Dynamo upgrade: electronic regulator or Dynator?

[trondvo]

What is considered the best "original look and style" dynamo upgrade?

I may have cooked another Dynamo due to a faulty RB340 (have not checked it yet though) and want something better.

Clover systems digital regulator with original Dynamo?
http://cloversystems.com/products/other ... tor/dr340/

Dynator from Fosseway, AES or other provider?

Other options for that original look in a positive ground car?

[1954Etype]

We fitted the fosseway unit to a car. Around 2k miles with no problems so far. Fits and looks good. This is not a recommendation though!

[trondvo]

Generator tested out fine with a newish repro regulator and decided to order a Clover digital regulator. Will get back with impression when it is installed.

Thanks for feedback on the Dynator Angus, I will keep it as option for the future but then rather do a little more and change polarity and install a high torque starter at the same time.

[cactusman]

Built my own electronic RB340 for the mgb. After two years fine...have a second for the e type should the old rb340 fail

[trondvo]

I thought I'd post a followup, my initial plan to use the orig. dynamo would have needed a rebuild of dynamo and not only a digital regulator.

The dynamo bearings were bad, suppose it has been cooked or had a bad rebuild back in 2005 (only put some 250 km on it in that period).

The new plan was to get a dynator, I got the one from WOSP through AES, I also got their dummybox and a WOSP starter. I decided to use AES as they also sell a dummybox and alot of electronic items for old cars and wanted the catalog and to check out their service. Price wise they are the same as the outher suppliers. Also the Dummybox come with a fuse, having had a wiring harness catching fire while driving ('64 MGB) I have respect for high current and old wiring systems.

Dynator installed without much hassle, the dummybox got my old lucas cover and was fitted in minutes. So far happy with the dynator.

Have put some 25-30 miles on the dynator but my clutch bottle started leaking and now waiting for a new one. The old nylon bottle must have given up when I installed new hoses earlier this year. It took some twisting to get the new pieces in place.

Dynator


Dummy regulator with sticker to remind me about the polarity change.


Starter (yes, "it cranks like a 6 cylinder japansese car but it starts and it's also putting less stress on the wiring")


The starter was quite easy to install but it is the car-lift that make the difference. The upper nut went on with little hassle but the lower needed some strange angles on both arm and later socket extensions and u-joints. Still only one hour or so including taking the old starter out.

The photo with the starter show the '62 FHC's new set of SU's on the OTS. I had them on for about 4 weeks while getting spares for my original carbs from UK. I could write a story about tuning those, you have to set everything according to the manuals. Not one setting was correct out of box. They were quite hard to adjust and may need to be "broken in", main problem was getting idle at 500-600 rpm. I was happy with a 750 rpm idle and left them their, at 500 the engine would die.

As soon as I had the rebuild kits and new seals in my original carbs I installed them again and had a 550 rpm idle and smoothe transitions in very little time. Maybe the old ones are better carbs or just that the new ones need some use and more tweaking.

Conclusion: I do not want to make much modifications to my OTS but have understood that my '62 FHC "grand tourer" will take years to finish. With that in mind I decided to make the OTS a better driver. I'll just keep the original pieces in a box for now, maybe the FHC will inherit those upgraded parts sometime in the future. If I go back to pos.earth, original starter and a rebuilt C42 dynamo I will definitly use a digital regulator, the RB340 is not to be trusted anymore!

Anyone looking for a Dynator should also check out Accuspark, they have very good pricing on their dynators.
http://www.accuspark.co.uk/dynamator.htm
http://www.accuspark.co.uk/dynamatortype4.htm

[Tony]

Having had a very bad and expensive experience with a Rb340 regulator I have always been tempted to buy a one of these and converting to negitive earth. However the current regulator is working really well and I am still on positive earth.
Should I leave well enough alone or convert as £150 to convert seems very reasonable. I thought they were nearer £600.

[Hugo]

I don't know if it's significant but I believe the reason cars moved back to neg earth was that pos earth caused them to rust. Something to do with sacrifical anodes perhaps? The pos battery terminal would fur up and the bodyshell would corrode. For some obscure reason those things don't happen with neg earth.

