Start 'N Charge alternators 03-04 only please!

[START 'N CHARGE]

Well guys,i found a couple threads where people are,shall we say,not happy with my product.
I will admit,in the first year of building them,i had parts problems.
I had no idea of the failures of the factory units,let alone the aftermarket problems.
But since then,i try to upgrade parts to the performance level THAT I WOULD EXPECT out of an alternator.For my own car.Each one of you toss your own mods into your COBRA,be it triple fuel pumps,rear end fan coolers (yep)lights,etc.These things DO factor into the lifetime of an alternator,be it mine or not.
These alternators are a bastard unit from the factory,on a stock vehicle.
Mounted way too low with no airflow,too low of an output for the demand the car has...poor enginering from the factory.
From the feedback i've had & diagnosing MY returns,i've upgraded every time i find a better part,only the rotors have been a factor so far in my testing.The rotors are the main failure point,spinning them so fast the wires came apart.Also the brushes bounce @ high RPM.Thats why i recommend a larger pulley.....to slow them down.
I do not sell you what i consider to be a questionable unit,that being said.....i open this post up for your experience in dealing with me,i'd like to hear your feedback direct in my post,rather than tripping across post's that flame me when i had no clue you had a problem.:shrug:In other words,if nobody tells me,i dont know! :??:Let the games begin!!!op:
BTW the factory units are 110amps.....NOT 130 like a couple people keep swearing too!!!

 

[wickedsnake03]

I run one of yours jamie. car has a stock lower pulley, and stock alt pulley. Installed in june of 2009. I dont drive the car that much maybe 2000 miles a year. Have had 0 issues with the unit. Car sees drag duty and high rpm's and seems to hold like a champ.

When I ordered mine people seemed to only have luck with 2 alts. yours and fords. And what made me go with you was the fact when yours did fail you wanted to see them, go through them and determine why they failed and what you could do to make it better.

 

[ThatOneCobra]

I run one of yours jamie. car has a stock lower pulley, and stock alt pulley. Installed in june of 2009. I dont drive the car that much maybe 2000 miles a year. Have had 0 issues with the unit. Car sees drag duty and high rpm's and seems to hold like a champ.

When I ordered mine people seemed to only have luck with 2 alts. yours and fords. And what made me go with you was the fact when yours did fail you wanted to see them, go through them and determine why they failed and what you could do to make it better.

That sounds like good service too me. My alternator hasn't crapped out on me yet, but when it does, i'll be sure to send you a PM. :beer:

 

[cbr repsol]

Glad to see u stand behind your product...i see where u are coming from. If no one tells u their issue how could u know?

 

[Brutal Metal]

Finally a business owner that actually gives a crap about his product quality and customer happiness! well done!

 

[01cobravortech]

So even with a stock lower you still recommend that a bigger pulley be put on the alternator? So for upper pulley only gyys how big does that pulley have to be on the alternator?

 

[UncleSAm]

Finally a business owner that actually gives a crap about his product quality and customer happiness! well done!

couldnt have said it any better

 

[my92gt]

Even when the car is stock it should have at least a 3.2 alt pulley.. Like stated above it hasn't crapped on me yet but when it does I sure would be pm'ing you!! Sounds like great customer service..

 

[CobraBob]

Great thread Jamie. I recommend you, of course, on my website so I personally appreciate how straight-up you are being, proving that you truly stand behind your products. And it's even better hearing that you are constantly improving your product.

Funny you mention how you can't fix something if a problem isn't known. In other words, feedback is very important to us. I know first hand. I recently read of some fitment issues on American Muscle for their TR-3650/T-5/T-45 shifter gaskets (I am their supplier). I've had maybe 2-3 people since 01/2004 personally tell me about a fitment issue and in at least two of those cases it was an installation issue. But after reading the 6-7 complaints I decided to punch larger holes in the base gaskets to make installation easier. That and the thicker silicone rubber material I now use should make a big difference. I don't mean to hijact your thread. I'm just using this as an illustration that customer feedback is so important, whether it is positive or negative. You can only fix or improve a product when you know there's a problem.

