RE: Mac's Starter (another long one)

["Mac @ TRIAD" <mac@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

## >> Getting a mean green starter for your application is silly.
## >> Carry a spare
## >> starter under the seat. If you intend to fix the 800 up for
## >> serious trail
## >> riding, a mean green is a good investment, just like EFI and a better
## >> cooling package, but not for a daily driver. They cost 6
## >> times as much as a
## >> rebuilt starter, and a starter will last many years under normal use.

that kinda depends on the application you're thinking of.  a Mean Green in
the TravelAll isn't my idea of economic spending, in any event, and that's
our current daily driver (when it will start).  the 800 makes a nice daily
driver, but it doesn't warrant anything fancy like a Mean Green starter or
anything else besides the one-wire alternator and electric fuel pump it has
now.  the 800A, though--it has proved its value and durability on and off
the road, and eventually is going to get fully repaired and trail-ready.
when everything else is done, the rollbar replaced, the sheet metal
straightened, the suspension fixed (it's developed a noticeable right side
lean), windscreen frame replaced, and a new top...  then i'll start doing
things like maybe a Mean Green starter, maybe headers, a one-wire
alternator, maybe driving lights, perhaps another Crane Fireball ignition,
maybe another Holley Pro-Jection...  whatever other odds and ends we may
deem useful or neccessary.  that's all way down the road, though.  first we
need to deal with the suspension and sheet metal.

and of course the TravelAll needs significant repair to the left side C
pillar now.  a Mean Green isn't in the cards probably for a few years, if
ever, even for the 800A.  i'm sticking with the "stock-ish" AC-Delco starter
for the T'All, i've never needed or wanted anything else.

i have another question, though.  better cooling package?  the 800A has a
392IC in it now, with a T18 4-speed.  the radiator it has in it seems more
than adequate to our needs (at least thus far), the engine rarely gets more
than warm (certainly not as warm as the 392IC in the TravelAlls gets) and
even after an all-day stint of non-stop stop-and-go city driving in either
California or Texas summer heat, doesn't get above 190 degrees.  does it
need better cooling?  if so, what's the best way to work that out?

## >> In spite of what anybody thinks, I will stick to my opinion
## >> that paying for
## >> a mean green alternator is a bad idea. The fact that I know
## >> of ONE that
## >> failed tells me that having a stock trail spare (and a spare
## >> regulator just
## >> for giggles and grins) is a much better idea.

major agreement here.  when we first got the 800A, i kept two regulators and
a spare alternator in it, especially after it blew up the battery.  i don't
think i need a Mean Green alternator, i'm well content with the alternators
i've got, and carrying a spare of those is relatively cheap.  if i really
wanted to go nuts, i've got a Leece-Neville 24-volt alternator (or maybe
generator?  i didn't check when i grabbed it) sitting in the bed of my B122
under the camper shell that i "creatively acqured" from the enormous Detroit
Diesel left over after a neighbour gutted one of their big big big scrapers.
basically they cut the body off with torches around the engine and then left
the engine and transmission portion sitting there.  nobody ever said why
they gutted it.  but they let me have the alternator (generator?) from that
engine.  i never did figure out how to properly mount it on an SV engine,
unfortunately.  it was too big and i couldn't close the hood around it if i
put it where the generator in my B122 sat, above and to the right of the
right cylinder bank on the 304.  if i'd kept the BD220 in there, i think it
would have fit nicely off to the side in the stock position.  i'd have had
to fab up some really heavy duty mounts for it, i think the thing weighs
40lbs or something.  it's HEAVY.

## >> As Jim Lidberg posted earlier, Checker lists a starter shield
## >> for 6 bucks.
## >> Go to the local checker and ask to see one. Maybe it will
## >> fit. Maybe it will
## >> BEND to fit. Maybe you will look at it and say, "oh, no,
## >> that's that thing
## >> I've been using to keep the hamster cage closed."

i'm going to look at those heat shields when i pick up the new starter.  if
they look good, i'll get at least one, probably two, maybe three.  if
they're that inexpensive and they seem okay, why not get three?  then step
over and get some of that cerama-cote or whatever it is...  and i should be
good to go.  maybe i'll get a starter in the TravelAll that lasts longer
than a year.  and as for the Checker heat shield...  even if it's thin and
not great, it's still better than the nothing i have now, and if it fits or
can be made to fit, then it could serve as a good template to make my own.
i'll be finding out, anyway.

--Mac

---------------------------------------------------------------
Take care and be well, all thee and thine;

May the Hamr lend thee Strength and Courage,
May the Twin Ravens lend thee Wisdom and Guidance,
May the Wolves Guard and Protect thee, and
May the Light of Harmony ever shine brightly upon thee and thine,
Through all thy Life's Journeys, from this life unto the next!

Hail the Gods and Goddesses of our Folk!
Wassail!

Krystof "Mac" MacBryghde
TyrGothi

http://master.triad.ath.cx/