yep as the title states how much rpm does it take to bend the cooling fins on an uno 999 alternator out until they rub on the casing

I had mine to I reckon 9000 rpm when I stook it in 2nd at 70mph oops as it happens it made lots of noise and didn't brake anything whatsoever (solid engine imo)

but today I had one come in at work with the cooling thins on the alternator bent out to the point were they were rubbing on the case

after the girl driving did a similar thing to me only at a much higher speed

so just thought i'd come to the uno section rather fittingly and let people have a guess at what rpm this would be or has anyone else managed to do this before

I have no idea what it actually was as it had no rev counter being a start ie

but I reckon 15000prm would do it

I just can't believe that this happened and didn't harm the engine atall

can anyone imagine what would happen if you took a ford CVH (considerable vibration and harshness) engine to anywhere near 9000rpm

dont all guess at once

sounds more like bearings went, then fins hit casing and bent

dave said:

sounds more like bearings went, then fins hit casing and bent

Click to expand...

yep I should think that is the more likely situation, the cooling fins will hardly bend at all despite being levered on to get the center bolt out on an old Lucas alternator, they are a solid little unit, alternator bearings however, can be very weak, and often a squeaky belt that cant be sorted out is Alt bearings that dont hold the center properly

no the alternator bearings were fine

the thins had actually all deformed uniformly outwards I saw it with my own eyes due to lots of centrifugal force on them if they hit the casing first they would bend the other way and round slightly

after all she admitted she stuck it in the wrong gear at speed

my dad had to remove the cooling thins and reshape them back in to were they should be

I was amazed my self when I saw what had happened they had all just started to clip the casing and were cutting a line round it and making a noise

if you think about it the alternator is doing more rpm than the engine already due to the size of the pulleys

I am surprised it didn't snap the belt thou

anyway threres no reason why the alternator company would make it any stronger than it needs to be in general situations it would just be extra weight for the engine to turn