Thought I'd let you folks know that I've fitted the new Motorworks 400watt alternator and that it works just great.

It now powers the 65watt headlamp and two 50watt driving lamps, BMW heated grips and also my heated waistcoat (plus all the rest like sidelamps, instruments and ignition etc)and it does so when the engine is doing 3250rpm. You may recall that with the original 280watt alternator I had to maintain 4,000rpm (70mph in top gear) and that was before I had the heated waistcoat (40watt, I think).

The kit consisted of a new rotor and a new stator and a new diode board, some new wiring plus heavier earthing straps.

Actually, there was a bit of work needed with these (the straps) The terminals were slightly larger due to the heavier conductors used to carry the increased current, and I didn't like to bend them like the original terminals were bent to fit under the socket head bolt where they go in the recess in the chaincase casting. What I did was to use longer bolts, 50mm instead of 45mm, and made two 5mm long brass collars, 10mm diameter and drilled 6mm. (As it happened the terminals were 5mm and had to be drilled out to 6mm at this end) The terminals were threaded on to the bolt followed by the brass collars and then they were screwed into the casing. The terminals were now level with the casing and so there is no need to bend them, with the collars taking up the space in the recess. The two bolts holding on the engine front cover were just the right length so I used those for the job and used the original 45mm bolts to hold the cover on instead, they only had four turns of grip, but with a touch of Loctite they did the job fine till the proper 50mm bolt arrived a couple of days later. Incidentally, having the head of the bolts protruding does not appear to be a problem; although the original loom carrying three-phase output from the stator to the diode board was routed past the bolt I would say there was still plenty of room for it, but the new loom carrying the three phases plus the Y conductor is now routed differently and is thus well clear of this bolt anyway. Another small thing was that the spade connector of the lead to the voltage regulator from the middle of the back of the new diode board had to be pushed over very carefully to provide clearance from the casing. I also changed the rubber mountings for the diode board even though, surprisingly, the originals semed to be in excellent condition. With these two longer bolts, remember to put them back in their correct places if you take the chain case off in the future, all the other bolts are 45mm

By the way, make sure that the lead from the trigger unit is tucked safely out of harm's way when you replace the front cover in case it gets pinched by the partitions forming the cooling channels at the side. I didn't do it myself, but my dealer managed it at my 600 mile service all those years ago.

Total cost was £200 plus VAT making £235. I've done about 600miles so far, with 200 miles with full (electrical) load, no problems so far, the max. voltage is still the same at 13.8 or so, and with no worries about the battery running down, and the battery acid level still ok. I know that this isn't much of a trial but if I get any problems I'll let you know. If any one is interested I've taken a dozen or so pictures which are still in the camera. (Digital cameras? Nah, never heard of them)

Thanks for everybody's advice,

John


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Johnefyn

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Johnef