November 2016

Alternator install is now complete, with the arrival of the McGill M6 150mm turnbuckle. That ought to hold the alternator in place. I've tensioned the belt, and tightened the turnbuckle, all I need to do now is run the engine to make sure it charges the battery.


Pete Goulding is at **** again on Thursday, seeing how much BHP is possible using the Pumaspeed X-37 hybrid turbo. I'm waiting to see, before I decide which Turbo to go for. Pumaspeed sell several for the 1.6 EcoBoost, the X-27, and the X-37. There is a quoted 25BHP difference between the two, but I need torque, and responsiveness from the engine, so we'll see on Thursday what happens on the dyno.

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The alternator is now ready for testing. I bought a 5PK903 Gates belt, which runs around the crank, water pump and idler pulley, and the alternator. Its now wired in, I just need to reattach the radiator, and intercooler, and put some fuel in the tank, and the engine should run. I'm interested in seeing if the Denso alternator produces a charge, as it presently has a single wire connection, despite its three pin plug. I found instructions on the www, that explains that only the middle wire in the plug needs the +12V signal from the isolator in order for the alternator to generate +12V. I'm hoping to see this weekend if the installation is succesful. I loctited the pulley to the input shaft, as well as tightening the 22mm nut using a box driver that I found in my Dad's tool-kit, so it shouldnt come loose. I've also rerouted the battery cable from the original position on the rear of the gearbox, under the inlet manifold, across the front of the engine to the new alternator. Its all been cable tied carefully, and should prove reliable.



I've bought a tdi-tuning.co.uk diesel tuning module for my tow car, which I'll fit next week. It supposedly increases BHP from 255 to 321, and more importantly, torque from 560NM to 650NM, which should make for even easier towing, and safer overtaking. It'll be nice to see an improvement in MPG too. Full road test coming up.

[Instructions for the Denso 3 wire alternator]

The Denso alternator has a three wire connection. The connections are marked 'P IG L'. Below is an explanation as to the role of each pin.




"P" (red wire) is a frequency pulse that is used as a feed-back signal for tachs or automatic frequency control on a generator set. This will not be used for this application.

"IG" (green wire) is the field excitation circuit that is normally switched by an ignition switch or other automatic switching device such as an engine oil pressure switch. This turns the alternator on with a +12vdc signal. This wire could be jumped to the alternator output terminal at the alternator for one wire operation but you should be aware that with the engine not running there will be about 300 ma of parasitic draw on the battery. Enough to drain it over the course of a few days.

"L" (blue wire) This is the charge/no charge indicator light if you choose to use it. You will need to add a small incandescent dash lamp between this wire and a +12vdc source such as the ignition switch. With the key turned on and alternator not turning it will be lighted. As the engine is started and the alternator has good output it will go out. Any illumination of the light while the engine is running indicates no or low alternator output.

I have only used the IG wire, the middle pin on the connector, and this goes to the original cable that is fed from the Cartek isolator. This should mean that when the isolator button is pressed, to kill the ignition, the +12V signal to the IG pin is cut, which prevents the alternator from continuing to generate +12V, and should mean that the engine stops immediately.

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Lots more changes to the car since last week. I've removed the alternator from the gearbox, and it is now attached to the chassis in front of the engine. This has saved around 725g in weight, through removal of the original mounting bracket, and the large pulley that was fitted to the driveshaft. The removal of the neutral pull cable also saved another 245g. I have also fitted both the rear wheel speed sensors, which will be wired in to the IO module in due course.

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I finally removed the side impact protection boards this week, and weighed them, and the pair of boards on the scales rocked in at an impressive 15.2Kg. I then weighed all of the fasteners and they came to 800g, so thats a combined weight saving of 16Kg. Not bad. And certainly no point in fitting them back on to the car, as I certainly wont be needing them when I'm sprinting.

The pneumatic actuator turned up, and its going to be fitted to the gearbox to replace the gear selector cable. I also bought an FTR mounting bracket from Geartronics, and I'm looking for the remaining components to finish off the list. So thats a valve block, pipes, pressure regulator, bottle, and maybe some professional flappy paddles.

In other news, I had an email from John Ryan (Technical Director) of the MSA this week, explaining that the FIA test documents for our Mygale SJ01-12 chassis had arrived at the MSA offices, and the MSA ROPS certificate was being processed. I'm very releived to hear this. I'd been chasing it down since July, and as its taken four months to get a result, I'm very pleased I hadnt started the process in January 2017.

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