Black plastic alternator ring

[orwell84]

[LeeE]

I drew the sketch for the ring; glad someone remembers it. I also did a "farm fix" for the adjuster cover, this shows both, still in place after many years.

_________________
1978 Westfalia stock 2.0 FI
Welcome to the Okeedokee Swamp

[orwell84]

That's quite elegant for a farm fix. The block off on the fresh air duct hole isn't bad either.

[kool kombi 79]

Now Available from . . .

Malcolm Engineering Australia

https://www.malcolmengineering.com.au/vw-kombi-alternator-seal

International postage varies, please contact us for a postal quote.

Malcolm Engineering
0407 916 816
[email protected]
www.malcolmengineering.com.au

[ivwshane]

Nice!! Any chance of you getting with a distributor in the US? Busdepot, in the past, has been really receptive to offering parts like these.
_________________
77 westy 2.0 FI
69 ghia coup 1600dp
70 single cab

[kool kombi 79]

Will be talking to a US VW parts store soon.

[airschooled]

Excellent! Yes, please let us know when these are stateside!

Thank you for your service to the community,
Robbie
_________________
Learn how your vintage VW works. And why it doesn't!
One-on-one tech help for your Volkswagen:
www.airschooled.com

[420GOAT]

76-79? i thought that design was the early and late was just a round seal.
_________________
once you realize im not impressed we will get along just fine

[russwiththebus]

Quite cool to see a thread I started ten years ago looking for an NLA part has resulted in the development of a 3D printed model, and now a full-blown replacement part in production.

I got my replacement seal from either Busted Bus or the classifieds here (I can't remember which now), and it's held up nicely all these years.

[MikeyM73]

Hi all,

For a while I've been missing this one "tin" piece and that is the alternator seal. After a few emails back and forth between Dale Malcom and myself, I ordered one up from Malcom Engineering in Australia. My Westy is a '73 but I believe I have the later alternator tin which, I think, has the larger opening. To me this is ok as it seems to allow for more range of belt adjustment as long as you use the wider, later, seal. The T4 engine tins are fairly available around here and elsewhere from my experience but it's the little things like this that aren't. Anyway, the place is called Malcom Engineering out of Austrialia. The cost was about 55 bucks in total (35 for the seal and 20 for shipping), after the conversion rate and took less than a week to get to NorCal - and Australia Post sent updates along the way.

I installed it in about an hour and it fits very well. Seems to have the correct bend and shape on the bolt tab and also has the correct shape / cut to go around and just miss the dipstick tube and lower alternator bolt. All in all, I'm happy. I was going to make one from a fuel can or antifreeze jug as was mentioned in a few posts but the thickness and raised lip around the inner circle was what I could not duplicate so I figured "what the hell"... at 55 bucks shipped for the last piece of sealing tin that I needed was not a bad deal. And maybe it's all in my head but I did a couple of freeway runs of about 8 miles each way sustained at 65 mph and my CHTs seem to be a few degrees lower than previous test runs at the same speed and road stretch (same ambient air temp and very little, if any wind resistence); I'll take that, thank you. Pics below.

I hope the 3D printing on this from the members here pans out but this seems to be a good additional source, if it helps.

Mikey
_________________
'73 Pop-top Westy, found sitting in a field for 10+ years, cleaned up, rebuilt furniture, reloved. Original 1.7 block/fully polished crank, 93mm 1.8L balanced AA pistons & cylinders, new 1.8L balanced rods, HAM 42/36 heads, Scat C25 cam & lubalobe lifters, Dual HPMX40s, R2C filters w/ Outerwears pre-filters, functioning thermostat & flaps, Pertronix Flamethrower III, 4-1 exhaust w/ Cherry Bomb 2" turbo muffler & OEM heater boxes, averages about 19-22ish on the highway.

[Whaanga]

Well, I wish I would have known these were being manufactured again. I fabbed my own from a pattern found here. It’s not perfect, but it’s working just fine after 3 years.

_________________
Late 1973 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine

[MikeyM73]

Hey man.. whatever works and lasts, right? It took me a while to find it but hopefully it will help others who may not have the skill, time, etc. to fab one up.

OH.. Almost forgot... so the little tab with the bolt space - that just fits around the bolt and is held in by tin to alternator pressure on the seal, right? It doesn't actually get tighted down under the bolt, correct? I would think that would break the little ears and probably be unnecessary.

Later - Mikey
_________________
'73 Pop-top Westy, found sitting in a field for 10+ years, cleaned up, rebuilt furniture, reloved. Original 1.7 block/fully polished crank, 93mm 1.8L balanced AA pistons & cylinders, new 1.8L balanced rods, HAM 42/36 heads, Scat C25 cam & lubalobe lifters, Dual HPMX40s, R2C filters w/ Outerwears pre-filters, functioning thermostat & flaps, Pertronix Flamethrower III, 4-1 exhaust w/ Cherry Bomb 2" turbo muffler & OEM heater boxes, averages about 19-22ish on the highway.

[SGKent]

it sits around the bolt so that the ring slides with the alternator.
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[MikeyM73]

Thanks Steve, that makes sense.
_________________
'73 Pop-top Westy, found sitting in a field for 10+ years, cleaned up, rebuilt furniture, reloved. Original 1.7 block/fully polished crank, 93mm 1.8L balanced AA pistons & cylinders, new 1.8L balanced rods, HAM 42/36 heads, Scat C25 cam & lubalobe lifters, Dual HPMX40s, R2C filters w/ Outerwears pre-filters, functioning thermostat & flaps, Pertronix Flamethrower III, 4-1 exhaust w/ Cherry Bomb 2" turbo muffler & OEM heater boxes, averages about 19-22ish on the highway.

[wrxnofx]

Resurrecting this thread. Now that it's 3 years later and 3D printing technology is ever-improving, I wanted to see if anyone that had modeled this in CAD would be willing to shoot it over to me so I can 3D print my own.

Malcolm Engineering does not ship to the States, and I'm confident I can print it here on a buddy's machine for pennies.

I reached out to gatorjos above to see if he'd give me the model, but it appears he hasn't been on here in quite a while.

Can anyone help?
_________________
1977 VW Type 2 Bay Window Westy FI

[SGKent]

I think a couple people posted the dimensions - you should be able to set up a cad file from one of those.

Also - have you contacted Dave directly to see if he will make you one or send you a copy of the CAD file to do your own? One thing that stood out to me is you bragged you could make one for pennies. If you came to me and cheaped out on something I might have spent a lot of hours making a design for, I guarantee you that I would not work with you. It is like saying, you can mow my yard with your mower, and I'll pay for the gas but not your time.

The contact info is:
Dale Malcolm
Malcolm Engineering
0407 916 816
malcolmengineering at gmail.com
_________________
“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[wrxnofx]

[SGKent]

[wrxnofx]

How hard is this seal? Any idea of durometer? I’m thinking 60d or 80d?

Is it squishy at all? Does it deform when assembled between the tin and alternator?
_________________
1977 VW Type 2 Bay Window Westy FI

[germansupplyscott]

It's hard. I don't know durometers very well but I'd guess over 100.
_________________
SL