Alternator brackets - Duratec Supersport R (210)

[Chris300]

Hi, has anyone experienced problems with the Caterham alternator brackets snapping? Both the upper and lower brackets have completely broken. There was a place called "Applecross", so the car did get some good use on not the smoothest roads. The replacement costs are extreme for a small bit of cast/milled aluminum £80 + £55 ish. Any alternatives, have i just had bad luck? Thanks, Chris  

[Doctor]

Yes, here. A friend of mine has a CSR 175 and in 2015 we did the International Swiss meet. His bottom bolt snapped off and fell out, as a result the top one didn't stand a chance and snapped off. It was up the way to Stelvio pass (Italian side). Thank god the alternator feed didn't rip out and we didn't loose the belt. The car boiled and that stopped him. We downhiller it down to Bormio, found a garage, get it fixed again, bought some coolant and off we went again. The alternator brackets on Duratec need to be the part of the routine spanned check. 

[Chris300]

Thanks Doctor, yep, my car boiled and stopped me. Someone happened to have right size spare belt to take alternator out of the equation, which got me home with some battery swapping. Did he go for same parts again from Caterham? Just trying to work out if the aluminum parts are problematic? But seems not if you are the only one with same issue (only 38 reads, its not conclusive :))

 

[Doctor]

We haven't lost any parts - the only things we had to replace were the top bolt (broken) and the bottom one (lost). Everything else was there and fine. No issues since. 

[Chris300]

Thanks :)