[munecito]

There is a little known upgrade to give a little over 50% increase on charging juice for your sierra and it is mostly bolt on except for some wiring that I don't really know about.

Years ago my alternator carked it. I used to work as a tyre fitter when I was learning English so I used to know a few mechanics and sparkies. So because the alternator was stuffed I took it to the sparky down the road and he said he had a few alternators there that weren't moving much. So he offered to give me one of those and because it was a slow day he could fit it for me in exchange for a wheel rotation, balance and alignment for his car. The deal was done.

I never thought anything about that and I just used the car for several years without even thinking about it.

Then a few years later the alternator he fitted stopped working, but hey was a free second hand one so no complains. I took the car this time to an auto electrician near where I leave now. And he had a look at the car and order a suzuki alternator. In the afternoon I got a call from the electrician and he asked me to come and see him. I did and when I arrived he was scratching his head and had the two units on his bench.

He showed me both alternators and they looked different. I asked what the issue was and he said: "This is the new alternator and it is the replacement for the original Suzuki part"

I just gave him a blank look and he continued: "This is the alternator I pulled from your car, at some stage someone had replaced it for something out of another car".

It just didn't click then and there but he then said to me: "We can put back the original one as Suzuki intended..." To which I was going to give him the go ahead until he continued: "But, and this is why I asked you to come, the one that I pulled out of your car has considerably more capacity than the other, i fact it pulls 65 amps instead of the 40amps of the original one. So, it is up to you if you want me to return the one I ordered and just get another 65amps one, but you won't have your car back until Monday."

That is when I asked to put another 65amps in and to please find out what car it was from.

It turns out that the Mitsubishi alternator coming out from a Ford Capri 89 - 94 / Laser KE - KF - KH / Mazda 323 BF - BG - BJ is a straight bolt on and they just need to modify the original connection a bit to get it working and charging the battery a little bit faster.

So, there you go. Another option for those that don't want to mess up with pulleys and belts and are happy to go with higher amps without going all out to 100+.

http://www.baxters.com.au/alternator-mitsubishi-type-12v-65amp-ford-laser-mazda-323.html#

I am pretty sure that is the alternator I am talking about. But I will try to find a part number for you guys.

It saw water and mud a couple of times during its life too.

BTW, there is also a GM 7172 model that can be fitted with the use of a bracket made by RRO

[cairns27]

It got one from a wholesaler was 60amps anyway..$185.00


bye

[Gwagensteve]

Various other upgrades in the 65-85 amp range are available from 80's and 90's japanese cars. I don't understand the point in Australia where EL/EF alternators are everywhere and require one hole to be drilled.

It's not a question of "needing" 100A - there are no downsides to having more charging capacity regardless of the application.

Steve.

[munecito]

Yeah you are right Steve but there may be some people that can't be bothered getting all the other stuff. Like pulleys, water pump and different belts.

I am not saying that this is superior, it is just another option, like a series 2 transfer vs series 3.

[jonno_racing]

Except CONSTANT belt slip steve.
Every 110amp alt car i have driven has slipped the belt after start up. Causing premature belt ware and future hearing problems.

[Gwagensteve]

Which is proof that the battery is able to consume more than 65A. In any case, 65A isn't really an upgrade - I recall all EFI suzukis run approximately this figure.

I don't believe constant belt slip is always the case. I used to have a few chirps on startup with the 660 on a single V belt once tension was correct and the belt was in good condition. With a polyvee belt I have no belt slip at 100A, even with over 100A of load on the battery and the car at idle.

Yes, I do understand that a polyvee belt is preferable as part of this upgrade, and I do understand that adds to the cost and complexity, but if you're going to do something, why not do it properly? It's only a few dollars in parts. I do not believe a water pump change is required.

[jonno_racing]

Yes and no.
I think your saying that the 100amp is actually "required"
Tbh i have never found the "need" for more that 70iah amps.
Simply put if your 100amp takes 5min's to return the starting voltage, a 70amp may take 10min. Not a big deal
And a great trade off for not wrecking belts and my hearing.
It "may" be a benefit when winching or jump starting etc, but overall i think its a mute point.
I have had v belts and multi ribs. All slip. Not all the time, but enough to give me the shits. There is a reason they have a 6pk belt on the Falcons from the factory.
On my new motor i will be running the stock baleno alt as the 70am0 is more than enough!

[Gwagensteve]

I'm not saying a 100A alternator is required at all, only that if you're going to effort of upgrading, it might as well be worth the effort. Considering the price, availability and easy of fitment. it doesn't make any logical sense to use anything but an EL/EF alternator.

My polyvee belt does not slip. At all.

The point is that more amps are ALWAYS better then less amps. The biggest reason more amps are better than less amps is that any alternator rarely delivers its rated amperage. For instance, loaded up on a test bench, a stock 50A Sierra alternator will only deliver about 35A peak once hot... and that's a 3K rpm. At idle they're generally only able to supply 20A or so. That's adequate for a standard car but inadequate for an EFI car or any increased load.

I've proven a 100A falcon alternator can deliver about 40A at fast idle. Now think about the way we use our cars - when airing up or post winching, we tend to sit with them idling to "charge the battery" but in reality it might take hours to charge the car if the alternator is only delivering 5A or so above the base load the car requires. Your ...if a 100A takes X then a 70A takes Y figure isn't really correct, because there is a set base draw when the car is running. the point is more amps get us further away from the base load - it's not linear.

So no 100A isn't required, but the more amps you can supply, especially at idle, the better.

[31zook]

Your both right. I've never seen a 100amp alt that doesn't chirp on start up, and i pretty much winched my dead car for most of yesterday off of my battery and when it leveled out i was more then glad it would start and it had 100amp alt charging things back up again. Needed? Maybe, but there is no way it couldn't hurt having those extra amps.

[got_bar_work]

If u have a winch i recon u want the 100a alt. Ive seen 150a batt current on my old vit while winching with a 100a alt so with only a small one your battery would be getting flogged which will shorten its life

[Birddog]

Hey blokes I'm new to this site and need info on issues with alternator upgrade which is shitting me to death. I've put in a ford alternator and 3pk belt will not stop slipping. Anything I can do as in change crank wp pulleys to take larger multi rib or change all pulleys to take bigger vbelt? Any useful info would be great. Standard 1.3L engine swb soft top. It's having to run several spotlights, 14" thermofan, engel and various other led lights. I have an 80ah deep cycle battery in place of standard one. Cheers

[cairns27]

Ya mustof found it in Good Tech by now.

bye

[fordem]

First question is how do you know the belt is slipping, second question is, why is it slipping?

If you know it's slipping because it is squealing (the most common way), then it may not be slipping - multi-rib belts will also squeal when they are misaligned - make sure your pulleys are in line and also parallel to one another.

Once you've confirmed the pulleys are in line and parallel, the next thing to consider is belt tension - do you have enough adjustment to properly tension the belt?

Next up is amp draw - several spotlights, 14" thermo fan, engel & various LED lights doesn't really give us a number - what sort of load do you have on the alternator?

[Reubs]

Birddog wrote:

. I've put in a ford alternator and 3pk belt will not stop slipping.

Get a 4 rib pulley set off a coil Sierra. 3 rib pulleys on a g13 are from a 1.3 swift and they run only a 50A alternator and no mechanical engine fan.