So you want to do the 3G alternator upgrade README

[Piece-it pete]

Nice!

I'd like to add, I pulled a cable off a... 99? F150 at the junkyard, the alt plug was correct, it has a built in maxifuse, and the fuse holder (end of the wire) landed right at the a/c support bracket. Got a 32" wire at the parts store, a bronze-colored battery clamp, wala. $ saved

Pete

[porschpow]

Thanks for the input!!

Nice!

I'd like to add, I pulled a cable off a... 99? F150 at the junkyard, the alt plug was correct, it has a built in maxifuse, and the fuse holder (end of the wire) landed right at the a/c support bracket. Got a 32" wire at the parts store, a bronze-colored battery clamp, wala. $ saved

Pete

[johnunit]

Has anyone done this on a 5.8 car or confirmed that the alternator bracket is close enough that the listed applications can still fit?

[sly]

use a Large case on a 5.8 and the rest still applies. Small case 3G won't fit.

[over2tonsofFun]

Next time I am at the u-pull it yard I will be shopping for a 3G alt.

Tim

[DerekTheGreat]

I'm in the process of doing said swap, still debating on whether or not to save my factory harness and tuck it out of the way though. Thing I'd like to add is a 91-94 V6 Lincoln Continental alternator will not work with box stuff, the non threaded ear part is too long. However, their charge wire harness is a great option for making your install look factory, plus it has a fusible link built into it so you don't need to worry about mounting a mega fuse. There's enough wire to go from the starter solenoid, behind the battery, up along the core support, down the driver's side of the radiator, T up with the factory charge harness and then to the alternator with zero modification. Only con is it takes awhile to harvest this harness from the donor car. Bring razor blades, patience & PB rust buster.

[gadget73]

You want an alternator off a 3.0 Taurus. The 3.8 FWD engine had the large frame alternator, which will swap onto cars that came with the externally regulated 100 amp unit. The 3.8 RWD cars have the proper small frame alternator too. The Taurus and family harness is a good donor. I've used that charge cable before, though the ones I stole used a standard 175 megafuse rather than a fuse link.


If you're thinking on keeping the factory nonsense, I'd unplug it and take that part out rather than leaving it in the engine bay. Makes things a bit neater. Also, honestly you're not likely to ever want to change back to that stock POS.

[DerekTheGreat]

I ended up making Ashley pull an alternator from a 94? V6 T-bird. It fits just fine, although I might end up having to run a longer belt. I'll check out 97+ F150's for their harness too though. After looking at crap in the garage it seems to be that GM trucks from 1988-1998 have these cool plastic wiring harness holders on their harnesses for the license plate lights. These will fit over the new charge harness and take the place of the zip ties on the core support and else where. Look factory too.

As for the factory 2G harness, is it possible to just unplug it somewhere? Looks like it goes to all the relays behind the washer fluid bottle. The harness itself has that tape and gunk all over it so I'm thinking I'll just cut it, despite my disdain for hacking up factory stuff. Like you said, I'll never go back to the stock 2G turd so what's the point of having the harness just hanging there? At the starter solenoid, which wires are from the old charge cable? Also, if I decide to use the factory charge wires along with the new one, what gauge are the factory charge wires? I'm thinking I'll use some sort of butt connector or ring terminal to join the two together and then mount to the B+ stud on the 3G. Oh, this site seems to have all of your wiring needs covered: http://terminalsupplyco.com/Terminals.aspx

[sly]

yes... but from here to the battery is one long ass run.

[DerekTheGreat]

Thanks for the pic, sly!
Looks like I can rip one from the yard, hook into mine after I unplug it and splice in the yellow & green wire.

[gadget73]

I would not double up the wiring. Makes it nearly impossible to fuse with any sort of accuracy when you've got two wires going to the same place. Much more reliable to run one wire with one fuse, that way you know what you have. If the stockers are fused at 100 amp, running a second cable along side fused at 100 amp doesn't quite make it a 200 amp equivalent. You can run one fuse and split that out to multiple wires, which is what the original system does, but theres not really any need for that.

[sly]

DO NOT USE THAT HARNESS FOR 3G! It will burn to the ground if not just fail at the fuse links. It's not rated for the current. Run a new charge cable. That harness is for the 2 charge wires and one sense wire. I just spliced the stator wire intot eh stock 2G harness for the other connector. I have no clue where that one goes. I was confused about which harness you were talking about.

[DerekTheGreat]

My idea is to use one eyelet connector for the two original lines in conjunction with the new wire harvested from that Continental with its in line fusible link. Is that a bad idea?

[sly]

yeah... just use one 4 gauge wire. With multiple sources like that, the weakest link (fuse/fuselink) will fail first and cascade the others.

This is pretty much what you need:

http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/item/PA-9902/Mustang-3g-alternator-Premium-4-Gauge-Power-Wire-Kit-W-Noise-Suppression

or harvest the charge cable off a later ford that has the megafuse in line near the power distribution box/battery.

[VicCrownVic]

My idea is to use one eyelet connector for the two original lines in conjunction with the new wire harvested from that Continental with its in line fusible link. Is that a bad idea?

I thought I came across 3G kit somewhere that instructed to do exactly that with the stock 2G charge cables. Of course I don't recall where so I might be imagining things. Those instructions (real or imagined) are why I mentioned possibly doing it that way when we talked about the 3G alternator upgrade. I didn't put much thought into it but I figured, since the stock wire from a 3G car looked to be 4 gauge, that there was no point in trying to use those stock charge cables.

What these guys are saying makes much more sense than the instructions that said to use the stock charge cables like that.

My charge cable from the Alt to the megafuse is from a 3G Taurtus. Then a short length of 4 gauge wire I bought on Ebay from the megafuse to the solenoid. I haven't had any trouble with this setup and it's much better than the unnecessary POS 0 gauge BS that I started out with that burned itself to pieces over time (bad connections).