W111 Fintail Generator Rebuild

[joshhol]

I liberated the generator today from the fin. There are some write ups in the Glenn's manual about overhauling procedures and also online in a Mitchell's guide but it looks a little over my head. I'll be looking for a place to restore it for me. Has anyone here restored one? Any recommendations in the St. Louis area?

Thanks

No, I'm not going to replace it with an alternator.

[meltedpanda]

if you get stuck there is a shop here in my town ( central kentucky , 40422) that has been rebuilding generators and alternators for the last 50 years. They did mine years ago on my 72 220. They are a 3 generation small shop I am sure you could ship it to them , or call them to inquiry. PM me if you need more info

[ScooterABC]

Where I live it isn't that difficult to find a shop that rebuilds generators and alternators.

[Idle]

Rebuilding one of these is pretty simple if you are geared up to do it.

When you drop it off at a shop be sure to tell them what it came from and how important it is to keep the BOSCH plate on there if it has one. I can remember dropping these off 40 years ago and getting them back working, painted and missing the plate.

I finally told them to leave the plate alone and they claimed they had to take it off to paint the generator. I told them I would paint it myself.

They thought I was sort of whacky. Maybe I am.

[ScooterABC]

Originally Posted by Idle

They thought I was sort of whacky. Maybe I am.

All of us Fintail fans are sort of wacky. I had the starter rebuilt for a 300SE M189 engine. I was very careful to get everything right.

[joshhol]

Thanks for the tips, definitely want to keep the Bosch plate.

I found a place in Missouri that seems promising. I was considering Zims Autotechnik near Dallas as they seem highly regarded, but they just outsource the job to a local shop, so I might as well use someone close to me. I'd rather not ship something right now, long story. . .

[joshhol]

Got the generator back today. It sat there for almost a month and a half with nothing being done to it, finally I called and said ready or not I'm coming to get it. Lo and behold it is ready when I arrive.

All he really ended up doing was checking, cleaning and re-calibrating the regulator to the generator. Supposedly that recalibration is the same as polarizing. Said brushes and all internals of the generator were ok.

[meltedpanda]

so what were your issues? My idiot light comes on and stays on for some time, sometimes less than a minute, sometimes for a bit longer and it does not seem like it is directly related to engine speed , although the faster I go the faster it goes out , but again at varied intervals, no electronics are on , so trying to figure what might be going on

[joshhol]

Check out the links in the "relaunching my Fin" thread from the ponton site. In that link there's another link to an article about how to test your generator without the regulator in the mix. If you get about 30 - 35 volts when revving the engine, the generator is working. Only run that test very briefly as too long will do damage.

If the generator is fine, I guess regulators can be adjusted. You could take a lot at the contacts and see if you see anything weird. Take care about polarizing before you run the engine again if you take things apart.

[meltedpanda]

thanks ! Of course today it seemed to worked fine ...go figure

[joshhol]

These cars are totally possessed. After 50 years that's just the way it goes.
Belt isn't too loose?

[meltedpanda]

drove around again and all is well, so I guess I will just wait until it happens again