I know your alternators will continue to be at the top of list of replacement alternator options. You definitely are a quality shop! :beer:

 

[NateTermi]

If you have a higher amp alternator and put a larger pulley on it don't you lose some amps?

 

[j-tan]

I have a question on when to replace my alternator. I notice my charging is at 13.8-14 volts then after a while of driving it would drop down to 12.8 to13.1. It's that a sign that my stock unit is starting to go out? I would like to replace it before it goes out in me and stuck on the side of the road. My car has a stock lower with 2.76 upper pulley and I have a double din radio. What amp alternator do you recommend with what size pulley I should get? I'm diffently going to be hitting you up for my new unit. Thanks

 

[04MystiCobra]

I don't have one yet but from your previous posts as well as this one I'll be going to you when the time comes.

 

[Tims97SVT]

I called you several months back and never received a return phone call. With that said I do not have one of your alts, but I will say I read more good then bad about them. I like what your doing with this thread. Feedback from users will end up with a better product. When the current alt I'm running goes belly up I'll call you again.

 

[wvmystichrome]

Bob you are right. Its better to have negative and positive feedback than plain old bitching and not saying what problems they are experiencing. I too am glad to see someone that wants constructive feedback when things go wrong with their product. If I ever, more like when, I need a new alternator I know where to look.

This may need to be a "sticky" in this forum section.

 

[Silver2003Cobra]

when mine dies (put 3 Kragen rebuilds in it in a few months, and a Ford rebuild after that and the Ford's lasted almost 2 years now) I'll get one of yours..

thank you for caring about your customers and building a better product..

 

[01cobravortech]

when mine dies (put 3 Kragen rebuilds in it in a few months, and a Ford rebuild after that and the Ford's lasted almost 2 years now) I'll get one of yours..

thank you for caring about your customers and building a better product..

Damn that's a lot of alternator failures. Thankfully I'm just on my 2nd Ford one and I'm going strong at 77k.

 

[Jimmysidecarr]

I replaced mine with a Ford one(I was still a dealer employee then) almost 10,000 miles ago, but I slowed it down with a 2.3 Metco pulley after reading as many of Jamie's threads as I could find. I'm convinced it's kept it alive, with no low and high speed, high load charging issues AT ALL!(lights, wipers, A/C, radio and high fuel demands)

If or when this Ford one dies from lack of air or whatever, I know where the next one is going to be coming from, Start N Charge!.

Great thread idea Jamie, soliciting feed back is the key to facilitating improvements in design and components.

 

[VincodeY]

just clicked over 100k on my second ford unit. First went at around 44k

 

[WTF...over]

I called you several months back and never received a return phone call. With that said I do not have one of your alts, but I will say I read more good then bad about them. I like what your doing with this thread. Feedback from users will end up with a better product. When the current alt I'm running goes belly up I'll call you again.

I had this same issue. Called a couple times. Left a message( I realize that this is your home) and did not recieve a call back. I ended up getting a cutom alt built by Nation's with an external voltage regulator...since that seems to be a big part of the problem.

I wanted to keep my money in Washington...but, couldn't wait forever.

 

[Tractionless1]

I have one of the orginal half dozen Jamie reported had rotor problems. While I never experienced the problem myself, Jamie sent me a new rotor which I had installed locally. I did this at my request as it was during the time Jamie was down with his shop fire. Still no problems with mine which is running a 4" pulley with 8lb. lower, I'll be keeping the same pulley when I switch to 6lb. per the calculation below...........

The math is quite easy. If I have a 3.2 alternator pulley and a 7.5 crank pulley then you
divide 7.5 by 2.5 and you get about 2.1. Multiply 2.1 by your engine idle speed, say 800
rpms, and you get 1680. My alternator turns at 1,680 rpms when the car is idleing at 800. So now take your 4# lower which is an 8.5 pulley and divide that by your 3.2 alternator pulley and you get 2.65. So 800 multiplied by 2.6 is 2,080 rpms for your alternator at an 800 rpm engine idle.
As a prequel to the above it is said the alternator starts producting voltage around 1200rpm (alt. shaft speed not idle rpm).