element913
SHO Owner Elite
Hey all,
This is the first how-to I have written, so bear with me here.
What you need (mandatory):
(1) 94 or 95 Ford 3G Alternator (obviously)
(1) 94 or 95 accessory bracket (engine mount bolts to this, as well as alt and ac compressor)
(1) Alternator bracket (this sits bolted to the forward, towards the front of the car, side of the ac compressor and holds the alternator)
(1) Harness kit for a Ford 3G alternator, I used this one from PAPerformance http://www.pa-performance.com/display.asp?sku=27&rP=searching,cat@Plugs+and+Wire+Kits,cR@categories.
(1) 18 gauge fusible link (I got mine at a local napa auto parts)
Required but varying by application:
Depending on how much amperage your alternator is putting out you will need a corresponding wire size. I had my alternator rebuilt at a local alternator shop, Pacific Auto Electric in Sunnyvale, CA (great work, they made my gen2 starter too) to 185 amps and as such I run a 2 gauge wire from my alternator to a 200 amp circuit breaker.
How-to install/retrofit:
(1) Remove the battery (this part is pretty straightforward).
(2) Remove the coolant resivoir (there are two 8mm bolts holding this, you may have to remove your radiator cover first, which also uses 4 8mm bolts)
(3) Put the car on jackstands.
(4) Remove the passenger wheel.
(5) Remove passenger side wheel well.
(6) Hoist the engine, at least enough to pull the load off the engine mount in the front, DO NOT hoist it by the front engine lifting eye (the thing behind the alternator) as you WILL be removing that. (If you do not have a hoist, you can also use a piece of wood and a jack under the oil pan to push the engine up)
(7) Loosen the 14mm idler pulley nut for the AC/Alt belt, and rotate the allen headed bolt (5mm size) to loosen the belt, remove the belt.
(8) Remove the alternator, 3 bolts (I cant remember the sizes, and also take off the connectors)
(9) remove the AC Compressor (4 bolts, I believe they are 13mm)
(10) Remove lower front engine mount bolts.
(11) Remove the Accessory bracket (4 bolts, I belive they are 14mm), this will take a little hammering, there are alignment pins (much like the dowel pins in a pressure plate) that keep the bracket inline with its mounting points.
The rest is basically a reverse of this but with the 94-95 Alternator Parts. The AC Compressor is the same for all years and WILL bolt up fine to the new bracketry from the 94-95. I had to trim the bolt going into the bracket at the rear of the alternator about 3/8" so that it wouldnt hit the front head, and I was not able to use the lifting eye with this bracket.
Another important thing to note is that I had to make a spacer (out of thin pipe) to push the oil dipstick forward about an inch (to clear the new alternator B+ terminal)
Now for the wiring:
The wiring is pretty simple (This is for my 89 sho, 90-93 may be different, refer to wiring diagrams and verify all colors before attempting any modification of your wiring harness).
Installing the 3g connector:
How I did it was cut off the old alternator 2 pin connector and connect the 3G upgrade harness from PAperformance, connect the yellow and green/red wires accordingly, The white and black wire on the new harness is the stator wire and just goes back into the alternator. The resistor on the green/red wire is not required, I did not use mine, but I dont see a problem using it if you want to. There is a black/orange B+ wire (the charging wire) that I taped up into the new harness (we will still need to make this a hot wire, or at least I had to because of an AC circuit in the ICM)
Now for the fusible link:
Over by the starter solenoid (probably different on the gen2 cars since the solenoid is part of the starter) on a post there were a number of connections, many of which for the interior's power supply. One of these connections has a pretty large fusible link, and then later down that part of the harness has another fusible link leading to a yellow wire, and the other part (without the second fusible link) being a orange/black wire (mine was 10 gauge, yours could be different). These are your B+ and regulator wires and where the circuit protection is located for them. Since we arent using the Black/Orange wire as a B+ anymore, and it will just be a supply for the AC part of the ICM, we dont need to cut anything on it, the yellow wire however needs to have its fusible link cut out of it, and replaced with an 18 gauge fusible link (per the 95 shop manual), then both wires need to be reconnected to power (make damn sure that the Blk/Org wire we removed near the alternator is NOT TOUCHING A GROUND and is safely sealed away with plenty of electrical tape in the wiring harness before you connect these, or at least before you connect the battery back up. That is it for the wiring!
Now all you have to do is wire up your appropriate power wire to the alternator and put in some kind of circuit protection, I recommend a circuit breaker because its easy, or you can use a fuse, between your alternator power wire and the battery.
Here are some pics:
Heres a pic of the spacer for the dipstick:
Keep in mind that I replaced the old starter solenoid with a 200 amp circuit breaker (and installed a gen2 starter). Which is why there is no solenoid in the pictures
.
I know its a big mess, let me know if you guys have any questions.