[Heuer]

Quite the opposite Hugo. It all started because of the use of rubber or cloth insulation on cables. Neither was ideal as the rubber perished and the cloth absorbed moisture meaning poor dielectric strength. When this happened there was a tendency for electricity to 'leak' wherever cables were in proximity to an earth - such as a bulkhead or chassis - and corrosion quickly formed around the area. Engineers found that the effect was reduced when +ve was used as the earth compared to the -ve for reasons beyond the scope of this post. With the advent of PVC covered wiring the problem went away so there was no clear advantage either way. However the death knell for +ve earth was the advent of the transistor. The electronics industry standardized on what is known as the NPN transistor (negative-positive-negative) which only works on negative earth electrical systems and the requirement for transistor radios and electronic ignition meant +ve earth cars became a thing of the past. The car manufacturers were therefore forced to make the change.

There are other theories including using the car chassis as a sacrificial anode (+ve earth) was better (cheaper) than using copper wires and connectors as the sacrificial anode (-ve earth) as they would deteriorate faster. Also the early automobiles had either earth configuration but the earth leakage became more pronounced as their electrical systems used increased voltages 2.5v > 6v > 12v which exacerbated the corrosion problem so they opted for +ve earth for the reason stated above.

[Hugo]

First time I've heard that. This is not my field so I only know what I've picked up over the years. So why did the pos battery terminal always fur up on pos earth cars? When I worked in a BMC garage sometime way back in the last century, we were always pouring boiling water over the pos terminal to get rid of that green furry stuff.

[Heuer]

Because the +ve terminal was 'hot' and the current flowed through it to the, say, headlamp and back again (yes Physicists out there, I know the electrons flow the other way, but for simplicity we will stick with this) and there was usually a poor fit between the helmet connector and the post which caused an electrolytic reaction resulting in the 'furring' we all knew and hated. Also the sealing on the batteries could fail allowing acid to seep up past the terminal post. Did not happen on new cars and batteries, just the connectors wore down with removal and attachment. I was always taught by my Dad to liberally spread Vaseline on the connectors to stop it happening. You could also buy anti-furring felt discs which were popular at the time, fitted by Lucas and you can still buy off eBay:



With the move to -ve earth the industry dropped the Helmet connectors with their single self rapping screw and adopted the bolt on styles we see today.

[Hugo]

Oh is that what they are for? - they still supply those in America with new batteries. But I'm pretty sure the clamp-on battery terminals also furred up in pos earth cars - and the cars we worked on were all fairly new, not old bangers. It was a high-class garage, although when it became British Leyland that term was hardly appropriate. We used to maintain the local police cars when they had Morris Minors and Austin A 40's, and quite a few Rolls and Bentley customers too.

[Heuer]

The furring still happens to this day and all cars are -ve earth. Spilled or leaking electrolyte is the usual culprit.

[Hugo]

Nothing like it used to on the pos earth terminals. It was a regular thing every service - pour hot water over the pos terminal. You don't get that today with neg earth cars.

[trondvo]

For older cars there seem to be some advantages with positive earth and for originality I would have stuck to it. I think the small HT starter only come with neg earth configuration and that made the reason to swap. The Dynators are available with pos.earth and it is easy to swap back but I will keep the OTS neg. earth until my FHC is ready.

I also installed "OJOP" battery connectors, these are great to have if you prefer to disconnect the battery poles when car is stored for more than a few days. The automotive connectors are all brass. I got them from "Biltema" in Norway at around GBP12.

https://www.ojopsweden.com/battery-connectors/

[Hugo]

What is a "small HT starter"? High torque? Starter motors are not polarity-conscious so it makes no difference. What advantages do you think there are with pos earth?

[trondvo]

Postitive earth seem to have been the better choice back in the day mostly due to the quality of wires and looms. Here is one of the many descriptions you would find from a google search. There are quite a few articles indicating that the ignition spark would be stronger as well.
http://lajagclub.com/the-argument-for-positive-ground/
I dont have much cloth cables in my '61 it and may not make a difference.

So, back to this weeks disappointment: aftermarket clutch reservoir, a GBP 50 piece of sh*t.

Diameter is 60 mm vs original around 64 mm.
Cap does not fit as the threaded parts of the reservoir is UGLY, looks like a 3D printed piece that messed up.

Luckily my old reservoir cap did fit with a reasonable amount of force, suppose it was getting sloppy over the years (the new repro cap would fit even if tight on the original reservoir).

Sorry, did not get the threaded part in focus, it is bumpy and like a bubbly string laid by hand.



If these old original bottles all start leaking in the nipple/bottom of reservoir, would it not be possible to create a repair kit?
Cut the nipple, drill a clean bottom hole and install a threaded nipple with brake fluid resistant grommets/"o-rings"?

Needed:
1 threaded nipple w nut
2 suitable grommets/gaskets.

This kind of nipple, but with threads and one grommet inside and one outside of orignal bottle.


Maybe not?