Quote:
Originally Posted by LMH
Interesting Dan! I wonder why they didn't use the plug? It's actually safer with the metal tab holding it in place than using Spade clips.
Oh well... why ask why!
Larry
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You can’t tell in this race car alternator case but I suspect they used ring terminals. That could be another long hunt through photos session.
There is quite a bit in print, some written as it was being done and some in books by former SAI employees, on why some things were done the way they were but I have never seen anything specific about wiring other than using heavy duty aircraft wiring materials in the race cars. I would suspect that it had a lot to do with the practicalities of fabrication versus manufacturing. Retired now, I worked in manufacturing for 37+ years and how many one wanted of something usually dictated how it was made. Example: If there was a drawing for a part or tool and we just wanted just a few we usually made them in house with materials on hand or materials we could get quickly locally, with what machines and people we had. If we wanted maybe two dozen we got local job shops to quote, and if we wanted hundreds to millions we got potential contract suppliers to quote. I can speculate that if a small subgroup of fabricators are doing between only one car at a time or two cars the same the most practical way to custom wire a car was just grab material from stock and do it how they wanted. I have not studied wiring but I have studied Weber induction systems details for decades. My collection of information indicated that any given batch of cars (race car batches were very small) had identical induction system details day one but every other batch would have something different to lots of differences. SAI was building world beating race cars and they used what they learned in one batch to make changes on the next. I don’t believe there is a photo log of every racer being built showing all the wiring but I would be very surprised if more than three race cars were ever wired exactly alike.