#@$!$%^ing "ultranators"

[Rbade12 at aol.com]

I recently purchased an Ultranator. 
 
The first one he sent me would lose ability to charge at 3500 rpm, volts  
would drop off to below 12. I took it out of the car and removed the regulator.  
The part the brushes ride on was very badly scored, the brushes were  barely 
touching that part [rotor?]. Avi sent me another and I returned the bad  one 
[he let me keep the OE, said he had enough cores]. The next one works fine,  
although it's got, what appears to be, an OE regulator on it. I asked him about  
that and how I'd get 14.8 volts charging if I have a 14 volt regulator, he 
asked  why I need 14.8 and I responded that that is what his website says, he 
said he  should change that to 14.5, I questioned how I'd see 14.5 with a 14 reg, 
he  never answered that. The part on the back of the alt where the cooling 
duct  attaches has several female screw holes that are stripped, a very annoying 
 situation as that thing vibrates badly without all screws in. I was able, 
after  much screwing around, to get it solidly attached [although I will have to 
 remove it in the future to do a more thorough job]  Avi basically blew this  
off. Avi's always been oddly apologetic. I get the impression his command of 
the  English language is limited. He says things that are odd, like he's doing 
a 190  amp alt for someone and it'll have an externally mounted regulator. I 
said  aren't our alts already equipped with and external reg and he responded, 
 in caps with font 3 or 4 times the size of the rest,  "What I should have 
said was A CUSTOM EXTERNAL REGULATOR". He says on his  website that there is an 
improvement in "stop and go" performance, but, in an  email he said these alts 
really don't do well at idle.
 
He sent me an email that said the first alt had a cracked gizmo dealy  [my 
words, I don't remember specifically] that wasn't picked up when they  bench 
tested it. I said, first email post failure, that I  assumed he didn't bench test 
this alt before shipping it to me. He hadn't  said he bench tested until way 
late in the communication process and I  still wonder how the first got past a 
good bench test.
 
So, bottom line, if I had it to do over I'd skip the Ultranator. I don't  
have any more volts than OE and I question if I have more amps as behavior seems  
the same. Avi seems "email nice", although his "take care of my Wisconsin  
friends" schtick got old, and communicating with him is confusing at times [he's 
 going to get "back to me" about something, I asked what and he didn't 
respond].  One benefit, sort of, to this is I'm really good at getting the alt in  
and out [good thing I am doing it myself as I'm sure he wouldn't pay for  
labor].
 
Anyone want to hear my Blau story, or my alignment[s] story?
 
Bob