Vintage Air Front Runner Alternator

[Sleeper68]

I'm wondering if anyone on PT.com (maybe a certain 65 chevelle owner included) has had issues with the side post CS130 alternators that come with the older Vintage Air Front Runner drive systems. I have been through two alternators now and I'm wondering if there is another option out there that y'all have had success with. It appears Vintage Air has since changed their supplier of alternators from Tuff Stuff to Mechman. I have a small block chevy kit for reference.

The FR system was purchased in 2011 and is about 11 years old now. The first alternator, manufactured by Tuff Stuff, died in the summer 2019 after 8 years and about 24,000 miles. It was a 140amp CS130 side post alternator. The failure was the voltage regulator or rectifier board. I opted to, instead of repairing the 8 yr old alt, buy a new alternator from Tuff Stuff with a higher charging capacity of 160 amps, a special anti-corrosion coating, and a billet external cooling fan.

The second failure was a mechanical failure of some sort. The 2.5 year old alternator with about 4000 miles on it has seized up. Coming home from an autocross Sunday I noticed battery voltage was lower than normal (~11V under normal load). After driving for about 90 miles, I was sitting in stand-still traffic for about 5-7 minutes when suddenly the engine died from idle. I tried to start the engine and the starter behaved as if the battery was dead. I pushed the car forward multiple times at about 10mph and tried to clutch-dump (roll) start the car. Each time it drug the rear tires and didn't appear to really spin the engine. At first I thought maybe the engine seized up. I then pushed the car onto the left shoulder of the interstate and started troubleshooting. After being stuck on the side of the interstate for about 1.5 hours, the alternator un-siezed (unbeknownst to me) and I was able to start the engine. I took this opportunity to get off of the shoulder as soon as I saw an opportunity to do so and drove to the next exit where I found a parking lot to pull into. While driving to the exit, the engine lost all power, as if the ignition box shut off (MSD 6AL-2 Digital). This lasted about 5 seconds. Then power cam back and I continued driving. As I was pulling into the lot, the engine was idling and I heard an awful noise. I jumped out and opened the hood to try to find the source of the noise. The engine idled for about 10 more seconds before shutting off abruptly. For a few minutes I thought back on the past 2 hours or so and got the idea that maybe an accessory was seizing. I took off the serpentine belt and discovered the alternator was seized up. As of now, it is still seized. The car starts great with the belt off even with a battery voltage of about 11.3VDC. The serpentine belt is oddly in very good shape. I have not heard the noise since. I had to trailer the car home since the one serpentine belt could not be installed due to the seized alternator.

Reflecting back, I remembered that I had heard an intermittent noise coming from the front of the engine on Friday afternoon (before the 2 hour trip) at idle that I had not heard before. It never lasted long enough for me to determine where it came from. Saturday night I heard the noise again but could not pinpoint the source. Sunday was race day (SCCA autocross). All day the car performed great and I had no noise from the engine that was out of the ordinary. Battery voltage was good. Car started great every time.



Has anyone else had this issue? I know some people have had issues with the stamped steel external fans coming apart on some alternators in the vintage air kits in the past. This most recent alternator has a billet aluminum external fan. The old one had a stamped steel fan and the fan never failed.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Ryan