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Topic: 3G alternator upgrade with many pics - 87 turbo coupe (Read 1397 times) previous topic - next topic

3G alternator upgrade with many pics - 87 turbo coupe

My car is heavily modified by a previous owner.  Within that long list of modifications was the swap from the factory power steering to manual steering.  Well, manual steering absolutely sucks when you live in a town with small streets and have to park the car inside a garage that's just barely big enough for the car itself and nothing else...

I'm not able to reinstall the factory power steering without removing and redoing the top half of my engine, which I'm not willing to do.  What I am going to do is have a friend install an electric power steering unit and ECU from a 2004-2009 Toyota Prius - this is a very popular mod for older cars, especially the mustangs.  With that in mind, I thought it was best to upgrade the alternator so it didn't burn up anything from the extra load of the power steering unit.

I followed this guide: http://turbotbird.com/techinfo/3G%20Alternator/G3%20Alternator%20Install.htm

While it's a pretty good guide, it has almost no photos.  I'm not a mechanic so I prefer to do as much research and see as many photos as possible before I start modifying anything.  I took as many photos as possible during my process.  Please note that since my engine and engine bay have been heavily modded, some of this stuff will not apply for most people and their 87-88 TC.

this is my set up prior to removing the old alternator:





old alternator removed:





here's my new regulator plug spliced into the factory wiring.  I picked this up on ebay for I believe $13-14 shipped to my door.  I liked this new plug because it already has the stator wire pinned to the connector so you only need to splice 2 wires rather than 3.





here's the yellow wire that runs along side the original power wire that goes into the large splice:



cut and spliced in with a new 10 gauge power wire:





here's the new 3G alternator installed with new wire loom:



3G alternator upgrade with many pics - 87 turbo coupe

Reply #1 –
I have a few problems with Jeff Korn's write up.
The biggest one being running the alternator output directly to the starter relay (directly to the battery) with no circuit protector (fuse or fuse link).
He is right about an ammeter complicating things.
Do you still have the stock ammeter and does it still work?
The stock alternator for your 87 Turbo is the Ford 2g.
Jeff upgraded his 88 Turbo which came with a Mitsubishi alternator.
So you may not have the same fitment problems he had.
 

3G alternator upgrade with many pics - 87 turbo coupe

Reply #2 –
Quote from: softtouch;464302
I have a few problems with Jeff Korn's write up.
The biggest one being running the alternator output directly to the starter relay (directly to the battery) with no circuit protector (fuse or fuse link).
He is right about an ammeter complicating things.
Do you still have the stock ammeter and does it still work?
The stock alternator for your 87 Turbo is the Ford 2g.
Jeff upgraded his 88 Turbo which came with a Mitsubishi alternator.
So you may not have the same fitment problems he had.

I do not have the original amp gauge, no.  my car has auto meter gauges installed in the gauge cluster. 

I had to do some grinding on my bracket as well as the alternator case to get it to fit.  I got my alternator off of a 96-00 v6 mustang for $45 ($10 core charge).  from my understanding, the 90-95 ford taurus with the 3.0 motor has a 130A alternator with a small case that may fit better in our cars.

I'm not super crazy with how the 10 gauge wires for the alternator are laid out after being attached so I may revisit them when it warms up in Philly.

3G alternator upgrade with many pics - 87 turbo coupe

Reply #3 –
Quote from: softtouch;464302
I have a few problems with Jeff Korn's write up.
The biggest one being running the alternator output directly to the starter relay (directly to the battery) with no circuit protector (fuse or fuse link).
He is right about an ammeter complicating things.
Do you still have the stock ammeter and does it still work?
The stock alternator for your 87 Turbo is the Ford 2g.
Jeff upgraded his 88 Turbo which came with a Mitsubishi alternator.
So you may not have the same fitment problems he had.
I can see your point but in the real world, I'd bet one can count on his fingers all the ammeters that still function... Gauges were junk from day one... It's unfortunate Ford continued with the lethargic bimetal junk, starting '87 Mustang got real gauges with a voltmeter...

I ran a parallel wire when I did my install and I've never read Jeff's article... Best bet for monitoring is a voltage gauge, if it's below 12.5v there is a problem...

3G alternator upgrade with many pics - 87 turbo coupe

Reply #4 –
There have been many occasions over the years on this forum where people hooked-up jumper cables backwards.
It always blew out the fuse link between the battery and the alternator. With no damage to the alternator.

You may have noticed that your old alternator did not have a stator wire hooked up.
The stator wire is used to turn off the alternator warning light in the cluster when the alternator is up and running.
Since cars with ammeters don't have the warning light it was not used.
But it doesn't hurt anything to hook it up.