Guest bastaad525 Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 hey guys I just wanted to know... I've already modified my 240's electrical to be able to be able to work with an internally regulated alternator. I'm running a 280ZXT alternator right now, which I believe is a 60 amp unit, but it seems to be struggling to provide the power I need still. Especially after upgrading my fuel pump and wiring it straight to the battery, and installing an MSD ignition box. So I'm wondering, what other alternators bolt right in to the stock bracket, and have the same T shaped connector... basically what can I swap in without changing anything else, wiring etc. now that I'm already set up for internally regulated? Please give specific year/make/models please and amp ratings would be great too. Only one I've heard of other than from first and second gen Z's is the maxima ones, though I havent seen a specific year given that will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskrat Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 http://zcarcreations.com/howto/voltreg.htm To answer your question, the '85 Maxima and the other years in that generation, should bolt up directly, though you will have to swap pulleys and the wiring connectors. I personally have done some looking around at local parts vendors (NAPA, Autozone....). From what I've seen, many of the higher amp alternators, including the '85 generation maxima 90amp, are only available in one-wire configurations. At least thats what I've seen in the aftermarket. It's not a direct bolt up, it takes some modification to the mounting holes and a swap of the pulley to a V-belt spaced out to not hit the housing, but you could take a look at a '95 Maxima swap. The earlier versions are 110amp, and the later ones are 125amp. Hope that helps, and you're able to get a good enough alternator the second.... fifth?... time around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ZmeFly Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 Is an alternator from a 90's maxima, 90 amp works great. Only thing you need of course is the new plug. smaller bushing and your Vbelt to adapt it. Cost from Advanced Auto either 73 or 83 dollars. Well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 yeah I've seen that link before, was how I finally broke free of the external regulator and broke the chain of (yes FIVE!!!) burning out alternators. Okay swapping the pulley sounds easy enough, but what about the wiring modification? All I've found so far is that it goes from a two wire to a one wire setup, but that's not telling me a whole lot, and for the few web pages I've found that tell you how to rewire for internal regulators, none say how to convert to a one wire setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskrat Posted February 15, 2004 Share Posted February 15, 2004 Thats the beauty of the one wire setup. Its simple. One charge wire going to the battery. Simple. Seriously though, I believe all you'd need to do in order to convert to one wire, is to run a new charge wire to your battery and just disconnect your T-connector. This is simplified even further because you have already converted to an internally regulated alternator, eliminating the need for voltage sensing wires going to an extrenal unit. One wire, straight to the positive battery terminal. If you want, you can ground the alternator chassis to the engine block, if you feel that the bolts wont be enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 okay so just disconnect the T shaped connector, take out my zx alternator, stick in my new alternator, and just run one new wire directly from the alternator charging terminal to the battery positive post... that's it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskrat Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 yup, thats the beauty of an internally regulated one wire alternator. You lose the function of your idiot light, and it will not start supplying sufficient amps to charge the battery until a specific turn on point, though. Some tradeoffs for an easy install. Stock, you should have a fusible link somewhere on your charge wire, so you may want to consider making your new cable 8 gauge or better, with an inline maxi-fuse of some kind, just to be safe. I got my fuse holder ($10), 8 gauge wire ($1/ft), and gold plated connectors ($5) all at Radioshack. They have the large inline style fuses for the fuse holder in 20, 30, and 60 amp ratings, I believe. They should be around $4 for a pair. Hope it works out for you. I'll be installing my 125amp three wire from a 95 maxima sometime in the near future, so we'll see how well each setup performs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 are there any larger fuses? Dont I need a fuse rated for the same amps as the alternator puts out? Thinking I may go with the maxima or 240sx 80 or 90 amp alts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskrat Posted February 16, 2004 Share Posted February 16, 2004 I didnt see any larger fuses than that, they were origionally intended as audio fuses. You may need to track down a fusible link of some kind if you want to be extra safe with the new alternator. As long as you have everything else on the car on fuses or links I think you should be okay with just a straight charge wire, as long as you dont fully discharge the battery and then try to jump start the car with that high amp alternator you should be fairly safe from melting anything. You may want a second opinion on that one though, with the amount of sleep I got I could just be blowing smoke out my a.... tailpipe. On an actual wire sizing note, the chart that I've got suggests at least an 8 guage wire for the 90amp, and a 4 gauge wire for the 125amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 You need to do a search. I myself have posted in GREAT detail how to swap to a 95 maxima on this site TWICE. look in misc tech. and 6cyl forum. -Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 damn how long will it be until everyone figures out that the SEARCH IS NOT WORKING It's been down for weeks now while theyve been moving stuff over to the new site. Otherwise I WOULD have looked this up myself because I know from memory I've seen some great threads about installing better alternators, including the thread I started myself about switching to internally regulated. Dude... I'm approaching 2000 posts on these forums... I'm not a newb I know how to use the search function Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nismo280zEd Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 aight my bad... sorry i haven't used the search feature on here in a couple weeks i didn't know. My apologies -Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 damn how long will it be until everyone figures out that the SEARCH IS NOT WORKING You can still search manually!!!! Now,now...don't be lazy!