Hi Gus, I have a wiring question. I am installing a 1 wire alternator. I removed the old voltage regulator and all the wiring that was associated with it. What I am left with looks to be a few wires from the main wiring harness (running from underneath the radiator) that need to be connected back up. I have the following wires: Yellow wire - this is the thickest wire Green with red stipe Red with Blue stripe Red with green stripe The Red w\ Blue stripe and Red w\green stripe were independantly hooked up to the front pips of the starter solenoid. So I guess I'll put them back there. I don't know what the Yellow or Green w\red strip wires are. I figure one of them has to be the ignition wire that will go to the positive side of the starter solenoid with the battery and alternator wire. But the other???? Anyone run into the same issue with wiring. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!!!
Success!!! Doing some further research on the forum I found the proper wiring set-up. For anyone's future reference the wiring went like this: Yellow to the positive side terminal of the starter solenoid Red w\ Blue stripe to small terminal on solenoid Red w\ Gree stripe to small terminal on solenoid The Green w\ Red stripe wire is for the Alternator light in the dash. If you hook this up to the small terminal on the solenoid the light will stay on all the time you have the ignition engaged. I am not going to use the light as I have Sunpro gauges with a voltage meter. This forum is great!!!
I am thinking about going to a single-wire alternator, but I have heard both good and bad things about them. I have a 60A OEM now, and it barely keeps up sometimes. How do you like the single-wire?
I have a single wire 130amp that is "a single wire". I have one 4ga. wire running to the battery side of the solenoid. It is a sml frame w/ internal cooling fan. I love it. Got rid of the regulator wire and associated wiring. I can run all my accessories, AC, stero, sub amp, headlights and elec fan and never had a problem the 2yrs I've had it on the car. I wud not go back to the OE. If ur looking to stay w/ the original look than that may not work for you.
It depends on what you are looking for out of an alternator. Are you going to be driving the car allot or is it going too be a weekend cruiser only getting driven a couple times a month. The 3g is a good conversion most of them are rated at 130 amps and they are pretty common in junkyards, so you can get them pretty cheap. One of the big important things is that they are common so if you drive your car allot and you loose an alternator on a cruise or something like the power tour you can run down to the corner store pick one up. Most of the 1 wire alternators you would get from one of the local stores are about 60 to 80 amps(that wouldnt do much good for you) or else they are special orders. Now if you are broke down 500 miles from home that delivery of a special order alternator can be a real killer.. Another thing allot of people arent aware is the 1 wire alternators you buy require a certain RPM before they can generate the proper field and start charging your battery. The 3 wire is made so it generates its own charging field so it starts charging the battery the moment it starts spinning. Now what this means too you, well if you stick your stock pulley on the 1 wire alternator your car can literally run the battery dry while you are tuning the car because the alternator isnt charging anything. And because you have a high energy ignition, and your stereo and amp are one your battery doesnt stand a snowballs chance in H@LL of keeping your car running for too long, especially if you have too shut it down and start it several times. So it begs too ask the question, if the 1 wire is so great why did Chebby stop using it, and why did they use it for such a limited time, on such a limited ammount of applications... You would think that if it really made sense and it was really better then the 3 wire setup. Then all the companies would use it or something similar especially since it would be cheaper and easier for the companies just too integrate a 1 wire setup into all the new cars.
Thanks for the info, guys. I was thinking about a Summit 100 amp alternator. It's about $80, and it's advertised as "all new" not rebuilt. The low rpm thing does concern me, cause at idle, in drive, with the fan and headlights on everything just goes really dim.
<<Ur probably right here abt GM discontinuing the use of these altenators. I can't say, don't really know. I do know I have success w/ mine.>>
I like the way you guys are thinking with the whole "able to buy a replacement in a parts store" thing. Which model would be the best to use for a swap into my '72? Weren't some of these reverse-rotation? If I could get a good one in a yard and wire it in myself that would save some $! One more thing, since the 3g is a little bigger, will my OE brackets work? (302V8)
I am of the opinion, in my case, I might have to get a special order if my alt fails out of town. Fact is, I am willing to take the risk. My unit is new and I have more confidience w/ it than one that may have 75K miles. The unit uses a V-Belt, I think the rr units are all serpentine. That's just an assumption - I can't say for sure.
The 3g alternators spin the same direction as the Vbelt alternators, the only thing on the serpentine setup that spins in a reverse rotation is the water pump. The Vbelt pulley fits right on the 3G alternator the shaft is the same diamater. The alternator that is generally used is for a 95 mustang GT Here are some pics too compare the 1G versus the 3G alternator You can see the 3G alternator has a bigger case then the 1G but the mounting brackets are very similar too each other. The reason that the 3G alternators case is bigger is due too the cooling fan for the alternator, on the 1G the cooling fan is outside the case the 3G is inside the case making it a longer lasting alternator. As you can see in this picture how close the mounting points are in comparison too the 1G and the 3G, notice he is using what appears too be the stock alternator brackets Here are a couple mustang sites where guys have the 3G setup on their engines http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/mod-custom-forum/601554-r134a-3g-conversions-complete.html Love this pic of this engine http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/vintage-mustang-forum/596668-3g-alternator-upgrade-request.html
I know where I can get a alternator from a 2001 Mustang with a V6 with the wiring for free! The car has almost no miles on it. I read somewherethat this is called a "4G" alternator. Does anyone know if it will work?
