HELP 3G ALTERNATOR INSTALL....PLEASE HELP, PLEASE HELP
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NeQX
Founding Member
woah woah woah.................goto junkyard and snipe off stock mustang plug and reconnect onto yours, get a stock alternator from pepboys, or get the stock plug and order a 3g kit from www.pa-performance.com they're great, full install instructions, power wire, heat shrink tubing, connectors....straight replacement! 
See the following website for some help from Tmoss (diagram designer) & Stang&2Birds (website host)
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/IgnitionSwitchWiring.gif
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/fuel-alt-links-ign-ac.gif
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/88-91eecPinout.gif
Here's websites with pictures of the 3G ( 94 Mustang and later 130 amp alt) installation procedure...
See http://www.geocities.com/smithmonte/Auto/3G_130A_Alternator_Upgrade.htm - all the tech data you could ever want to know
OR
http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2001/03/paperformance/index2.shtml
OR
http://www.mustangcentral.net/tech/alternator.html - excellent pictures of installation
For the right way to do the wiring. Some people will tell you that you can skip the wiring upgrade, but it will catch up with you sooner or later. A fire in the wiring harness is ugly and expensive.
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/IgnitionSwitchWiring.gif
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/fuel-alt-links-ign-ac.gif
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/88-91eecPinout.gif
Here's websites with pictures of the 3G ( 94 Mustang and later 130 amp alt) installation procedure...
See http://www.geocities.com/smithmonte/Auto/3G_130A_Alternator_Upgrade.htm - all the tech data you could ever want to know
OR
http://www.fordmuscle.com/archives/2001/03/paperformance/index2.shtml
OR
http://www.mustangcentral.net/tech/alternator.html - excellent pictures of installation
For the right way to do the wiring. Some people will tell you that you can skip the wiring upgrade, but it will catch up with you sooner or later. A fire in the wiring harness is ugly and expensive.
great info. please elaborate. i thought one was to run a new cable (nominally 4 AWG) in parallel with the original power cable. is this not so? sorry if im just confused (it is normal). thanks!FoxChasis said:
I would not use the OEM cable AT ALL. When I took mine out it was charred at the connector and the insulation was brittle and cracking. This means heat was involved and I had been stressing the system beyond a safe limit. (Note to self: get fire extinguisher in car)
The 4AWG is plenty capable of standard duty with the 3G alt. Assuming you don't have 25000 watts of sub-woofer! Now wait just one minizzle!
The 4AWG is plenty capable of standard duty with the 3G alt. Assuming you don't have 25000 watts of sub-woofer! Now wait just one minizzle!
djk8705
New Member
FoxChasis - WHY Dont do that??? I have the PA Performance upgrade and i followed the directions and did that. What is wrong with that and what should i do?? Thanks
-Dan
-Dan
I just recieved my PA Performance wire kit today. I am just going to cut the white/black wire off the original plug and put the new plug on the end. Run the 4ga power wire and leave the stock orange/black wires on the old plug. That will be correct right?
Alts have caused me problems in the past. About 1998 or so my car caught fire becuase of the alt wiring shorting out. Not a nice thing to be involved with, I am taking NO chances this time.
Dave
Alts have caused me problems in the past. About 1998 or so my car caught fire becuase of the alt wiring shorting out. Not a nice thing to be involved with, I am taking NO chances this time.
Dave
I just learned this by doing my 3G upgrade last week. You do not use the orginal 10G wire at all, just leave it attatched to the plug and cut white and black wire for the small plug. When you use 4G wire w/fuse you defeat its purpose with the 10G wire hooked to the alternator also. It serves no purpose other than to burn up. But you do need to leave it place to make it operate correctly, just not attatched to your new alternator.
NeQX
Founding Member
92GreenGT said:
I uesd that 1 stock plug and put on the other 1 that came with kit, just a pa-performance said...charging is GREAT! I doubt such a big company would give unsafe directions, that power wire that comes with kit is all you need really to handle all the power
The directions that PA Performance hands out to go with their power/charging wire kits are WRONG in one regard: DO NOT reconnect the original power/charging wire to the alternator.
"Why?", you ask?
Read the first three sections on Monte Smith's 3G, 130A Alternator Wiring page, which jrichker linked-to above.
OK, so now you have the properly sized wire with a fuse inline for your 3G's power/charging circuit. So what happens if the rectifier inside the alterntor shorts out and causes a direct short across the battery? Well the fuse inline blows of course. It did what it was supposed to do: protect the circuit.
So now what happens if you re-connected the stock 10AWG power/charging wire to the alterntor, like PA Performance told you to do? I hope you have a fire extinguisher within reach. If you think the factory fuse-link will protect the circuit, I'd like to show you the burned out alternator and melted chassis wiring that the factory fuse-link didn't protect in my '86 GT, after the (stock 2G) alternator shorted out and caused a direct short across the battery.
"Why?", you ask?
Read the first three sections on Monte Smith's 3G, 130A Alternator Wiring page, which jrichker linked-to above.
OK, so now you have the properly sized wire with a fuse inline for your 3G's power/charging circuit. So what happens if the rectifier inside the alterntor shorts out and causes a direct short across the battery? Well the fuse inline blows of course. It did what it was supposed to do: protect the circuit.
So now what happens if you re-connected the stock 10AWG power/charging wire to the alterntor, like PA Performance told you to do? I hope you have a fire extinguisher within reach. If you think the factory fuse-link will protect the circuit, I'd like to show you the burned out alternator and melted chassis wiring that the factory fuse-link didn't protect in my '86 GT, after the (stock 2G) alternator shorted out and caused a direct short across the battery.
and now we know. why not just stick a fuse on the stock wire and leave it in parallel? i am retarded and like to do things the hard way - would this be a feasible option to removing the wire altogether?FoxChasis said:
lastly, for those of us with stock alternators and stock wiring, it sounds like it would not be a bad idea to use a fuse on the stock alternator wire (65 or 75 amps;whatever that mouse wheel is rated at)? sound good? what size fuse would you run?
i, like many i bet, appreciate the info. your point is salient, i think. i assumed the fusable link would blow, as it is supposed to, in stock configuration. sounds like that happening is kind of like waiting to see if the fuel pump on a 'Lucas electrical' car is gonna work; kind of dicey to me.
thanks again for the info.
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