Iain T

Having just joined the forum a few weeks ago I thought it was going to be more oily rag and bad spelling than quoting Cicero! When I was at school I did read Homer's Odyssey and Iliad and once I got into the prose enjoyed them both. I also read Victor and Dandy when they arrived Saturday morning..... Living in an apartment in London I do a lot of streaking, mainly when the booze cruises past by on the Thames banging out indecipherable noise/music at 110db. Not my problem if they look, they won't do it twice! Iain (in deference to you all I am fully clothed while writing this thread)

The best use for sugar is to make dark rum. Try a Dark and Stormy which traditionally is Goslings Black Seal and ginger beer. You can get Goslings at Waitrose.....I'm on commission! I've recorded most of Allo Allo series, my wife and I watch them to remind us what good comedy writing and acting is all about. Iain

Most impressed, you must be a scholar of the Arts or an avid Googler! I forgot about Lain, it's all down to modern fonts, when I started school in 1960 we were handed a wooden stick then had to go to the teacher to get nibs. I was such a good boy I was made ink monitor! I was easily recognisable as the boy with permanently blue hands. If I didn't like someone I would water down their ink so much you couldn't read their writing. I also had a nasty streak..... Lain

Colin, it was Oscar Wilde who wrote 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'. Iron

Finally plugged everything in and fired up the engine, the warning light goes out when running so that looks ok and I tested the battery with an AVO meter and it was charging at 14.4 volts. Not quite sure what the volt test is that Brise do but mine gives off a healthy 14.4 volts. Haven't tried driving on the road as the weather has been rubbish but running the engine up stationary the Brise isn't rattling about like the year old ACR I bought from Rimmers. To be fair they gave me a refund but that's not the point. So to summarise if your car has been converted to an alternator the only things you perhaps need to do to fit a Brise/Denso is run a cable from the 35 amp fused green (I used a piggy back connector) to the IGN terminal, plug in the warning light brown/yellow into the L terminal and buy a 16 or 25 mm2 cable from the B+ to the positive battery terminal. Don't know if this is true or false but it seems to have worked for me! My parents wanted a name that couldn't be shortened so rumour has it when the doctor asked what are you going to call him they said Ian. As the doctor was a Scot he said why not spell it the Scottish way Iain and so it came to pass! I am not Scottish I was born in the Eastend of London! Some idiots have called me earwig or Eee and an American relative just couldn't get her head around the spelling and reverted to Iron...??? Don't get me started on electric cars, until some bright spark cracks nuclear fusion what's the point and you can't hear the things coming, give me the sound of an ERA at full chat any day. Iain

Hi, The Brise 5siacr is rated 13.2v and 60 amp max, according to the test cert it pushes out 13.2v and 40amps at about 1500 engine rpm. The alternator spindle is about 1.85 times crank rpm. As my 'old' Lucas ACR 45 amp alternator had no problem charging the Yuasa battery I would have thought the Brise would be ok. Fan belt arrived today so I'll give it a whirl later (providing I don't drink too much wine over lunch and fall asleep!). Iain

I bit the bullet and bought the Brise a couple of weeks ago, it looks good in the car just waiting for the smaller fan belt and I'll report back if I have it wired in correctly. I'm sure I could have got one cheaper but that ship has sailed!

Clive, My experience with alternators convinced me just to pay up and buy from a proven source. The 5si alternator is also £195 + vat and I wanted peace of mind.......until it came to plugging it in! The Brise is also smaller and lighter than an ACR, I'm not so interested in originality as my car is far from standard. Had to but new fan belt from Rimmers today as the old 1088 one was way too long. The 5SI centre of spindle to pivot mounting is less than a Lucas ACR therefore requires a smaller belt. I agree rebuilding Lucas alternators is not worth the time, best to buy new and go up the pub. Iain

Sorry attachment didn't work if you google Brise 5si you can see spec sheet.

Hi Iain We are a dying breed apparently there were no birth registration with the name Ian or Iain last year! Please see spec sheet from Brise.

I didn't mention this but the new Brise alternator is 60 amp output. More than the old 25 amp dyno, still not enough for in-car-entertainment systems, climate control and 3000w amp but should enable me to turn my extra spot lamps on! There is a posting on Sideways Technologies website from 'DaveNotSoSideways dated 4th Feb 2008 which gives a very good and descriptive method of converting a GT6/Vitesse/Spitfire etc from dyno to Denso type alternator. Iain

The guy at Brise is old school 1960's Lucas employee so should know what he's talking about, I don't electrics are not my forte. However when all the cables arrive just to be safe I will possibly wire it in as per the drawing. Don't know why they spec 25mm2 cable as this is rated at 170amps, perhaps they are just being cautious?

