3G upgrade-how did you splice?

[NFGTragedy]

So how did you guys splice the wires. Did you solder them, tape them, or use connectors? The reason I ask is that I finished my 3g upgrade and have had nothing but problems with charging. I went out and bought a new alternator to replace the junkyard one I tried first and it seemed better but my gauge still runs down near the red line on the stock gauge. I do understand many of you will say the stock gauge is inaccurate but I dare to believe it is THAT far off. I tried next by adding another engine ground (directly to the alternator mounting bolt) and grinding down a bit for my body ground used on my battery relocation in hopes that it was a ground issue, but no help there. I am at a loss as to why I am having such a problem here with this... I actually soldered the wires and I just wanted to see how you all did it to see if maybe soldering them isn't the best method.

-BTW my water temp gauge no longer wants to work so I am also thinking that maybe my car is charging just fine but the left gauges(water temp / volts) have some sort of issue. I plan on checking it all with a voltometer later this afternoon.

 

[Daggar]

You need to run at least a 4 gauge wire from the power post on the alternator to the un-switched side of your start solenoid. If you're using just the factory wires then you're asking for trouble if you're more than a stock demand on the power system. That 4g wire should also be fused with a 200 amp fuse or circuit breaker to prevent a fire, should the alternator develope an internal short.

Do a search in this forum for 3G or just click on the "useful Techinical Thread Index" at the top of the tech forum. In there, you will see a link to a 3G installation.

 

[ALMOST STOCK]

This might give you some ideas on what to do also.
If you don't find what you're looking for after you go to the link to a 3G installation Dagger suggested.

http://www.mustangcentral.net/tech/alternator.html

 

[jrichker]

I am very careful to maintain backwards compatibility, so I did things a little different. The white/black stator wire gets the insulation stripped back about 1 1/2" in the middle of the wire & cut in the middle of the stripped area. Then a short length of white wire with a 1/4" slip on female spade connector gets spliced on to the white/black wire. Slide on enough 1/4" heat shrink tubing on the white wire to cover the solder splice you are going to make. Next all 3 wires get soldered together & the heat shrink tubing gets shrunk. When you finish, the white/black wire looks like a "Y" with 1 white arm and 1 white/black arm. I left the black/orange wires connected to the original plug and did not do anything to them. When you are done, the original plug still has all the wires connected to it and they are still functional. The extra white pigtail wire that you spliced, soldered in & covered with heat shrink tubing is just long enough to plug into the 3G without much left over.

I ran the 4 gauge wire under the front of the engine next to the 4 gauge wire for the starter power feed.
It came up the same path as the fuel injector supply lines, and gets bolted to the power output lug of the 3G alternator. The 125 amp fuse is mounted on a plastic panel bolted to the stock ignition coil mounts. One of side of the fuse has a 4 gauge wire connected to the battery side of the starter solenoid & the other to the 4 gauge power feed wire for the alternator.

I had some 1" silicone aircraft heat shield tubing that I fed the 4 gauge alternator power feed wire through and tie wrapped & clamped it in place with some aircraft cushion clamps. That provided the wire extra protection from road debris and rocks. Some heater hose could be used to do the same thing.

I have an additional 4 gauge ground running from the power steering pump mount to the common chassis ground being pointed to in the photo.

Picture courtesy timewarped1972

Apart from the grinding I did on the mount bracket, there wasn't much to it. Rather than just grind a notch, I ground the whole web back to the thick part of the bracket. It looks much more factory that way.

 

[NFGTragedy]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. how did you splice in the new connector (stator wire) to the old harness... did you:

A. solder
B. tape
C. wire connectors (barrel or spade/coupler)

I ran all the wiring and everything... I actually removed the stock black wires that used to take all the power and run it direct off the 4g wire with a 150amp fuse setup... My car was a 4cyl car so the alt harness was on the drivers side and needed to be extended also so I purchased a harness off a 94 which had the correct clips and all on it and was about 14 inches long. All I did was splice my fox harness directly into that using solder and tape. I was just curious how you all went about doing the splicing of the different connector... nothing more. Just to see if my way of doing it was any different and maybe a suspect as to my weird charging issues.

 

[8950HO]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. how did you splice in the new connector (stator wire) to the old harness... did you:

A. solder
B. tape
C. wire connectors (barrel or spade/coupler)

D. None of the above.

I used a 18-22ga quick splice connector to connect the stator wire.
Fast and easy.
The stator wire doesn`t carry much power,so I feel a quick splice connector is adequate.

My factory spade connector is there,I didn`t cut any wires.

An electrical engineer on corral uses this quick splice connector method on his website.
It`s worked for me.

 

[HISSIN50]

Maybe I didn't make myself clear. how did you splice in the new connector (stator wire) to the old harness... did you:

A. solder
B. tape
C. wire connectors (barrel or spade/coupler)

I ran all the wiring and everything... I actually removed the stock black wires that used to take all the power and run it direct off the 4g wire with a 150amp fuse setup... My car was a 4cyl car so the alt harness was on the drivers side and needed to be extended also so I purchased a harness off a 94 which had the correct clips and all on it and was about 14 inches long. All I did was splice my fox harness directly into that using solder and tape. I was just curious how you all went about doing the splicing of the different connector... nothing more. Just to see if my way of doing it was any different and maybe a suspect as to my weird charging issues.

Jrichker also noted in his post that he made a "Y" with the 3rd leg being the new wire to run to the new alt. He soldered and heat shrinked his.

I dont see an issue with how you did your wiring so long as nothing is crossed. I replaced the connector on my '94's alt and it was cut and paste (so to speak).

I'm not too hot on quick splice connectors in the engine compartment (Tee taps, scotchlocks, and the like). Vibration can make them prone to failure. If using one, I'd use a 3M T-tap. Another way to maintain reverse compatibility (like JR did, but without soldering) is to cut the stock stator wire. Put an insulated female spade terminal on one leg and a male spade on the other end (the latter wont be connected but is there in case you reinstall the 2G and need to reconnect those cut wires). Then use a male spade on the female you just installed and run the new wire to the single port on the 3G.