G3 Alternator swap Pics

5533 Views 24 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Fireguy50, Jun 12, 2004

Kurt Rohmer

Discussion Starter · Jun 9, 2004

6

Swapping out my old 65 amp unit with a G3.
removed old unit and look at all the room!

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tap in the bolt guide till it's flush to make room for the new unit.

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take the bottom wire set and cut 1" away from the plug like so...
(make sure it's the one with a white wire w/black stripe, and two thick black
wires with orange-ish stripes)

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The kit I got from PA Performance also came with the necessary wire attachments, attach them as shown, solder and shrink wrap.

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One small problem, the new alternator is bigger than the stock unit so you have to shave some metal from the bracket right here!

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I shaved this region all the way back to that structural rib on the bracket to allow enough clearance for the oversized alternator

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Tomorrow I will post pictures of the alternator in place and the completed wiring including the 4 gauge extra wire used for the additional power!

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Kurt Rohmer

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jun 9, 2004

4

And here are some pics of the alternator installed and all of the proper wiring placement.

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and another angle showing the wiring on the back of the G3

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Side shot showing how neat the install can be

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And finally the aftermarket 4 gauge power cable to help in the disbursement of all that juice!!! Where it attaches to the starter selenoid.

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hope that these pics help somebody out. There are more photos at my supermoto site.

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Sixlitre

· #3 · Jun 9, 2004

Great quailty photos !

Nicely done

How's the charging situation ?

Maybe you want one of these;

Sixlitre

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Bronco85

· #4 · Jun 9, 2004

Nice job. I never got around to doing the write up on my swap into a Vbelt truck.. Maybe I'll get around to that soon..

Only thing, I cut that white wire shorter then that. Then taped it all together, so I didn't have a loose wire hanging out. And made it just a touch cleaner looking.

Kurt Rohmer

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 10, 2004

Thanx for the kudos gentlemen, I appreciate it.

Charging situation is AWESOME sixlitre... I can put on ALL of my lights, (4 KC Daylighters) high beam stock lights, both sets of rock lights, CB radio, stereo and cell phone charger - and the AMP Meter in the Bronco hovers at a little over the 10 volt mark, and no slow discharge from the battery!!! IT works awesome.
ummm also - You referred to something that I might need in your picture but I don't know what?...do you mean your 175 amp fuse? ... yep, got one. but mine is in a plastic enclosure... I forgot to take a picture of it. I'm sorry / my bad. No matter though... I am setting up a separate Fuse Block just for the 4 gauge wire to route into, so that I will have a seperate fuse block for ALL of the electricity intensive items in the Bronco. And yes, pictures will follow.

Bronco85 - great idea, so this week I am going to get rid of the red crimp connector and shorten the length on the white wire, solder it properly, and cover it with a shrink wrap sleeve, then I am going to tape everything tight and cover it a chrome wire wrapper. Make it look stinky sweet!!!

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JoeBob1901

· #6 · Jun 10, 2004

wouldnt you watn to connect your 4ga off the battery post rather than the starter selenoid? ud have less resistance?

Kurt Rohmer

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jun 10, 2004

I dunno Joe, I do what the directions tell me to. The folks at PA Performance say (in the directions) that it goes on the positive side of the selenoid. I'd have to call them on the phone to see what they say about routing the heavy duty wire to the battery.

I'll let you know what they say.

SquattyD

· #8 · Jun 10, 2004

i would leave it. i dont like connecting wires directly to the battery. seems hack job to me to just run wires to the battery.

Fireguy50

· #9 · Jun 10, 2004

SquattyD said:
i would leave it. i dont like connecting wires directly to the battery. seems hack job to me to just run wires to the battery.

:stupid Oh yeah! mine goes to the starter solenoid
well kinda, I have a terminal stud, just for large cables, too much power unde rthe hood :goodfinge

this is the back of mine:
everything is cleaned up in 300F wire loom, with the 2ga charge cable

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spence007

· #10 · Jun 10, 2004

awesome wright up and pics

jermil01

· #11 · Jun 10, 2004

Really good write up Kurt..I'd like to get around to doing this at some point, but the NAPA alt I'm running has a lifetime warranty, so if it ever craps out I get a new one...

spence007

· #12 · Jun 10, 2004

can you get the stock alternator rewound to put out more amps?
Has anyone read Brian Solderman's page on the g3? He ended up swapping it to go bigger, to an alt with an external regulator. He says the g3 doesn't put out the amount of amps that the specs show.

