After approx 18 years of Caterham driving with very little in the way of alternator issues on both my X-Flow (8600 rpm limit) and Zetec cars back in 2008 things stated to go badly wrong. The alternator became noisy so tried to buy another. The local factors had plenty of RH 35 amp ones but no LH 45 amp ones. Eventually located one which was OK for 6 months and then it stopped charging. Trouble was the factors had gone bust so no warranty. Took it to a local auto electrical place who took it apart and wondered how they got away calling them reconditioned. They replaced the box at the back that does clever things and all was OK (ish). Like all Lucas alternators it never charged at the 14.4 volts of modern alternators, best the voltmeter would claim was 13.7 volts.
So after a couple of years when the bearings started to grumble I decided to fit one of the modern small Japanese ones.
Found a local Kit Car maker who did a complete kit for the Zetec that included all parts to fit and at an all in price of £220 quite a bargain, 1/2 the Dunnell price. Fitted easily enough but after 20 miles it started making bad noises and the volts were all over the place. Took it back and they exchanged it and guess what, after about 30 miles all sorts of noises and volts all over the place. Took it back and they blamed me for fitting it incorrectly and refused to change it again. Simply told them I would contact Barclaycard and get a refund from them, they changed their minds and gave me a refund.
Later that day had 4 tyres fitted by the friendly mobile chap who lives up the street. Chatted about the alternator and when I mentioned the Daihatsu alternator he said he had one in the garage off his old Charade GTTi, I could have it FOC. It was an ugly, dirty old thing but for free worth a go. Swapped my muti Vee pulloy over, made a simple adapter for the fitting bolt and a bracket to stabilise the front of the alternator, bought a belt, connected it and started the engine. 14.4 volts (drops to 14.2 when hot), no noises and no worries about the cooling fan chopping a brake pipe.
After a few weeks with no apparent issues decided to try and get a spare but could not cross reference the part number. Spoke to Denso and their chap rang me back and what a helpful chap he was. Basically all the Denso units are similar, the plug on the back is specified by the manufacturer so if its the same physical size with the same mounts its going to be the same unit. Bought one off E-Bay, £14 posted, no idea if it works, never needed it (yet).
Whilst on the phone I mentioned the Denso alternators I had bought previously and how they had failed after a few miles. He asked me a simple question, what did it say on the label. Told him "Nippon Denso _____" (had kept a note of the part numbers), same label as the Daihatsu one but without reference to Daihatsu. He told me that they had stopped using the word "Nippon" back in the 90's when they started supplying more European parts and the only new "Nippon Denso" alternators available are cheap Chinese ones made from cheese. Either my local "friendly" Kit Car manufacturer is unaware or is simply selling fakes as the real thing.
So buy a Denso Alternator from your local scrappy. Make a bracket and you should be OK. Very happy I changed. | 