Alternator Wiring - Upgrade to Power Wiring

[89FerrariShelby]

Hi Guys,

So I have seen a few threads, so i know there's some people who have probably tried it, wanted to ask for some advice.

I upgraded my alternator to the 160 Nipp alternator, and I am looking to upgrade the wiring as the stock harness looks old. First up is the power wire from the alternator to the battery.

I originally cut out a slot in the plastic shroud, but after some time the power wire was grounding out on the case. How did any of you upgrade the wiring to the alternator? I am using 0 gauge, but it doesn't fit in the plastic shroud, but doing on the side results in grounding to the case.

Any input is appreciated.

Thanks,

Michael

[JDAWG]

got a pic of yours? cause im running a 160a nippo, I took the angled plastic thing off and both the power wires (stock and 1/0) sit down on a round plastic thing, the stock wire is underneath the one I added

[Aries_Turbo]

you dont need 0 gauge.

whats the stock wire? 8 gauge? 4 gauge would be plenty and fit much better.

Brian

[89FerrariShelby]

i will take some pics in a few....have to ask some questions about "assembly" as well, my alternator belt is squeaking for some reason, i think i put the bracket together wrong... =(

get back to you guys soon. thanks for posting.

[89FerrariShelby]

OK, so i went out and got some photos. I apologize for the poor quality, they're on my phone.

In the first picture you can see how i cut out a slice to have the connector come up on the bolt. However when the electrical tape melted through the connector was grounding on the case. I don't know enough about wiring to eliminate the OEM cord, i'm just looking to add on top (assuming the electricity will take the path of least resistance).



Also, i've been having some issues w/ squeaking and the way the bolt went back in. somehow it seems off. I included some pictures. Please let me know if any of you can tell what's wrong. I"m in the process of trying to find one of these in a junkyard so i can compare and fix. It seems its misaligned just a hair.

[supercrackerbox]

Well, your bracket bushings are clearly shot, which is probably causing the alignment problems with the pulleys. You can order new ones from PolyBushings.com. There are two different sizes depending on what year the vehicle is, so keep that in mind when you order. I also run a steel spacer sleeve between the ears like the factory did, but I don't know how necessary that actually is.

As for the wiring, I don't think piggybacking the wires will do you any favors. I'm running the 160 amp NipponDenso alternator on my Daytona, completely factory harness, and have had zero issues in over 20,000 miles. The power wire in your first picture looks to be in good shape; usually the first sign of a problem is that black plastic divider box melting.

But if you must, I highly recommend going through it properly. Use a proper soldered lug where you hook up the power wire, and wrap it in high quality heat shrink. Electrical tape has no place under the hood of a car. From there, you'll have to route the wire to the splices where it feeds the battery and powers the rest of the vehicle. Go through all your ground connections too- those are usually the source of any problems in my experience. And put some sort of sleeve over that power wire. Having it draped across the bracket like that, it will eventually wear through and could very well torch the car.

[JDAWG]

I took that angled boot thing off completely, I have the factory wire underneath the 1/0 wire I added, really you dont need the factory wire but leaving it there doesnt hurt, i usaully tell people to leave it on newer cars because they end up cutting something up they shouldnt have. Its pretty cut and dry on these cars.
Your bushings are in really bad shape, get some new ones

[89FerrariShelby]

ok, i will be ordering new bushings today then.

as for the wiring:

@ JDAWG - I tried w/o the shroud, but the wire was grounding to the case. How do you prevent the wire from touching the case? I have a feeling i'd have to leave the stock wire just because i'm completely lacking in confidence as far as the electrical side goes.

@ SCB - thank you for the input. as it is now, i'm planning on testing it out w/ the stock wiring. It is completely possible that the stock wires is doing just fine. I wish i was able to fix the wiring myself, but last year when i replaced the alternator i remember lookign through the wiring and being flabbergasted as to how it all came together.

This all started when i put a sub in the car. It was cutting in and out, so i assumed i didn't have enough power. I replaced the battery w/ a high performance one, same issue. Replaced the alternator, same issue. Upgraded the wiring, had the same issue, then the power wire grounded out and almost started a fire. This was at the end of last season so i put everything back to stock, unplugged the stereo and parked it in the garage.