Mike
This is the first how-to I have written, so bear with me here.
What you need (mandatory):
(1) 94 or 95 Ford 3G Alternator (obviously)
(1) 94 or 95 accessory bracket (engine mount bolts to this, as well as alt and ac compressor)
(1) Alternator bracket (this sits bolted to the forward, towards the front of the car, side of the ac compressor and holds the alternator)
(1) Harness kit for a Ford 3G alternator, I used this one from PAPerformance http://www.pa-performance.com/display.asp?sku=27&rP=searching,cat@Plugs+and+Wire+Kits,cR@categories.
(1) 18 gauge fusible link (I got mine at a local napa auto parts)
Required but varying by application:
Depending on how much amperage your alternator is putting out you will need a corresponding wire size. I had my alternator rebuilt at a local alternator shop, Pacific Auto Electric in Sunnyvale, CA (great work, they made my gen2 starter too) to 185 amps and as such I run a 2 gauge wire from my alternator to a 200 amp circuit breaker.
How-to install/retrofit:
(1) Remove the battery (this part is pretty straightforward).
(2) Remove the coolant resivoir (there are two 8mm bolts holding this, you may have to remove your radiator cover first, which also uses 4 8mm bolts)
(3) Put the car on jackstands.
(4) Remove the passenger wheel.
(5) Remove passenger side wheel well.
(6) Hoist the engine, at least enough to pull the load off the engine mount in the front, DO NOT hoist it by the front engine lifting eye (the thing behind the alternator) as you WILL be removing that. (If you do not have a hoist, you can also use a piece of wood and a jack under the oil pan to push the engine up)
(7) Loosen the 14mm idler pulley nut for the AC/Alt belt, and rotate the allen headed bolt (5mm size) to loosen the belt, remove the belt.
(8) Remove the alternator, 3 bolts (I cant remember the sizes, and also take off the connectors)
(9) remove the AC Compressor (4 bolts, I believe they are 13mm)
(10) Remove lower front engine mount bolts.
(11) Remove the Accessory bracket (4 bolts, I belive they are 14mm), this will take a little hammering, there are alignment pins (much like the dowel pins in a pressure plate) that keep the bracket inline with its mounting points.
The rest is basically a reverse of this but with the 94-95 Alternator Parts. The AC Compressor is the same for all years and WILL bolt up fine to the new bracketry from the 94-95. I had to trim the bolt going into the bracket at the rear of the alternator about 3/8" so that it wouldnt hit the front head, and I was not able to use the lifting eye with this bracket.
Another important thing to note is that I had to make a spacer (out of thin pipe) to push the oil dipstick forward about an inch (to clear the new alternator B+ terminal)
Now for the wiring:
The wiring is pretty simple (This is for my 89 sho, 90-93 may be different, refer to wiring diagrams and verify all colors before attempting any modification of your wiring harness).
Installing the 3g connector:
How I did it was cut off the old alternator 2 pin connector and connect the 3G upgrade harness from PAperformance, connect the yellow and green/red wires accordingly, The white and black wire on the new harness is the stator wire and just goes back into the alternator. The resistor on the green/red wire is not required, I did not use mine, but I dont see a problem using it if you want to. There is a black/orange B+ wire (the charging wire) that I taped up into the new harness (we will still need to make this a hot wire, or at least I had to because of an AC circuit in the ICM)
Now for the fusible link:
Over by the starter solenoid (probably different on the gen2 cars since the solenoid is part of the starter) on a post there were a number of connections, many of which for the interior's power supply. One of these connections has a pretty large fusible link, and then later down that part of the harness has another fusible link leading to a yellow wire, and the other part (without the second fusible link) being a orange/black wire (mine was 10 gauge, yours could be different). These are your B+ and regulator wires and where the circuit protection is located for them. Since we arent using the Black/Orange wire as a B+ anymore, and it will just be a supply for the AC part of the ICM, we dont need to cut anything on it, the yellow wire however needs to have its fusible link cut out of it, and replaced with an 18 gauge fusible link (per the 95 shop manual), then both wires need to be reconnected to power (make damn sure that the Blk/Org wire we removed near the alternator is NOT TOUCHING A GROUND and is safely sealed away with plenty of electrical tape in the wiring harness before you connect these, or at least before you connect the battery back up. That is it for the wiring!
Now all you have to do is wire up your appropriate power wire to the alternator and put in some kind of circuit protection, I recommend a circuit breaker because its easy, or you can use a fuse, between your alternator power wire and the battery.
Here are some pics:
Heres a pic of the spacer for the dipstick:
Keep in mind that I replaced the old starter solenoid with a 200 amp circuit breaker (and installed a gen2 starter). Which is why there is no solenoid in the pictures
.I know its a big mess, let me know if you guys have any questions.
Mike
