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

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

dp

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

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

quote:

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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

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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.

quote:

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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)

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The picture above shows the positive wire going to the "B" post. what is the post above the oil filter used for?

Do NOT attach any "hot" wire to that post; it's threaded directly into the alternator housing, aka grounded. The positive power terminal on the alternator has an insulator around it (brown thing behind the wire terminal in the pic) to keep the electricity from shorting through the alternator case.

I don't see why not; it might actually be a good idea, instead of the alternator having to ground itself through the bracket to the block and then to an engine ground.