[Weldin810]

I purchased a drag car about 5 years ago & did nothing to it but let it sit. I am now getting to it & trying to get it going & i have a lot of questions.

I need to get it running but it has no alternator, so by time i got it turned over enough to choke/fire it up & get it running the battery has lost to much and isnt strong enough to do it again. I am using a new 12v 1000ca interstate.

I would like to sell the car but i want to be able to show that there is nothing wrong with the motor & such, i am just unaware of what i need to do so.

I thought about maybe hooking up two battery's but it will still drain them & im sure i'll be stuck where im at now, having to wait around for battery's to charge so i can try to start the car.

I thought about putting an alternator on it but I'm not sure where to start. i need brackets & pulleys, i would need to replace the current electric water pump correct?

Battery is currently in the trunk, if i add the alternator is it going to be ok that the bat stays in trunk or would it be best to put it up front

How do i know what parts i need for my motor. Do i have to get them year specific to the engine? or can the front pulley, alternator bracket, (& what else?) be from any windsor.. Or do these parts even need to be specifically from a Windsor or even a ford motor?




1982 Mustang GT-351W-C6 trans-B&M Z Gate-8 Point Roll Cage-Bucket Seats w/5 point harnesses-10 Gal Fuel Cell-Holley Dbl Pump Carb-Full Frame Connected-Drag Shocks-Et Drag Tires/slicks-Front Runners 6" Center Lines-Accel Coil-Front Brake Line Lock-Electric Water Pump, Holley Blue Fuel Pump & Fan

 

[montybrown]

Summit sells a alternator bracket kit that is what I used, plus a powermaster 1wire alternator makes this easy, I also bought a set of march pulleys from eBay


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[montybrown]

You could just put a crank pulley on and run off of that

 

[Mroldfart2U]

Man i thought I was losing it.... I posted an answer to the same OP over in the drag racing forum then clciked on this one as a "new post" and saw montes reply but not mine and had me wondering why my answer didnt show up.... lol

 

[montybrown]

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[montybrown]

http://m.summitracing.com/parts/mor-63810

 

[mustangboy]

You must have some electrical issues if the battery will only start the engine once?

 

[RacingJake]

Yeap, out of timed, bad starter cable, soleniod or starter. Heck even the carb might need a good cleaning after sitting for 5 years ?

 

[mustangboy]

If your just going to sell it anyway I wouldn't bother with the expense of installing an alternator..Once you get it tuned properly it should start several times over with a 1000cca battery..

 

[DanH]

I'm thinking the OP thinks if there is a alternator , he can crank it forever .

no the alt will not charge the battery while cranking

 

[Weldin810]

Yeap, out of timed, bad starter cable, soleniod or starter. Heck even the carb might need a good cleaning after sitting for 5 years ?

Yea I know the carb is bad, its leaking fuel pretty bad & its not operating that great. I guess I need to take care of that first if I'm trying to start & run it. I installed a new starter before all this, the cables seem good with good connections. Wire should be thick enough but the cale from the relay to the starter will get warm & the posts on the relay get hot while cranking. They seem clean & tight bit I will check & brush again.

Battery in trunk is grounded to frame in trunk, motor grounded to firewall... do I need to run a ground from battery to block? Could this help releive some of that resistanc/heat thru the relay?

 

[Weldin810]

I'm thinking the OP thinks if there is a alternator , he can crank it forever .

no the alt will not charge the battery while cranking

Not while cranking but it does fire up, its just pulling a lot of power from the batery quickly. It only wants to fire on a fully charged battery & it acts as if needs more power. It feels like it wants 2 batteries but why would it be like that? When I turn it over I have the water pump & fan off & just toggle the fuel pump on & off

 

[DanH]

bad connections + & - , to small of gage cable for rear mount battery , bad starter , to small of battery , to much timing , all or a few , maybe just one of those ,

Add. lot of cars run without alt's . drag and short oval track cars

alternator is a good idea to have imo , but it won't fix a/other problems

 

[Bikesandfires]

other problems...check connections...a drag car doesn't need an alt to run...after it starts, the ignition and guages is the only draw. it should run for a couple of hours at least using only fan ,water pump and ign.

 

[Mroldfart2U]

I agree, the cable from rear to front are likely "marginal" for current capacity, and once the bettery has cycled for the one start its not able to overcome the resistance that the long run of cable creates...

Needs bigger/better cables, IMO.

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

Y They seem clean & tight bit I will check & brush again.

Battery in trunk is grounded to frame in trunk, motor grounded to firewall... do I need to run a ground from battery to block? Could this help relieve some of that resistance/heat thru the relay?

Run Ground from Battery to sheet metal in trunk, then from Block to firewall. That will be plenty.

TIGHT and C Lean LOOKING don't mean much. Rust can and will build up under the nuts and between the other electrical parts connected there. Remove, Clean and re-connect both sides of solenoid.

0 gauge or larger for looooong positive cable.

 

[Weldin810]

Run Ground from Battery to sheet metal in trunk, then from Block to firewall. That will be plenty.

0 gauge or larger for looooong positive cable.

Thats exactly how it is now & im being told by some people i need more grounds.. The ground from battery to trunk & the positive that runs to front of car are both large gauge wires. atleast a 0 if i had to guess but i know both those wires are large enough.

Is it going to benefit me at all or be worth the trouble or time to run a ground from the battery to the block? if anything i thought about running another ground strap from the block to another point on the firewall.

 

[Weldin810]

If i had to little ground I would have a ground wire heating up correct?

I've had old cars before where the grounds started to smoke, these are staying cool.

Im going to get the carb rebuilt as my next step i guess, I will be back on here later asking which carburetor i should get rebuilt & use because i have the one that's on the motor now & another in storage and i dont know if one would be better & for what reason..

 

[Mroldfart2U]

Battery in trunk is grounded to frame in trunk, motor grounded to firewall... do I need to run a ground from battery to block? Could this help releive some of that resistanc/heat thru the relay?

You could try that if you have enough big cable. I would try a cable from motor to frame first. (shorter, ie;cheaper)

But yeah if carb is leaking, i'd def fix that first and foremost.

 

[DanH]

OP has two known problems , niether affect each other .