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I am trying to determine the thickness for the bushing that goes between the adjustment bracket and the alternator. The rough measurements leaves this spacer at about 5/16” - 3/8” thick. Previously used a stack of washers; trying to clean it up.
I have never seen a need for a bushing or a stack of washers. Just a washer under the head of the bolt. I have seen a large aluminum spacer on the top bolt.
This thing wants one. It would not butt up flat against the alternator. Doesn’t look bent. Maybe the wrong bracket but it’s the only one I’ve ever known.
As 250 says, never saw a spacer under adjustment arm on a ford. This is an FE engine? What is the bracket above alternator for? You're using Delco alt and some kind of accessory drive. If it works for you can go to any hardware store and buy a solid spacer.
Engine is a 390 FE. Alt is a TuffStuff 1 wire. Advertised as Ford OEM style case with GM styled internals. The brackets as far as I know are stock. They have ford part numbers stamped on them. The main bracket has an unused provision for a smog pump.
the previous alternator had the same gap requiring a spacer (stack of washers). Seems as though I might have some sort of unique situation going on somehow.
Measuring for this isn’t particularly hard but I was hoping to avoid a bit of trial and error on the fit. If there is no bushing prescribed here I’ll proceed with sourcing a bushing based on the measurements I made.
On my later engine the pump was on the bottom and the alternator was on the top. Different engine though, so perhaps the FE series was oriented differently as well.
If you’re not using your smog pump anymore maybe you can source an FE bracket for use without one? Might simplify things and clean up the front end a little bit too.
Of course, the simplest would be just to install the spacer like you are planning.
Maybe do that for now and keep your eyes open for an alternator only bracket set for later.
Yeah this conversation got me considering whether or not there are different configurations as to where the alternator could be mounted. It seems as though there were high and low mount options, mine being the latter. The engine block code is that of a 68 Mercury. It’s entirely possible someone used the brackets from the donor.
I think I’ll press on and do as suggested with looking for a high mount bracket later on.
What’s the year of your truck? The way Ford did engines a lot of them weren’t specific to trucks of course, being used also in passenger cars.
The engineering numbers indicated what team designed them or what platform was going to be first to get them. Or whatever the criteria was.
Which means that a lot of our trucks got engines that were indicated for the car lines. Such as in our early broncos having falcon engines because that’s what the engineering numbers indicated.
But they were in fact originally installed in the Broncos and trucks as well.
What I’m getting at is that while it’s good information to have, it’s not always going to be precise because Ford did not always make every truck engine specifically for the truck line.
In your case if the discrepancy in the year model is large enough (number indicating a 68 and your truck is a 76 for example) then there is a good chance that it was swapped in at some point.
Or if it’s a truck that was never available with a 390, that’s certainly a great indicator as well!
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