I have a friend putting a battery in the car and wiring it up correctly to avoid the fires. Before i can have someone fix the sub i need to be sure that it is actually the sub and that the power aspect is truly sorted out. I remembered seeing some threads talking about the big 3 and know i've seen some stereo guys on the boards. Was hoping to see if there were some pictures out there or help. I appreciate all the input.

[RoadWarrior222]

Might be a response time issue, might need a capacitor.

[89FerrariShelby]

yeah, i have one of those. =(

the stereo guy is coming after my buddy hooks up the 2nd battery. hoping for the best.

trying to clean up the engine bay and keep things nice. and make sure i'm using getting the most out of the parts.

[JDAWG]

Might be a response time issue, might need a capacitor.

then throw it in the trash can

[Force Fed Mopar]

I had the same issue with my subs. Pair of Concept 10's, thought it was the amp. Turned out to be one of the subs was bad and causing the other one to cut out with it. I ended up throwing away my 700W Alpine amp before I realized it was a bad sub

[JDAWG]

easy way to check subs, obviously if you push on them and they make noise like a scraping sound then the coil is coming apart, you can ohm the coils, if its supposed to be say a 4ohm sub and it doesnt read close to that then its junk

[JDAWG]

what alternator did you get? I used a used alt off a durango, i think you must have gotten one of thoe reman ones off ebay, the one I have has like a round plastic tower that sits the ring far enough off the case so it doesnt ground out. I had to put some 1/0 on my daytona and had the same problem now that I think about it, the ring was too big to sit inside the holder so I cut all around it but still had the plastic underneath so it wouldnt ground out.

I just put it underneath the stock wire, on these old cars there is nothing else on that wire, just that one, thats it so really you could just replace it, on newer cars there are usually are other 'junctions' on the wire so I tell people to just add instead of replacing

[black86glhs]

They make smaller rings.

[JeremyL]

you dont need 0 gauge.

whats the stock wire? 8 gauge? 4 gauge would be plenty and fit much better.

Brian

I need 1/0 gauge. But then, my stereo draws about 250 amps at full tilt. Ahh the beauty of running Class A amplifiers.

Make sure that you're upgrading the ground to the same size, most people tend to neglect that. On my car I left the factory ground and added a 1/0 gauge ground from my battery terminal to chassis.

[Aries_Turbo]

only if the alternator puts out 250A though. if the alternator isnt that high of amperage, then the wiring doesnt need to be that large cause there will never be that kind of current flowing through it.

Brian

[JeremyL]

only if the alternator puts out 250A though. if the alternator isnt that high of amperage, then the wiring doesnt need to be that large cause there will never be that kind of current flowing through it.

Brian

One of my good friends back home runs a starter/alternator shop. Right now I've got a custom high amp unit with a self exciting regulator on the back.

On my old 64 Galaxie I had a 290 amp unit with a Transpo 911-O2R adjustable regulator, I could turn the voltage up on the fly from inside the car. I also had three Stinger SP1000 batteries & even that wasn't enough juice with 5 Class A amplifiers.

[wallace]

what cars have the 160A Nippondenso alternator? I didn't know they had a stock application that put out that much.

[89FerrariShelby]

Hey guys!

So a productive saturday, but unfortunately yeilded little productive results.

I had the stereo guy come over. We cut out the remaining plastic and put the 0 gauge alternator wire going up instead of down (duh!) that way there's no case to ground out on (sometimes its the simple things).

Have an isolater installed, running a 0 gauge power wire back to the battery in the trunk. Everything is running fine, up until the point where it passes through the Sub amp. My speaker amp is good, but for some reason the sub amp is not working and is killing the system.

So the guy took it with him to do some diagnostics, hopefully there is a result from that and i can finish it up w/ him next weekend. Sub seems to be fine, ran it off a severely underpowered amp and it was hitting fine. I appreciate the input, looks like i will have the 0 gauge off the alternator w/o issue (like that's going to happen, this car hates me).

I am going to order the new bushings, and hopefully that takes care of the squeaking, if not we will see. but who knows.

I greatly appreciate all the input. My stereo is by no means competition grade, but its waaaaay more than tolerable for the car, so i don't really see the point in going more. I'm not going to enter competitions, and i cant turn it up and sit in the car w/o earplugs...so why waste more $$$.