I spoke to a very helpful guy at Brise who advised on 'standard British' wiring the L terminal should be the warning light which on my Vitesse/dynamo loom is the brown/yellow cable. I then have to run a new cable from the fused side of the fuse box ie any green wire terminal, to the IG terminal. The existing 35 amp fuse should be ok? I also have to buy a 1000mm long cable from the positive battery terminal to terminal B. I opted for 16mm2 rated at 110 amp cable, the recommended 25mm2 cables are rated at 170 amps which seemed over the top for a 60 amp alternator. The only other issues are the existing 35mm long mounting spacer will have to be cut down to 16mm as the pulley offsets are different to the Lucas ACR and pivot/mounting holes in the Brise are for M8 bolts. There seems too much play if I use the original 5/16" bolt so I will get an M8 x 130 bolt. Once I have the Brise fitted I will sort out spacers for the adjustment bracket or make a new one. If this works it could be a fix for all three terminal Brise/Denso type alternators. In about a week I'll let you know if it all works!!!! If you think there is a glaring problem with the above please comment. Cheers Iain

Thanks all, I'll buy a new cable from terminal B to battery then plug in the brown/yellow to L. For the moment I'll tape up the brown/green. To be safe I'll phone Brise and ask if IGN terminal is required or optional. It's a very compact and light alternator, Brise sell a 4si unit that is just 2kg all up! I just want to eliminate as many issues as I can, enjoy the car and do some historic rally's!

Mmm, so the old brown/green is not required? If I don't plug this in somewhere surely some of the widgets in the car may not work. I assume the brown/yellow wire goes into the Brise L yellow terminal? Iain

Firstly I have to say I have a blind spot when it comes to electrics! After three alternators decided to either stop charging or vibrate the whole car I bought a Brise 5siacr. I thought I could sort out how to plug it in but I need the Forums help. My old Lucas 17 ACR has only two terminals with a brown/yellow small spade wire and a larger spade brown/green wire plugged in. With the engine running I put an avo on the brown/green wire and it showed 14.4 volts so I assume this is the charge side to the battery, although I can't see where it goes. Therefore the brown/yellow must be to excite the alternator? The Brise has a type 1 terminal with two spades and a larger stud terminal for a larger cable straight to the battery. Obviously the regulator has been junked in lieu of a multitude of brown wires in a connector box, that's electrical technical talk for me. My question is where do I plug in the brown/green and yellow cables into the Brise? Do I need the brown/green cable as I will be using a new cable to the battery.......etc Sorry if this has been covered before but simple answers please, I know one being take it to an auto electrician! Cheers Iain

I shall be having an interesting conversation with the supplier tomorrow after I collect the car from VF who are kindly putting in the new windscreen. I also bought a steering column shaft UJ last year that had such badly formed splines that the shaft just turned in the UJ. Even clamped up tight it was unable to engage with either splines, not only useless but unsafe and dangerous!!! I put the old disc one back on......buyer beware!!! Iain

John It was at Ingatestone Hall in July, a nice event and you can go around the Hall. The car next to the Daimler is an Invicta S-type, only 75 ever made and in show condition, mega bucks but what a car and fantastic Meadows engine. If you want to see some unique or unusual vintage cars go to the VSCC Prescott Hill Climb event. It's over a Sat/Sun and some of the machinery is jaw dropping, they normally have 3 or so ERA's and to see them off the line for a 80 year old racing car and (Riley based) engine is a must. You can walk around paddock and hill and chat to all the competitors, very friendly. Your Vitesse looks a bit mean, does it still have the 2ltr engine? Did you tweak the carbs/intake manifold/head? Iain

Thanks for everyones help greatly appreciated😀

When I had my factory I was fortunate to see the transition from all hand skills in the 70's through to full cad cam 5-axis high speed machining. The best of times as the 'old skool' and new guys intermingled and fed from one another. The result being that with over a hundred skilled workforce I only needed 3 working supervisors as everyone just knew what they were doing.....bliss for me and fulfilling for the workshop. However you can't go backwards and the new technology is so much more quicker, accurate and repeatable. The only thing education doesn't teach you is common sense, that comes from mentors and getting it wrong. I attach pictures of my friends Daimler 'Toomer Special' which he converted from a 1940's DE36 hearse. He shortened the chassis completely assembled the car and made all the formers and hand made the ali body himself....impressive but it nearly killed him with the effort! Yes it does have 5.5Ltr straight 8 with 4 SU's and goes like s**t, but stopping it is another matter. The old skills are still out there but diminishing. Iain

