Camaro overheating

[folkenheath]

The Camaro, at least the LS1 version of the alternator is a one off. The bolt spacing is the same as the trucks, but a smaller case. People do put in truck alts, but have to lose the back support bracket. But as stock goes they are "rated" as 105amp..

Typical ratings are at a min RPM, which you usually do not reach at idle, or it would overspeed at redline. So the actual amperage at idle is significantly lower than the normal rating.

So typical ratings for powermaster for a 105A alternator is 85A at idle.

For a 140A, its 95A at idle, and for a 155A, its 100A at idle.

At cruise RPM the 140A upgrade gets you from 95A up to 125A, which is a much bigger difference.

 

[JoshHefnerX]

Yeah, I'm an old skool car audiophile, and understand the ratings. They typically drop a few hot too. What I don't know is how much the car is taking altogether.

so I'm gonna guess:

headlights/taillights/dashlight 10amp
a/c coil/blower 20amp
ecm/bcm 8amp
ignition 10amp
fans 55amp
fuel pump 15amp

Which totals up in the realm of 118amps.. I could be way off but these are my guesses at present. I'd be highly surprised if that factory alt made anywhere near 85 hot at idle.

All that being said, I'm leaning towards https://www.tucsonalternator.com/pr...rolet-Camaro-5.7L-V8-350CID-Alternator/3-ORG/ 250amp

They're US, Local to me, and family owned which goes a ways in my book. And $50 for lifetime warranty is decent. And they have one on the shelf 7mi from me.

Not a lot of reviews but the ones I could find are positive.

This uses a factory size case, at least that's what the guy said and a factory pully/belt and will have no problems at 6krpm (redline). Small cases w/ lots of power have heat problems, cant get enough cooling out of the small case, but that'd be a problem on any of them.

There is a smoking deal on a summit branded one that looks like it may be a powermaster rebrand but I'm guessing on that.

1998 CHEVROLET CAMARO Summit Racing SUM-810348B Summit Racing™ Alternators | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Summit Racing™ Alternators with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Alternators and Generators at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

1998 CHEVROLET CAMARO Powermaster 58242 Powermaster Street Alternators | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Powermaster Street Alternators with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Alternators and Generators at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

both of which are in contention.

Mechman cast elite looks to be about the same - but significantly more $$ esp if you want lifetime warranty.

 

[JoshHefnerX]

Went ahead w/ the local place. There's a slighty smaller than stock pulley on it, and with the birthsheet they had in there, and the rpm it's going to be spinning it should hit 200+ish amps at idle speed. Which should be plenty. Max on the birthsheet is 260amps. Asked them three times about max rpm, and they assured me it would be good. so guess we'll see.

Swapping that out was actually easier because of the fans being reversed in the offset from the factory... However, I've not been able to test it because one of the PO jackwads left out an f'n bolt. There should be 2x 10mmx1.5x125mm bolts in the front and one smaller one in the back. They missed a 5" long bolt.. like seriously how the f' do you just loose a 5" bolt... And yes the threads are fine- thank god, because it threads into the block. So waiting on bolts to show up, which usps may have now lost..

 

[JoshHefnerX]

Finally got my 2nd order of bolts in and got that alternator tight. I've done some prelim testing in the garage and gonna give it a tentative pass. No a/c on. Works perfect. With A/C it goes up a bit but is very controllable. Its interesting to me that there's a solid 8deg diff w/ the hood up/down w/ the a/c on.

112 outside, 116 in the garage, IAT 170... So it was def heat soaked.

Alt was reading 99amps at idle, heat soaked and at 14.15v headlights/accessories on. So, if those numbers hold up I'd say that's good too. I do need to increase the primary wires.

Anyone in PHX know of a decent upholstery place? Want to have the front seats helped. Needs bottom foam and nobody produces that aftermarket.

 

[JoshHefnerX]

Took the Camaro out on my 'gauntlet' run. It's always kicked the overheating off prior. Did ok. It was only 105 instead of 115, but I'm gonna say this is tentatively fixed.

Found an upholstry guy like 1/4 mine from me, working from his house. He told me to find a kit and quit responding to my texts... ass-hat move.

Found another that was nearby had good reviews, but he moved to a spot that sucked. He responded and was interested, so I I'm gonna try to get down there at lunch ones of these days, see what he says.