Interesting Ferrari Alternator Story

You had me right up to the "hand select" part.

I doubt Ferrari used different alternators for different customers.

There were some reliability issues with Delco alternators on 348s that prompted a change to Nippondenso later in production.

 

I say your friend is giving you the BS.

 

If you really believe that I have a big orange bridge I would like to sell you.



Those POS Delco alternators cost Ferrari millions in warranty expenses.

 

I just took one in to my local rebuilder. It cost $80 to rebuild with parts he had on the shelf. Compared to some cars the 348 is pretty easy to R&R. I'm surprised it was such a problem for Ferrari.

 

They were junk. The bearings are not up to the job and they hammered out the housings. The alt was such a POS even Delco did not rebuild them in their exchange program. Fixing them will be never ending. Ferrari was aware of that at that point so they offered to do the Nippondenso conversion free for about 8 or so years after those cars all went out of warranty. The kit installation labor cost was almost $1000 per car and the kit even at Ferrari cost was a few hundred dollars.

 

how would the factory know which type of customer you were?

 

But they had no idea of them in advance.


Your story is a fantasy.....get over it.

 

And a pair of brushes, a pair of bearings and a regulator hardly defines a rebuild any more than a set of rings and gaskets is a rebuild to a motor.


That is what we refer to as a patch.

 

I say we submit this to MYTHBUSTERS!

 

It was "rebuilt" but not "remanufactured". It was working fine before but was out incidental to a major service. What more would you fix if it ain't broken?

 

Anyone have more specifics on which models, which years, which serial number ranges?

Would be nice to know before my alt done bloweds up...

In the meantime, I'll just ass-ume that my alt conks out 50 miles before the timing belts disintegrate, at approx. the same time the plug extenders crap out, followed by the 'slow down' lights blinking, etc. Might as well add one more thang to the 'look what happened to my Ferrari' list...

 

Delco CS 130 alternator on the 348 and Mondial T (and F40?). They are junk; either upgrade to the Nippondenso kit for $5k (lol) or rebuild the Delco with a heavy duty regulator and rectifier for around $80. The rebuilds with HD parts last about 3 or 4 years; rebuild it as part of the major service routine.

And to the OP, your engineer friend is having a laugh at your expense. The two most common failures on the CS 130 are the diodes on the rectifier frying or the rear bearing getting spun.

 

I would suggest the story is based on some nugget of truth, but grew into a corporate legend, just like an urban legend. I work at a large manufacturing firm, and hear these stories going around that I'm dubious of. I wouldn't doubt that the original source heard this story over and over for years, and is just passing along what he heard.

I tried to come up with a OE build vs service part explanation, but I think Ferrari would be quite happy with a part that would last 45,000 miles and would just have taken that. Regardless, it seems that real world experience tells us that there is no 45,000 mile alternator!

 

I had problems with my alternator. I took it out and fixed it for $75.00. The unit had the voltage regulator and the brushes damage. They guarantee it for life. I installed it back using a frequency meter to adjust the belt at 100 Hz. My unit is Denso.

 

Can you expand on the 100Hz thing please ? What was that for?

I.

 

The 100Hz is the tension of the belt measured in frequency. The parameter of that adjustment need to be between 90 / 100 hz.

 

I am very intrigued by this bridge you speak of. I have been investing heavily in muffler bearings, metric adjustable wrenches and headlight lubricants. I am expecting a big payoff soon and may want to invest in real estate.

 

I vote for locking this thread as it is a waste of time, bandwith...and the OP's post is full of BS IMO

 

This story is definitely rubbish. Ferrari would design the pulley ratio to give the correct rpm for the alternator. There is no need to over rev an alternator, does not charge any better or anything thus the comment about it revving higher is a load of cr@p.

A common modification when building a race motor is to change the pulleys so the alternator and water pump maintain their previous rpm's while the engine is revving higher.
Pete

 

I bet it is rubbish, but...

It must be more difficult to build something that will run efficiently from say 2,000 to 7,500rpm than it is to build something that has a 2,000 to 5,000rpm range.