Dave, Apart from using tube follower etc the way we used to form prototype exhausts and tubes was to fill with dry sand, bung up the ends with wood then heat the area you want to bend to cherry red and SLOWLY and in several bites bend round by hand (with the aid of extending the tube to get more leverage). The sand stops the tube from collapsing. But you must use bone dry sand or the steam generated inside the tube with blow the bungs out like bullets!!!!!! A common ruse for apprentices in the days when health and safety didn't rule the roost. Have fun Iain

Thanks Pete, Had an exciting day today, in the hunt for this spurious vibration around 2500-3500rpm I took the car to Vibration Free at Bicester who use specialist widgets to see where and what is causing the problem. However bowling through the countryside on the A418 a boulder hit the windscreen, frightened the life out of me and made crazy glass of the screen. Anyway I got to VF (as they very kindly collected the car on their trailer) and the culprit of the very harsh vibration was the 'new' alternator that I fitted only 3 months ago! It is the second alternator I have fitted from a very well known Triumph parts supplier, the first one just didn't charge after only a few hundred miles and this one charges but is of so poor quality it is unusable. Steve from VF said in his 20 years experience he has never seen anything this bad as it vibrated the engine/gearbox and chassis. The upshot is apart from all the usual suspects ie propshaft/UJ's etc just take the fan belt off and see if the vibration disappears....it could be the cr**py alternators and parts we are sold to maintain our cars!! I can't recommend Vibration Free enough, this is the second time I have used them, the first time was when they successfully identified the bell housing was misaligned. Sure enough a 'specialist' workshop hadn't fitted the all important 3/8" alignment bolt but 5/16" all round so when I put a dti on the flywheel and measured the gearbox aperture on the back of the bell housing it was over 20 thou out of centre. The limit is less that 5 thou. Try their services it can save you an expensive rebuild. Finally is a MK2 2ltr also a 6J? Iain

Pete, I have since changed the shocks for fully adjustable GAZ fronts and back which has made a huge difference to the better. I also had the car set up correctly. The car came with an uprated front roll bar and solid mounted rack which makes the handling and steering much more direct and to my taste. I might add the £40k+ bills were not mine but the previous owners but I seem to be racking up a few now to make the car into a more road friendly version! Doug Yes I probably will put the old air box back, there is a lot of heat coming from the 6-3-1 manifold and I'm not going to spend £4-500 ceramic coating it!! Do you know the numbers for the standard (bottom adjusted) and pancake needles?

Thanks All, I have no idea what the cam is as it isn't in the bumph that came with the car but it isn't right but I do have a lot of invoices racking up over £40K in costs! In fact the car as I bought it seemed to be too hard core with the shocks being ok for race track but intent on loosening my fillings on the road. My wife keeps on saying why did you buy it but I love a challenge and always had a soft spot for Vitesses from when one of my teachers at school bought one from new. I have looked at Chis Witor's cams and will see how his standard 308788 cam compares with Newmans PH1. I believe both are billet cams. I also spoke to Chris about sorting out the inlet manifold but as his guy doesn't do it any more I'm leaving it as is. I agree apart from the lack of needles the standard CD150's as fitted to my car are every bit as good as SU's in fact it could be argued a more modern design. On another note has anyone used Classic and Modern Engine Services at Bracknell, the E Type guys seem to like what they do and I may ask them to balance the bottom end and test compression etc on the head. Cheers Iain

Thanks Pete, I am definitely leaning towards a standard cam but making sure the engine is assembled correctly (time to get my pipette out!) and balanced. It was just as bad to start with the standard air box so I think the crazy cam is the culprit, just not enough suck with cranking revs. The tuners, Atspeed, did have to play around with the needles as it was running weak on tickover/low revs but fine at mid/high revs. As I have to take the engine out to hopefully sort out the last bit of harshness, changing the cam to standard seems logical as I want a fast tractable engine not a screaming racer. The car also has the Type 9 5-speed with 2.8 ratios (from BGH) and cv joint conversions so mechanically it's not a standard car but I want it to look as standard as possible and not change to SU's (HS6's?). Cheers Iain