quote:Originally posted by garth66:quote:My buddy fabbed it up to take some of the load off the engine and make more power.
Forgive my ignorance, but wouldn't the load be the same, regardless of whether it was driven off a crank pulley on the front of the engine or at a half shaft flange on the ZF. The load and resultant loss of horse power would be the same, net at the rear wheels. Right?
The result you get by doing this is that the speed of the alternator will be a lot lower (same as the gearing of the trans) than it would be in it's normal position. Lets use VERY simplyfied numbers: Engine runs 6000 rpm and alternator runs directly of it with a wheel half the size, and alternator runs 3000. Way more than you need since it is built for full functionality at normal driving at around maybe 2000 engine rpm. It runs in "warmode" three times faster than it actually needs.
Now engine runs 6000 rpm, and the trans has a gearing of 3 to 1 (in X gear). The size on the pulleys are now the same as before. Now, in "warmode", the alternator actually runs as fast as it needs at 1000 rpm, and it only generate 1/3 of the resistance to the engine. If it steels 3 horses in 6000 rpm on the standard car, you actually have two more now, and frees up the engines possibility to gain rpm's fast. So, lets go racing!