position for this to bolt to and everything lined up perfectly.

The brackets to mount a small alternator [I used one from a Kubota tractor] are:

1. A piece of angle steel with a flat welded on the end for the main mount. Two bolts into the block and one for the bottom of the alternator to mount to the bracket.

2. A piece of bar to give some adjustment and to locate the top of the alternator.

If you can do even a basic bit of welding you can make this yourself, or just make the bits and ask someone to weld them up for you.

I then measured the belt run and got a suitable belt from Halfords.

Stu

[Edited on 21/9/11 by whitestu]

I am led to beleive that the standard alternator on a blacktop has charge controlled by the ecu of the car, so if not using the original ecu, you wont get charge.

Im using a small denso alternator and as I have no access to welding am hoping someone who has done one already can make me one up for a few beer tokens!!!

quote:

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Originally posted by AndyW
I am led to beleive that the standard alternator on a blacktop has charge controlled by the ecu of the car, so if not using the original ecu, you wont get charge.

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there was a small pulley wheel that came with my engine, mounted towards the bottom left, more or less below the alternator, sadly mine was damaged. is this what you refer to as the jockey wheel, my focus haynes manual seems describe this as a belt tensioner?

Retro ford do a basic but tidy kit to sort this out, they even sell idler pulleys if you don't fancy a trip to the scrappy..
I'm pretty sure you could find a cheaper alternator though

http://www.retro-ford.co.uk/shop/catalog/zetec/starter-and-alternator

thanks for that fizzer, that certainly would be an easy fix to the problem, £37 quid for pulley seems steep though. I'm going to finish taking the ancillaries off tonight, hopefully.

The alt is really stiff on, and i've damaged the casing trying too hard to get it off... oh well i might get a £10 for it scrap.

The retro ford kit looks very smart, don't know what acr means, but i guess any acr alt might fit...

Will investigate moving the alternator as others have done to be above the water pump, and therefore won't require an idler pulley- as long as its not in the way of anything.

what are the alternators of choice for this application?

Ed.