bigger alternator wire and dump tube

Well, a week ago I broke one of the O2 housing-to-turbo bolts, so I ripped the turbo off and pulled the alternator while I was in there.

I had been going through alternators like twice a year, so I gave everything a thorough once over. I found that the stock alternator feed wire was frayed and burnt, and kinda small. I also replaced the 6 month old AutoZone reman alternator with a new (reman) Mitsu piece. I also spliced in a fresh alternator harness (the upper smaller wires with the connector). I ran 4 gauge high-strand-count copper cable from the fuse-box to the alternator, and routed it behind the radiator and shorter than stock by a foot or two.

I also added a 2.5" tubular O2 housing from Andy @ 122performance. It fits so damn nice that the stock heat shield works with it just fine and hides it. Nice work, Andy!


crappy stock wire

good condition oem wire vs 4 gauge

new wire attached

new wire crimped

new wire routed

new wire routed 2

back together

 

Also, for posterity, here is my 13" Spal Hi-flow fan attached to the radiator. This sucker can seriously move some air when it kicks on high. I wired it in plug-n-play style with the stock resistor pack so that it still operates on 2 speeds.

rad and big spal

nice and thin!

 

[GVR-4]

Very nice! BTW, what turbo are you using? And isn't that dump tube pretty loud for the po po?

dp

 

Howard, good idea on the alternator wire and thanks for posting.

To answer the other poster's question, as long as your flapper is well sealed (not all are), you won't have any exhaust coming from that tube and hence no crazy noise unless you're at or near full boost.

If you pass a cop at or near full boost, you're probably violating other stuff anyways.

Mark

 

Hey Howard, do you have the part number of that Spal fan?
Jose....

 

no, I don't know the part number, but it's the 13" High Flow Spal, 1710cfm.

Peters! Yes, the dump tube is very loud, but that's ok since I can't drive WOT around this small town all the time anyways.

 

quote:Originally posted by DongeR615:
when i go to the hardware store and I want to crimp 4 guage or 2 or 1 or 0 guage wire. do i ask for any crimper or do i ask for a special kind? the crimpers i've seen/used don't really do the job. got a pic of it?
thanks
DongeR DongeR, I don't have a big crimper or anything, I used 6" linesman pliers (half pliers, half wire cutters). I got like 9 feet of this nice high strand 4 gauge power wire from a local stereo shop for about $10, including gold terminals. Just find one in your area and ask. They'll usually crimp one end on for free if you want.

Paul, I ordered the Spal fan from Indy Race Cores, for a little over $100, but it took forever to receive.

 

when i go to the hardware store and I want to crimp 4 guage or 2 or 1 or 0 guage wire. do i ask for any crimper or do i ask for a special kind? the crimpers i've seen/used don't really do the job. got a pic of it?
thanks
DongeR

 

[4orced4door]

Where did you order that fan from and how much was it? I need one. That dump tube looks very nice as well!

 

quote:Originally posted by atsiauto:
dumb question but does this wire go right to the battery +? why did you get 9 feet ? I like that dump setup and where did that dipstick come from might save a few fingetips (heat) Sort of... the alternator wire goes to the fuse box that's mounted to the battery. I popped the fuse box back off (clips on), removed the 10mm bolt that holds the stock wire on, and the 4 gauge terminal fit up in there pretty nicely.

For more info on the tubular O2 housing, see http://www.usionline.net/122.htm or talk to Andy on this message board.

The dipstick is a new 2G DSM part that I installed, which does keep my fingers from getting burned now when I check the oil.

 

[atsiauto]

dumb question but does this wire go right to the battery +? why did you get 9 feet ? I like that dump setup and where did that dipstick come from might save a few fingetips (heat)

 

Not to be an a-hole, But I would not use feed wire from a audio store. Go to an electrical supply store and ask for 4ga. THHN or THHW wire and lugs for the connectors. The wire is rated for gas and oil exposure, UV and ozone stable and has a much tougher jacket. Also has a higher ampacity than common insulated so you should be able to use 6ga. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Turbo4door1]

Howard -- have you driven the car much with that O2 dump on it? Just asking because a friend of mine (Ian M on this board) installed a very similar dump setup, and with only a few hard passes, it was starting to melt the wires that run along the lower core support, as well as the drain plug on the bottom of his almost new Modine radiator. He ended up welding an elbow to the bottom of it to direct the air back beside the downpipe. Just curious.

 

not to bring up a old thread b/c thats what you guys would do...

Anywho my question is that his has a red cover to tell him its the "B" post now the one I have on my car looks like this.



Which when I check for continuity for both of the spade connectors, it goes to this on the positive battery post where the fuses are located (100 amp fuse)



My question is..
how do I know which one is which? or it doesn't matter? I know we have a "B" terminal and a L and IG for the connector on the link below. shouldn't there be one more?

click

If I'm reading correctly, are you still using the old connectors or just letting them hang? Do i just attach a 4gauge wire with a fuse to the + battery fuse location? or do I attach the old wires with the new ones?

 

[iceman69510]

Did both wires go to the same place or different places on the fuse holder? Moot point really, as it doesn't matter. They are alternator voltage output.

On the terminals, different makers and different cars do it differently. More modern cars utilize ECU control of the alternator, and that is likely where the "sense" wire would go. Mitsus now use 4 wires, but ours only use two. The IG in the diagram lights off the alternator, the L (light) supplies the charge light.

That alternator in the example pic is a Honda Denso. I have one similar in my race car and use only the IG and B+ wires in that case.

 

[iceman69510]

If you are no longer connecting those two wires at the alternator end, don't connect them to anything at the fuse block. Move them and wrap them. Connect the new wire in their place.

 

[Kenny_Kline]

I actually have broken/frayed wires everywhere on the alternator. I dont know what goes where so if you can maybe get a pic of the side and where each wire goes, that would be a big help to me.

 

Quoting iceman69510:
Did both wires go to the same place or different places on the fuse holder? Moot point really, as it doesn't matter. They are alternator voltage output.




Both wires in the first picture went to the positive power wire on the battery on the same place 100 amp location

I thought we had a noise filtering wire?

 

[iceman69510]

I believe Mitsu just uses two wires for the same carrying capacity without such a large wire size not normally used anywhere else on the vehicle.

I have never seen filtering wire on that application.

 

[FlyingEagle]

Did he mean to say "shielded" wiring?