Michman Alternators

[BaadVR4]

As pretty much everyone who was at the NG (and probably a few folks several states away) well know, the Mechman alternator on my wife's car failed while we were in Indy. I may have made one or two less than complimentary comments in the heat of the battle of changing the alternator in the parking lot. (But I did get to say "I told you so" to my wife about bringing all the tools and spare parts).

This is a good time to tell everyone who helped me how grateful I was (and am) for all their help. The OEM alternator I had with me as a spare worked fine and is still on the car.

Now to the real purpose of this thread: I sent the alternator back to Mechman. They literally repaired and shipped it back to me the same day. Not a quarrel, not a quibble, not a question, nothing but same day service and return shipping at no cost to me.

I could not ask for anything more from them. After my neck surgery, I'll probably swap out the OEM for the Mechman, since the adjustable voltage output makes a huge difference to the ignition system performance.

[sublime_whatigo]

Your welcome, I loaned you a tool or 2. Im curious as to what your issues were though, I remember you saying that you were having blowout/studdering problems with the stock alternator and that the mechman fixed that. What kind of voltages were you seeing with the stock alternator at the time of the problems and at what boost? Im dealing with similar issues myself I believe, think I will be rebuilding the stock one though.

[BaadVR4]

Stock alternator was about 13.6-14.0V. The issue I had was ignition blow out starting about 22 psi boost on the dyno. When I went from 19Ts to 16Gs, I decided to see if the Mechman, set at 15.5V at the battery would help. With that voltage, the car boosted to 29psi without ignition issues. That was a "spike" and we didn't really have enough fuel/meth to tune at that boost on pump gas, but we did run 23-25psi with no issues at all. Then I had ignition system issues, ending in an exploded MSD coil. Then I chased an intermittent miss until I changed the plugs/wires/coil pack/ptu. At this point, the only issues were in extremely hot conditions (over 90 degrees) with the AC running. The car wanted to die when coming to a stop light. That was with the Mechman set at 15.0V. This issue continued after the Mechman failed and I put the stock alternator back on. I'm not real sure what's causing this issue, but the car runs fine otherwise. I may well go back to MSD coils and the Mechman, but I'm having neck surgery Monday, so it will be several months before that happens. I'm sure that 15.0 -15.3V and MSD coils will give better ignition performance than stock coil packs and 14.0V. Just have to see.

[IPD]

glad we're finding out about all of this now.

[igofast]

I also thank anyone who loaned their tools and their support to my husband in his time of need. I left him in the parking lot while he was not in the greatest of moods!!!!! And yes, I did hear the "I Told U So" speech a few times. And yes, the stock alternator seems to be just fine. Say ur prayers that everything stays fine while Milt is down for his surgery!!!

[GTOX]

How does one adjust the out put on a Mechman? I have a 220A Mechman and wasn't aware of any adjustment?

[IPD]

How does one adjust the out put on a Mechman? I have a 220A Mechman and wasn't aware of any adjustment?

i think they're available with or without the adjustment....but i'm a big foggy on that.

[BaadVR4]

Past Mechman alternators were available with or without the adjustable voltage feature. They all now come with this feature. Mechman can retrofit older alternators with an updated harness that connects between the alternator and the plug which normally plugs into the back of the stock alternator. The actual change is just an adjustable resistor wired into the harness to allow the field excitation voltage to be adjusted. I'm not certain, but I think the upgraded harness is around $50. Both AEM and MSD tech people state with absolute certainty that MSD coils will provide more spark energy than stock coil packs, increased voltage will provide greater spark energy whichever coils are used and all components involved should easily handle 15+ volts on a continuous basis.

Based on all that, it would seem the Mechman, with voltage adjusted slightly higher than stock is a good, worthwhile upgrade. My failure appears to be just a "bump in the road" and an unfortunate co-incidence.

Last, but not least, it may be possible to install a larger pulley on the Mechman so a high revving engine won't over rev the alternator. Still talking with Mechman about this. I'll try to let everyone know after my surgery when I'm able to run my computer.