Sorry about the awesome post title

I was just reading through an old GMHTP magazine and I noticed something that I missed the first time through. It's the March issue of 2002 I beleive. An article titled "Trial Formula."

This is a direct quote from a guy regarding his L98 Formula:

"I heard of some guys gaining a tenth or two by disconnecting their alternators, so I thought I would give it a try. Darned if the car didn't pick up another two tenths and run consistent 13.8s. I ended up installing a switch that allowed me to shut the alternator off from inside the car. So it seemed to sork well for me."

I'm sorry everyone, I have yet to try this mod myself. I was wondering if anyone else has done this? Seems like a good idea. And it's cheap. If it works that well for everyone it could be one of the biggest ET reducing free mods yet

If I had a G-tech or a Tazzo I would do it and tell everyone how it worked, but I don't yet and the nearest track is more than a couple hours away. So I thought I'd atleast give everyone some ideas.

 

Sounds like it would work, but probibly not as well with underdrive pullies.

 

I know guys who yank their serpentine belts for the run at the track.

No power steering.
No water pump.
No alternator.


Supposedly it helps. :shrug:

 

Jeez how do they survive the staging lanes without a running waterpump?

 

I did it once. It wasn't by choice either! The stupid plastic tank on the radiator split on the way to the track. After waiting in the staging lines for almost an hour, I was next to run and the official booted me off the track cause it was dripping. So to keep the night from being a complete loss, I yanked the belt off. I pushed the car through the staging lanes and didn't fire it up until it was my turn to go. It did drop about 3 tenths off my time.

 

It kinda sucks having one belt for everything. On my nova, I could take just the power steering belt off.

 

I am sure it would work... but I don't like stuff like that. By the time you do all that, and goes as far as taking ur seats out and all that jazz you will run time x. Then you get into a race on the street with a Mustang and now you go at the pace of time y. Yea, you would have beat the mustang if u ran time x, but you were in street form with proper instruments and accessories.

 

That's another thing I was wondering about. If you wired up a switch to your dash, it should be pretty easy to use it on the street. Maybe not real quick at a stop light, but if you set up a race somewhere...

 

Yeah, but what happens if you flip that switch on a random streetlight race and then forget to turn it back on?

Now your sucking right off the battery until you either remember to flip the switch back on or the battery dies.

 

how do you disconnect the alternator? are you talking about removing the belt or unplugging a certain connector on the back?

 

Seems that you'd be running your ignition off of lower voltage/amperage which would be a hinderance to performance....

I can see the gains with the belt removed, but just by cutting power? I dunno someone try it for me

 

I have actually seen this done before......What was done was to connect a microswitch like in the NOS kits to the throttle body. It would activate at WOT only. The wire was run to a relay that cut the power.... it knock off a consistant .15 tenths in the quarter. When you wernt going WOT the switch would then open and restore the alt's power output

 

I imagine you would have to have a heavy duty switch to do that mod with. It would probably burn up a Wal-Mart one.

 

I don;t know if i'd be comfortable with that relay WOT setup - what if it breaks? You wouldnt know till its too late.

 

I would hope the wot swithes are very reliable. Could you imagine if one broke when you were using it for n20. Lets just say the damage would be much worse than a dead battery.

 

THIS IS A OLD DRAG RACER'S TRICK. ON THE OLD ONE WIRE ALTERNATORS WE WOULD WIRE IN A FIELD SWITCH. THIS WOULD LET THE ALT. SPIN FREE UNDER NO LOAD AND WAS GOOD FOR A TENTH ON MOST CARS. NOW HOWEVER THE ALT. IS INTERNALLY REGULATED. IF YOU RUN THE BATTERY DOWN TO LOW YOU RUN THE RISK OF DAMAGING THE ALT. AND/OR COMPUTER. NOW, I HAVE RUN MY CAMAROES WITH DEAD ALTS. TILL THE DASH LIGHTS WENT OUT AND THE SPARK PLUGS STOPPED SPARKIN' I'VE NEVER CAUSED ANY PERMANANT DAMAGE BUT I STILL DON'T THINK IT'S WORTH THE RISK FOR A TENTH. THIS IS WHY YOU NEVER SEE THIS ON LATE MODEL CARS AT THE STRIP. P.S. IF YOU WANT TO TRY SOMETHING, REMOVE YOUR ALT. BELT, START YOUR CAR, TURN ON THE LIGHTS, A.C., STEREO, REAR DEFROST ECT. NOW PUT A SOCKET WRENCH ON THE PULLY AND TURN IT. THIS GIVES YOU A GOOD IDEA OF HOW MUCH POWER IT TAKES TO SPIN THE ALT. ALSO KEEP YOUR FINGERS AND BEARD AWAY FROM THE FAN WHILE DOING THIS !!

 

So what wire gets disconnected on the new style alternator? I'm thinking you could tap into the TPS for the trigger wire going to a relay that is normally closed. When the TPS hits 4v, open the relay. This way there is no need for a micro switch.

 

I was just gonna wire up a switch in the dash and only use it at the track or during street races (with A/C and stereo off). It would only be flipped for 30 seconds at the very longest....

 

that sounds like a cool idea when i take my car after i fix my exhaust im gonna try that ..lol watch my luck my car will fall apart and ill have to call AAA on the way home hehe

 

I don't know if it would be worth the effort of all the wiring involved. If you have a 140 amp alternator, in your 13.2 Volt system, it's maximum output power in Watts would be 140Ax13.2V=1848W. If one horse power is equal to 746 Watts, then 1848/746=2.477 HP. So you'll gain about 3HP, but remember, that your ignition system is now only getting about 12-12.5 Volts instead of 13.2-13.8. I guess if someone wants to make back to back passes and prove me wrong, go for it, but you'll probably pick more up from losing the belt than from the alt. Remember, back in the day, taking the alt belt off also disabled the mechanical fan.