Newer type alternator. Pics.

[2Gunz]

Ya its the blue one.

Also make sure that the regulator is grounded well.

My car idles at around 800, I dont know what its supposed to be, but thats what it likes.


Btw you live in California?  That picture looks like it.

If so we should go cruise sometime im in Glendale.

[myk]

Yeah I'm gonna' have to recheck all of the wiring in the car.  I'm the total 'newb when it comes to electricals so there's probably something that needs to be made better.  I remember I was crimping on a connector and I pressed it HARD.  As soon as I let go of the wire it fell out of the connector, lol.  As for idle speed, I think the stock setting was 650 RPM but it's so damn low that the car feels like it's going to stall. 

I have to clarify though, that the voltage drops only happens when the car is in gear.  If the car is in park or neutral the battery is getting 14.5v easy, and that's with the lights on.

You mentioned earlier that the pulley was too big to get a full charge.  Have you ever considered getting a smaller pulley?  I'll definitely consider that if that's an option too.

Yup, I live in SD.  If we ever cruise though we go in your car, as your '69 looks really good...

[BronzeOnSteelies]

I am looking at this alternator changeout. Why is the double vbelt important? Is it because the belt alignment changes with the 1998 or 02 alternators? The factory? alternator has a single belt pulley on it.

Thanks for any help     

[myk]

If you buy an '89 'alt it comes with a v-belt pulley that should line up directly with your other v-belt pulleys, such as crank, water pump, etc.  If you have air, the double groove pulley should mate up with that as well.  Many parts-store 'alts for original applications automatically come with a double groove pulley, just to cover people that have air conditioning and the ones that don't.  If you don't have air, you just ignore the 2nd groove.

Also, if you buy an '02 'alt you'll get a unit with a serpentine belt pulley-obviously this won't work on a car that still uses v-belts.  If you just put a v-belt onto a serpentine pulley, the pulley will eat up the v-belt sooner than later. 


I'd recommend getting the '89 'alt because you don't have to find a compatible pulley and install it.  Also, you won't have to buy a special connector to connect the field wires as you would have to with the '02; the '89 uses standard bolt-on connectors. 

Finally, make sure you do what 2Gunz and DKN did, which was install heavy gauge wire, AT LEAST 10G,  from the ouput stud to the starter relay...

[BronzeOnSteelies]

  10-4

Thanks myk

[2Gunz]

The pulley size for me isnt an issue really.

To be "perfect" it could be slightly smaller.

But given how easy it was to change over and the fact that its
SOOO much better than stock.... Im not going to complain.

Your charge issue sounds like its directly related to Idle RPM.

And the fact that dips when you put it in drive helps confirm that.

When you put it in gear it slows the engine speed a bit.

If you must have the idle that low, install a smaller pulley.

I however would just turn up the idle 50-100 Rpm and be done with it.



Oh and....

Not one 10 Gauge wire. I would use two.

[dkn1997]

My 4g wire fit pretty easy.  when I got my alternator off ebay, it came with the factory ring terminal still on it.  I carefully peeled it back and put my 4g and the original charging wires onto it. I don't remember it being all that hard.  I then wrapped it in the nonstick black vinyl tape and it's hard to tell it's there. 

on the serp pulley, you could use it for your V belt but that has "crackhead" written all over it.  either way you go, it's all good.  any of these new denso type alts, regardless of amp rating will charge so much better at idle than the stock one.  best mod I ever did to my car...besides stuffing the 318 in my shed and a 440 between the fenders, of course.

[BronzeOnSteelies]

Guys I am working on this project for my car. Decided to go with 2 Gunz 89 Van 90 Amp alternator but have had no luck yet at local junk yards.

I assumed this is a junk yard buy, but I am wondering from some of the photos of this thread if you can buy a new alternator for an 89 Dodge Cargo Van from a parts store.

Please clarify.

Also I saw an article in the August Mopar Muscle Mag called "Voltage Revamp" where they deal with the problems we are having. They buy a kit from an outfit called Mopars by Crane in Florida that has a relay and wiring harness in it. I am not much with the electrical systems so I really do not understand the benefits of what they are installing in addition to the wiring improvements you guys mention above. Let me know if anyone reads it and can give me a clue as to whether it is a worthy kit to buy.

Thanks           

[Manfred318]

Guys I am working on this project for my car. Decided to go with 2 Gunz 89 Van 90 Amp alternator but have had no luck yet at local junk yards.

I assumed this is a junk yard buy, but I am wondering from some of the photos of this thread if you can buy a new alternator for an 89 Dodge Cargo Van from a parts store.

Yea you should be able to buy it from your local parts store. They are a bit pricey tho. I went with a 65 amp off of an '85 W150 Ram and it does well enough for what I need it for.

[2Gunz]

The Alt is from pep boys.

The Voltage Reg and Pigtail are from Autozone.

However you should be able to get this stuff from anywhere.


The guy at Auto zone gave me a blank look when I told him "show me everything dodge that is about this size".
So I moved on.

I attempted to give you some direct links to a few common parts stores to make this easy.

However The Autozone, Pepboys and Napa websites suck to much for words.

[2Gunz]

As far as electrical upgrades the 3 biggest things, in my head anyway, in order are.........


1) Bypass the amp gauge  (hides from nacho)

This is only number one because its bound to leave you stranded.


2) Alternator Upgrade

3) Headlight relay

All of which have been covered allot in this forum.


Assuming that the wiring harnesses in your car are not junk I dont see what the big deal
about a "kit" would be. Id love to see a link on it.

All the stuff needed is off the self parts.

If you have more questions go ahead and ask.

[Nacho-RT74]

1) Bypass the amp gauge  (hides from nacho)

I SAW IT




ONCE AGAIN... no need for that if you make the proper upgrades
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,33574.0.html

[BronzeOnSteelies]

  2Gunz, I just saw a link to the Kit from Mopar by Crane.