Bronco85

· #13 · Jun 10, 2004

There are 4 3G alternaters 95, 135, 165, 200. This is what the place I bought mine from said.. But they wanted like $450 for a 165. Can get a 200 from broncograveyard for $235.

Burl Swift

· #14 · Jun 10, 2004

Great write up!

But...what I wanna know is do you have a write up on the installation of the propane injection?

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Fireguy50

· #15 · Jun 10, 2004

:lolup

spence007 said:
can you get the stock alternator rewound to put out more amps?

The 2G is never any good, max is about 85amps. it take a miricle to get that out of it. and if you do the plug will catch on fire :banghead

spence007 said:
Has anyone read Brian Solderman's page on the g3? He ended up swapping it to go bigger, to an alt with an external regulator. He says the g3 doesn't put out the amount of amps that the specs show.

Yeah I know of his complaints. The 3G is not as "heavy duty" as the 100amp alt he put in
But the output of a 3G is greater if the alternator is good. Some flakey units from autozone are crap.
Mine puts out about 90 amps at idle, and spits out more than 160amps when you rev it up. yes I had mine bench tested :goodfinge

Somebody else had problems with water crossings and getting mud in the 3G then hosing it off. I'm not sure about that, I've never had mine under water :shrug

Bronco85

· #16 · Jun 10, 2004

Fireguy50 said:
Somebody else had problems with water crossings and getting mud in the 3G then hosing it off. I'm not sure about that, I've never had mine under water :shrug

Well I had my truck buried in the mud a couple times, crossed water atleast 36" deep, 30 or 40 times, over memorial day weekend. And never had an issue with my 3G. I think that guy just had a bad one.

spence007

· #17 · Jun 10, 2004

Thanks for the info Fireguy, I need to do the same upgrade

spence007

· #18 · Jun 10, 2004

Kurt whats the cost on from Pa Performance

Sixlitre

· #19 · Jun 11, 2004

I run two double amplifiers

Powering 8 speakers with a combined 2600 watts and I've never had any troubles since switching to a cheap 130 amp 3G.

I think one of the main advantages is in all the larger gauge, better wiring I upgraded to from the aternator through the fuses to the solenoid, amps and battery.

Maybe it works for some people, but that old large cased 100 amp alternator is yesterday's news (alternator too).

Sixlitre

Kurt Rohmer

Discussion Starter · #20 · Jun 11, 2004

Just to answer a few questions for you guys... I ordered the NEW (not an old case that's been rewound) from PA Performance for $185.00 and I got the 4 gauge power cable from them for I think $30.00. (Big Fuse included). Actually PA Performance suggests very strongly that you get the big cable, if you don't and you run the alt hard, it WILL burn stock wires. I ordered the unit through PEP BOYS, but I was the one who talked to the guys at PA on the phone when I ordered it. They treated me real nice on the phone, asked me what it was for, what system I had, how many lights and what kind, and told me my options, no pushing at all, and in my opinion that counts for alot. At the time I didn't have a lot of excess scratch so I got the plain case unit. But instead of a straight replacement I bumped up to the 135 amper.

PA Performance sent me this alternator and it was GORGEOUS. The case had no burs, machine marks, or scratches. (other models like chrome, painted {to match your bronco} are available but cost more...like $325.00 for the Chrome one, but man it is a piece of ART. The Pulley is painted black, not just any black but almost like a lacquer. When you spin the pulley with your hand you couldn't even feel the bearings inside, and the PA unit is at least 5 pounds heavier than the stock unit. The fit and finish on this product is SHOW TRUCK WORTHY! I can't say enough about it.

PA also sent me in the box a sheet of paper, on the paper was a print out of THAT PARTICULAR ALTERNATOR's output at rpm level, via serial number. spun at idle, minimum output on mine is 93 amps, midrange of 110 amps, three thousand rpms = 135 amps and ...........at 5g = 151 amps!!!! They have higher amp numbers but at RPM's that I will never see. The peak on this unit is just under 195 amps (at like 8g).

I will dig out the paper and post it so ya'll can see. This thing in my opinion is worth its' weight in gold. For those guys out there pushing even more lighting than me, or mega huge stereos, the 165amp unit is awesome, and for the true extremist the 200amp unit is king! A few words of caution on the 200 amp unit. It requires a complete rewire on ALL of your electronics...selenoid, starter, fuse block, etc. It will fry an older stock system AT IDLE!! (the guys at the shop say the 200 amper goes out to like 325 amps at 5,000 rpm... ugh!! enough juice to run a house!)

I am not an expert electrician or anything so I went with a strong, near stock unit that required MINIMUM handiwork with electricity. And so I chose this unit and I have had absolutely no problems.

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