yeah there probally is a thread on this somewhere, but im fat and too lazy to search.. (im really not fat) but how would i go about putting a 89-91 alternator onto a gsl-se? i heard those alternators put out more amperage... so im like what the hell.. why not. thanks guys!

 

the 87-88 alts bolt right up and use the same plug style on the back. They put out 70 amps
the 89-91 alts bolt right up but use a different plug style on the back. You will need to locate a plug (connector) from a junkyard or someone on the forums. These alts put out 90 amps if I am not mistaken.

 

do u know what the gsl-se alts put out by any chance?

 

nope sorry. you should be able to tell on the alternator. it will say on the label....

 

The GSL-SE, and 86-88 NA put out 60 amps
87-88 T2 70 amps
89-91 all 80 amps
FD alts are 100 amps

I have a S5 alt in my GSL-SE. It is a direct bolt-in with only a simple wiring modification. The pre-89 alts require no modifications. The FD alts require changing the pulley as well as the wiring mods required for the S5 alts. I would highly recommend the upgrade to S5. You can pm me if you need any help.

Kent

 

cool kent thanks man! im probally going to be doing it next month after xmas.. so if u could take apic of the wiring mod that ur talking about i could save it and get the alt.. wow we need more people like u

 

Sure, I will see if I can borrow a friend's camera. I mod is pretty simple, but you have to be careful. Many of the diagrams on here and other sites showing how to do it are incorrect. Wiring the way some of the others do it doesn't hurt anything, but it creates a drain on the battery when the car is off. So, if you don't start the car often, after a couple of days you end up with a dead battery. Here is an example of some of the confusion:

http://www.teamfc3s.org/forum/showth...5&pagenumber=1

On page 5 or 6 of that link shows the correct way to do it. By connecting it the correct way, you don't get the battery drain problem and the voltage is very steady. That link should pretty much explain it to you, but I will try to take some pics and pm you within the next couple of days. Do you have an S5 alt yet? I got several offers from people on the forum when I got mine a couple of months ago. I can see if they still have them availiable and I can point you their way if they do.

Kent

 

HERE IS THE CORRECT LINK:
http://www.teamfc3s.org/forum/showth...5&pagenumber=5

Kent - I would like to thank you for this information!! I am having a current
draw problem, and my battery is dead in 3-4 days. It got so bad, that I actually installed a permanent trickle charger in my storage bin (where I keep my battery). I thought I had wired something incorrectly, and I have been over the car inch by inch looking for the problem.

When I get the car back, (at the shop getting an 8.8 swap), I will disconnect the alternator plug to see if this indeed is my problem.

 

Hey Directfreak,

No problem. When I originally saw your post I didn't see that bit about your discharge problem. You must have edited after I read it. Anyway, I hope that you got it figured out. I am sure that the alt wiring is likely the cause. I think most of the confussion was cause be people trying to use both connecting wires from the S4 or whatever car with the S5 alt. There have been some that have had their alts go out from switching the wires back and forth (could have be a coincidence, though). When you get it wired up right, you should see about 120 mA draw on the battery while the ignition key light is on and then it should drop to about 20 mA once the light goes off (assuming everything else is off).

I think we should put that link in the first gen FAQ to make it easier for people to upgrade in the future. I would be willing to do a writeup if needed, but the writeup on the link is quite good as it is.

Kent

 

Ok, I've been looking at this, i just got my 1st rotary running and was thinking about upgrading the alt. Here is my question - why run a new wire all the way from the battery to the alternator? why not just make a short jumper from the stud terminal to the plug? since they are both going to the battery? So to reference the diagram above on the s5 alt, Can i just make a jumper cable to connect the b terminal to the s terminal without a new long wire all the way back to the battery?

Thanks,

Alvin

 

This thread is yet another example of awesome information that pops up on this forum. I'm going to archive it for now, but I am curious - is all of this information the same for the non-SE cars? Or is there more work to be done because of alt mounting position differences?

A writeup would be great, since we don't want to always depend on other forum's data and be cross-linking. Considering what happened to nopistons.org, I'd like to have a local writeup that we can archive here. I'm doing some searching, arciving and FAQ editing on my spare time today, so if anyone sees some long-buried threads that aren't in the archive but should be, PM me to let me know.

Jon

 

yes i agree. Kudos guys!!!

 

Yes, you can do extactly that. This is how I have my S5 alt wired. I didn't have the plug for the S5 alt, so I used female spade connectors instead. I replaced the old alt output wire with a new 8 ga. wire (from a stereo shop). The 8 ga. ring terminals fit perfectly on the S5 output post (larger than the earlier alt output postd).


Yes, Jon. This setup will work directly with all first gens. The '79s will take a bit of extra work because of the external regulator, but they can be done. For the '79s, just combine the info in the archieve about the '79 to '83 alt swap and add the additional info needed to bring it up to S5/S6 alts.

I did have inittab add this thread to the FAQ page around when it was first posted. There is good info in here that people need to read. If you look at the teamfc3s link I included before, you will see the massive confusion about this swap. That is because most of the wiring diagrams for this swap are incorrect. I would be happy to put together a write up if you would like.

DirectFreak: Did you get the drain problem figured out?

Kent

 

I realize this is an old thread but I wanted to point something out that I just noticed. On my S5 alternator pigtail, the wires are WG, and WB.

The WG wire has a "I" label on the pigtail and the WB wire has a "+" on the pigtail.

Naturally I would assume the + wire would go to 12v battery power. However, that "+" wire is in the position show to go to "dash" on this diagram that's been linked.

Or is this a + and - imaging for another application?



Plus I added the picture for future minimizing confusion!

 

Had a second gen 60 amp alternator in my 83 until a few days ago. Hopefully by Monday or Tuesday of this week, will finish installing a Ford Taurus 130 Amp unit. My stereo has been killin` my electrical system for far too long! LOL!

 

Wired it in per the pictures, now all my dash dummy lights are on.... but the alternator charges and there is no battery drain?

What'd I do wrong? Or is this a coincidence?