  It is in a thread on this site dated June 17th by Needa68.

  Needa68 has ordered one.

[BronzeOnSteelies]

Guys I got a couple questions about upgrading the wiring. I have read the threads and the article by the gentlemen from allpar and still need to know......

My new wiring harness has a black wire and a blue wire running from the output terminal to the bulkhead connector. After you run a large gauge wire (and fusible link or fuse) to the top nut on the starter relay what do you do with these wires. Cut the black one at the alternator end? Leave them at the bulkhead connector? What did you guys do? i am guessing the blue "sense" wire stays in place and the larger gauge wire is replacing the black one?

There is a light blue fusible link wire running from the top nut on the starter relay to the bulkhead connector, I assume you must leave that in place and just put the new fusible link (for new larger gauge wire) on the same stud.


Let me know,  by the way the kit by Mopars by Crane got slammed pretty good by the members that bought it.

Mark                 

[2Gunz]

The original wiring diagram shows the black wire as going to the output of the alternator.

The blue wire to the Ignition side of the Voltage regulator.

From the Voltage regulator a dark green wire runs to the alternator.

Dont remove anything.

You should be adding a heavy gauge wire or 2 to the battery or starter relay.

Or if you want the amp gauge to work follow nachos design.

Heres the diagram........


http://www.1969chargerregistry.com/pictures/engcompt.jpg


Hope this helps.

[Plumcrazy]

1) Bypass the amp gauge  (hides from nacho)

I SAW IT




ONCE AGAIN... no need for that if you make the proper upgrades
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,33574.0.html

  With a good alternator, bypassing the ammeter is a solution in search of a problem.

[2Gunz]

While I tend to agree with the thought process of wishing to keep it original.

And I also agree that doing nachos upgrade is great stuff.

But the fact that remains is this.

If my battery is dead and I jump start it, my 120+ amp alternator is going to
toast that gauge.

And for it it be accurate everything in the car needs to run through it.
And my 2000 watt sub amp would have a field day with it.

[Nacho-RT74]

you are right so that's why I state on thread with a battery dead... NO RECHARGE ON CAR, at least not with that kind of alt ( 120 amps )! or unless you jump the alt directly to batt.

with 70-80 amps alt ( maybe little bit more ), ammeter is able to drive the recharging process at iddle or little bit more ( second step of iddle cam, choke one ), without problems.

[myk]

I wanted to bring this thread back up because suddenly I'm having charging issues with this set up that I've been running for over a year now.  I'm only getting about 12 volts back from the charging system and....I'm not sure where to start looking for the problem.  I've checked all of my connections and splices and they seem to be good and tight.  One minute I was getting 14 volts, the next I was getting 11 to 12.  Any ideas?  

Edit:  Ok this is wierd, I disconnected the 70's style voltage regulator, the one with the blue and green wires, and my voltage reading stayed the same?  If you unhook the regulator aren't you supposed to lose charging voltage completely?

[Nacho-RT74]

Edit:  Ok this is wierd, I disconnected the 70's style voltage regulator, the one with the blue and green wires, and my voltage reading stayed the same?  If you unhook the regulator aren't you supposed to lose charging voltage completely?

not really, depending of the batt conditions and how many time you are running without charge, but initally you still can read 12 volts or very close below it.

That's why I like ammeters, is an instant reading knowing WHERE THE POWER is coming from

[myk]

Well I figured the least I could do is have the alternator and regulator tested.  The 90 amp alternator, which is supposed to be for an '89 Dodge van, tested fine.  The regulator failed.  I got the new regulator on but I still have the same problem.  I'm getting 11 to 12 volts of power from the charging system.  It's so simple that I don't really know where to check next.  There're 3 wires and that's it: the output wire from the alternator, and the blue and green wires that go to the regulator.

Man I just don't get it.  There's good continuity between the green and blue wires from the alternator all the way up to the regulator. 

Quesiton-there're two terminals on the alternator, are the green and blue wires from the voltage regulator supposed to go on to certain terminals or does it matter?

[Nacho-RT74]

ground the green wire  to check if you get full power from alt. If you do, reg is still bad

doesn't matter either wire on any terminal. My preference is the positive ( blue ) wire closer to the alt stud, to save from accidentally short ( negative with positive ) somehow, being this field once wired/plugged cross the wire with black one... but once again, is just my preference

[myk]

So do you mean to just put the green wire to bare metal to "ground it?"

I don't know if this means anything, and I don't know why I did this, but I used to have the blue and green wire on the same terminal on the alternator-does that matter at all?  The car did run for over a year like that with good voltage.  

Thanks for the response, Nacho...

[Nacho-RT74]

if you have a dual isolated alternator ( being 89 should it be )  you must have green wire on one brush, and the blue wire at the other brush. BOTH ISOLATED

Green is regulated ground from regulator what takes from chassis its source. Blue is constant positive from ign switch ( what also splices into ballast and regulator ) fro obvious reasons this sytem requieres both brushes isolated from alt chassis.

you must have 12 volts between green and blue wire with key in RUN arriving to brushes/field at alt. That feeds the rotor coil what once is spining creates the magnetic field captioned by the outer coil or stator. This gets to diodes bank what rectifies the alternating power into Direct current. Negative to chassis and positive to alt stud.

so if you don't feed the rotor with the + and - voltage, you'll never get magnetic fields inside alt, so neither output

grounding the green wire, will emulate you don't have enough juice on system so regulator would be sending max ground signal, getting max output from alt, once rotor gets max 12 volts power.

[myk]

Ok, I get it.  But...I drove the car with both the blue and green wire on the same terminal on the alternator for over a year.  How did that work?  It shouldn't have worked, right?