Countach QV #GLA12997

The 2003 Viva Italia Event on the Tourist Trophy Circuit in Assen (NL) was held on Penticost Monday 9th June.
This year we already drove on Friday 6th June to Holland to visit Amsterdam.

The first Problem occured at the German/Dutch frontier at Venlo, suddenly the battery went flat, remember I had the problem with the voltage regulator in Italy during the 40th Anniversary Event. Venlo has a Bosch Service (Van Kappel B.V.) but they had already closed a 4 p.m. Well we went to the Volvo Garage next and bought a new battery, we tested the Alternator, Voltage was alright, but the current output was only 40 Amperes. This was the reason why the battery went flat.

After installing the new battery we drove to Abcoude near Amsterdam and stayed at the "De wackende Hahn" Hotel, a very nice family Hotel with excellent Cuisine.
On Sunday we drove to Assen and stayed at the Van der Valk.

© Pictures by Marcel Wallenburg

Finally, on Monday was the event, the first turn on the track time my car was driving terribly, I forgot to lower the tyre pressure, it was like driving on snow.
On the second turn the tyre pressure was okay and I could pass some other cars, but suddenly the alternator warning light went on, oh no not again...

The alternator wasn't charging any more, fine and we had an 800 Km trip to drive home the next day. We decided to drive only with the battery, using as less current as possible, but we were only able to drive to Venlo (again) and the battery was flat.

This time the Bosch Service was open and we checked out what was wrong. First I changed the Voltage regulator, but this had no positive effect, next the Alternator had to be removed since the piece number is noted on the under side...
The number of the used Alternator is 0120 469 641 or 0120 469 667 (parts manual May 1985, 25th Jan. 1989 0120 468 005), but as usual one you cannot find it in the official Bosch List as the manufacturer has locked this number.

But as an owner of a special car you have to improvise. During lunch time we checked all the alternators they had in stock and finally found one for a Ford (098 603 600 0090) this is even a 90A unit.
Dimensions were alright but the mountings are totally different as the pully was as well.
This Bosch Service does not only deal with parts, they also overhoul AC's and Electrical units, for their machine shop it was easy to take the old alternator to pieces and mount the surface plate and the pully onto the new one.
This sounds easy,however, in reality the whole alternator was taken to pieces and remounted.

Well, we installed the new one in the car and installed the new belt from the Tool Kit (ISORAN 210 LP 100 D6) unfortunately the pully was too near to the engine, the mistake was an additional spacer, which had been installed between the Pully and the cooling fan.
Another quarter of an hour the alternator was ready again, installed, wired and then the engine fired.

Stones fell from my heart, everything worked, the alternator was charging, no more warning light on the dashboard. During the 4 hours of the repair the flat Battery was reloaded and had enough voltage, after reinstalling it and were finally able to drive home the remaining 600Km.

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How to remove the Alternator from a QV:

1. of course deconnect the battery
2. deconnect the wires at the alternator
3. remove the distributor cap
4. loose the alternator and remove the belt
5. lift it off the bracket and turn it 90 degrees the way the pulley is on top
6. move it in direction of the distributor
7. push the AC line out way and take it out between the distributor and water hose coming from the engine

this silver Diablo Roadster was passed 500m later :-)

Valentino was there...

Alternator broken :-(