honestly, I just don,t understand the attitude! of some people,
I'm amazed that there are many people who some how actually expect , any and every part you could ever want to be available over the counter and easily available for working on a custom car project to be accomplished, completely with off the shelf and over the counter parts!
One of the neighbors kids who,s in his late 20s stops by to watch me working on my corvette, yesterday.
I was fabricating a bracket to move the alternator a bit further out away from the engine about 3/4" so I had milled and drilled a couple pieces of 3/8" aluminum plate and was measuring the two parts for a spacer so I could weld up a custom bracket.
the kids name is JACK, and he watches me then after awhile asked me why I was making the custom alternator bracket....I explained that I was re-locating the alternator so it would be a whole lot easier to remove the valve cover on the drivers side as the current stock O.E.M. accessory bracket makes the process a P.I.T.A. and its generally much easier to do if you don,t have to temporarily remove the alternator to remove the valve cover.
He looks at me obviously confused and then, asked me if they sell the brackets, already made, that did that?
and then he pointed out the fact that the current accessory drive fan belt obviously would no longer fit, so what was I going to do with a bracket that effectively made the alternator useless without a belt?
obviously I had failed to think that through carefully......
I'm beginning to think the concept of custom fabricated parts and marrying parts from a totally different application to improve your car is a concept thats not only not that common, its almost un-thinkable to the flip through the latest catalog and "
order what you need.... mind-set -crowd
I explained that you could simply measure the fan belt length required, and as long as the bracket, or some pulley that was supporting the fan belt like the idler pulley had some adjustment to compensate it would not be an issue! you don,t necessarily need to have an O.E.M/. part to have your car function perfectly as it was designed too!.
In my mind thats why they invented milling machines, lathes, dial calipers and tig welders.....its the simple fact that if you see a need for some part that you don,t currently have , but you can accurately draw it out and accurately meassure exactly what you need and have at least some mechanical, fabrication and basic engineering skills , and the tools and materials, damn near anything you can envision, is merely a couple hours, time, a lot of careful measuring and test fitting time, and a pile of machining chips , and some welding time away!
perhaps its just old school thinking here! but I feel building your own components if you have the skills to do so, makes the car far more "YOURS" and custom, than simply having deep pockets and ordering everything you want.
and it damn sure beats NOT having exactly what you want, simply because you can,t find what you need or want listed in some catalog!
RELATED THREADS
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...elt-pullies-aligned-correctly.1960/#post-5202
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/under-drive-pulleys.2044/#post-5451
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ng-serpentine-hoses-and-belts.3060/#post-8085
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ng-engine-accessory-brackets.8523/#post-29916
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-resulting-from-an-engine-swap.898/#post-1450
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...s-you-need-tools-and-skills.11379/#post-52068
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/milling-machine-related.4231/#post-33023
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...uild-one-yourself-belt-routing.258/#post-7072
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/links-to-mounts-adapters-etc.1316/#post-2856
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...hen-parts-are-not-available.11371/#post-52007
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/fabbing-custom-parts.11241/#post-50782
I'm amazed that there are many people who some how actually expect , any and every part you could ever want to be available over the counter and easily available for working on a custom car project to be accomplished, completely with off the shelf and over the counter parts!
One of the neighbors kids who,s in his late 20s stops by to watch me working on my corvette, yesterday.
I was fabricating a bracket to move the alternator a bit further out away from the engine about 3/4" so I had milled and drilled a couple pieces of 3/8" aluminum plate and was measuring the two parts for a spacer so I could weld up a custom bracket.
the kids name is JACK, and he watches me then after awhile asked me why I was making the custom alternator bracket....I explained that I was re-locating the alternator so it would be a whole lot easier to remove the valve cover on the drivers side as the current stock O.E.M. accessory bracket makes the process a P.I.T.A. and its generally much easier to do if you don,t have to temporarily remove the alternator to remove the valve cover.
He looks at me obviously confused and then, asked me if they sell the brackets, already made, that did that?
and then he pointed out the fact that the current accessory drive fan belt obviously would no longer fit, so what was I going to do with a bracket that effectively made the alternator useless without a belt?
obviously I had failed to think that through carefully......
I'm beginning to think the concept of custom fabricated parts and marrying parts from a totally different application to improve your car is a concept thats not only not that common, its almost un-thinkable to the flip through the latest catalog and "
order what you need.... mind-set -crowd
I explained that you could simply measure the fan belt length required, and as long as the bracket, or some pulley that was supporting the fan belt like the idler pulley had some adjustment to compensate it would not be an issue! you don,t necessarily need to have an O.E.M/. part to have your car function perfectly as it was designed too!.
In my mind thats why they invented milling machines, lathes, dial calipers and tig welders.....its the simple fact that if you see a need for some part that you don,t currently have , but you can accurately draw it out and accurately meassure exactly what you need and have at least some mechanical, fabrication and basic engineering skills , and the tools and materials, damn near anything you can envision, is merely a couple hours, time, a lot of careful measuring and test fitting time, and a pile of machining chips , and some welding time away!
perhaps its just old school thinking here! but I feel building your own components if you have the skills to do so, makes the car far more "YOURS" and custom, than simply having deep pockets and ordering everything you want.
and it damn sure beats NOT having exactly what you want, simply because you can,t find what you need or want listed in some catalog!
RELATED THREADS
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...elt-pullies-aligned-correctly.1960/#post-5202
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/under-drive-pulleys.2044/#post-5451
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ng-serpentine-hoses-and-belts.3060/#post-8085
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...ng-engine-accessory-brackets.8523/#post-29916
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...-resulting-from-an-engine-swap.898/#post-1450
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...s-you-need-tools-and-skills.11379/#post-52068
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/milling-machine-related.4231/#post-33023
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...uild-one-yourself-belt-routing.258/#post-7072
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/links-to-mounts-adapters-etc.1316/#post-2856
http://garage.grumpysperformance.co...hen-parts-are-not-available.11371/#post-52007
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/fabbing-custom-parts.11241/#post-50782
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