Niku-Sama

in my research about the whole alternator swap i turned up some pics on napas online site which aparently has a pretty good catalog of pictures of the parts they sell, not just generic pics of the stuff like one spark plug pic fo them all, all their parts seem to have their own picture unless its the same part used on a different car. any way i punched in my '79, '87 and '90 maxima, '90 300's are similar but the plug goes comes out the oppisite side and its only 80 amp on a '90 na.

i stuck the 2 pics, ('79 and '87/'90) in one to compare the 2 and it seems like it would mount up easily:



mount points look the same, you would have to change the connector on the car side of things which i am looking into. i'm going to try to get one tommorow at the junkyard.

NismoPick

Take a tape measure to the j yard w/ ya. You'll need to make sure the pulley is in the same spot. I did a lot of research on alternator upgrades & found out that several people who swapped to VG alternators kept shredding the fan belt because the pulley wasn't in the exact same location. I decided to go the GM 1 wire way... much easier.

Niku-Sama

no luck on finding one at the yard, guess it'll wait a while or i can pull the one out of my 87 maxima

vrocious

haha no wonder mines a piece of ****. it's a mitsubishi alternator that pumps out 40a.

in saying that, the model number is a1t31374 so if it bolts stright up maybe there is one with higher output that will too

Niku-Sama

mitsubishi makes all sorts of stuff and there is often a standard for a little while unless its a honda car. odds are its a similar year but from some little car like some sort of econobox.

40 amps is nothin, must have had a hand crank in the front what ever it was meant for. i am sure a regular alternator or something with a little more umpf and it should run a bit better. i think 40amps is mabe barely enough for normal operation. the only reason i am looking at these 90 amp alts is because the guts are newer technology and i may be putting a stereo in it but i dont know how far i am going to go with it

NismoPick

Meh... nothing good has ever come from Japan. Er... wait....

vrocious

well let me know how you go with your research. the maxima model your referring too was the vg30?

Ratfink

Gonna check them out next time I go to the pick and pull. The 70amp I am running seems to be holding up to a bunch of abuse from about 1200 watts of stereo. haha

wake2wake21

1200 watts rms or peak cuz i drain my battery enough to shut down my deck in about 10 minutes of low bass, new stock alt too and im only pushing 1000 watts rms btw what ohm are u running at?

it could be worst the gen on my sandrail is 30 amp or 35 i had to slap a huge bat in it to hold my kc's up to eight 100 watt halogens

this drains the juice

Niku-Sama

why not change the alternator?

Ratfink

No, that's peak. I couldn't handle that in RMS. I like my ears a little bit. Destroy them enough at work.
Probably more like 400 RMS.

vrocious

in saying that do you recon it may even effect my spark plugs as in not delivering enough spark?


any luck with finding one and wiring it up?

CWHammer

Any specifics on which one? I know that the GM alts pump out 100A no matter what they are rated at. What wiring changes did you have to make?

How did you make the change to the lower mount? The GM is very different than the stock one.

CWHammer

Just found this for the GM alt. http://www.madelectrical.com/electri...elcoremy.shtml Maybe this will help.

Niku-Sama

no not yet, i am having a garage sale this weekend and if the car doesent sell then i am gonna pull the alternator and battery and stick the battery in the cougar (if it doesent sell too) and work on putting the altnernator in the z.

i would do the gm thing but i want to keep the parts from the same country, it just seems to work out better that way

Niku-Sama

ok i am bumpin this up, i should be doing this soon to see if it works or not.

i need to ask something though, on the stock alternator there are 2 wires that are about the same thickness, one is a signal wire and one is the juice it self what wire is what?

also should i worry about frying stock electrical with this 90 amp?

NismoPick

I answered that here: https://www.zdriver.com/forums/300zx-z31-forums-8/wires-back-alternator-26530/

It's the white wire........ and it should be pretty easy to identify since it should have an "eye" connector for the + alternator connection. Then there's a plastic connector w/ 2 wires. That connector is for the charge light.

Niku-Sama

you awnsered the z31 question, there is a hoop connector for the battey on this too but theres a plastic connector with 2 wires, one is larger than the other on the VG alternator.

i know the hoop connector goes to the stud on the back of the alternator but the plastic connector comming out of the alternator it self, its solely the charge indicator or is it something else aswell?