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Not to ruffle feathers but, the search function has been working from the "home" page for atleast the last week and I just checked and the regular search is working aswell, although I couldn't find the post by Nismo280zEd. Even though I only have 600+ posts and I have been here for atleast 4 years( I don't care what the date says I registered) I do use the search function quite often, which is the only reason why I knew it was working now. I personally went with a GM one wire alternator. Ofcourse, with your removal of the factory external regulator(which I also did), three wire is your safest bet. After my installation I've read several sites that explain that a three wire is better for your charging system. Everything I've read points to one wire having the potential to fry your system upon total discharge and jumping off, as mentioned previously. I've been in paint jail for awhile now, but once she's back and I'm putting everything back together I plan to change to a three wire setup. Luckily, the alternator I purchased has this ability with relative ease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted February 18, 2004 Share Posted February 18, 2004 Tim - I have been! i've spent a LOT of time these last couple weeks manuall scrolling thru page upon page of topics looking for this or that... sometimes you dont really know just by the topic title though and I definately dont have enough time in a day to read thru every single thread!! spotfitz - kewl thanks for the update, I hadn't seen any post either saying the search was back up, I tried it a few days ago to look for an old post and only got posts for the previous two days. Thanks also for your input on the one wire setups.... man sometimes it's so hard to decide from conflicting info well I DO know I need more power, and I'm always happier to make as little change as necessary to get what I need done, so if I can get a 3 wire setup or even a higher power alt with the stock T plug I'll go with that. I'm sure I dont really need 120 amps... the alt was fine with the EFI, it only started strugling a little with the MSD ingnition and fuel pump... so I'm sure I dont need that much more power to compensate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed260Z Posted November 18, 2005 Share Posted November 18, 2005 I'm going to bring this back up from the dead. I installed an Early ZX Alt into my 260Z. My only problem is that it won't start making voltage until it gets to about 3.5K RPM, and it stops if the idle drops below 900 RPM. I followed the installation tips from Z Car Creations & ZCar.com. I rechecked my wireing a hundred times, and changed the Alt twice. Still can't figure it out. HELP? On a side note I want to change the Amp/Fuel gage to a 280Z Volt/Fuel gage. Has anyone done this with their car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 305240 Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 The most often overlooked problem for alts putting out low voltage and burning up is the grounding system. Or the lack of it. I've seen alts burn out in a week because of a bad ground. Many alts get replaced because of so called low voltage. The 3 way grounding system is a must! The battery must be grounded to the block. The battery must be grounded to the body. The block must be grounded to the body. Make sure each connection is clean and tight. I use the same size cables for all 3 connections. Anyone remember the early Z negative cable? The one with the body lug halfway down the cable that bolted to the body? It was there for a reason. Trust me on this. I've learned the hard way, having to buy new/rebuilt alts way too often until I learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted December 27, 2005 Share Posted December 27, 2005 I have the thing grounded like crazy. battery is grounded to the chassis and the starter/block. Anyways, it's been almost two years I've been running on a 280zx turbo alternator that a friend gave to me with unknown mileage and it's given me no problems. It provides steady power at about 1000rpm and up, below that my amp needle does drop a little bit and the lights dim, but not badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeiss150 Posted December 30, 2005 Share Posted December 30, 2005 Hey basstad, I just did a ZX altinator swap into my 240 wireing harnes. It is a huge difference. befor my amp needle would jump around like crazy and my lights would dim and ... well it just sucked... there is a great swap guide online that made it super easy to do. The online guide also gave the amps for the different Z altinators... early Z 40amps... ZX 60 amps ... Turbo ZX 70 amps. great thread ... now I'll know what to look for when I go for a 90 amp upgrade Rock on Z people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 yeah the car defiantely behaves way better with the ZXT alternator... the wiring to get it working is easy as hell.... before I did the swap I was having major problems with the external voltage regulator and was blowing rebuilt alternators like very 2-3 weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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