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3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

[SIZE="5"]***************EDIT 29sep07- go directly to post #50 and 49 for final draft. Everything prior to post 49 is fyi only.[/SIZE]

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #1
For asking sake, I'd do one of a 83-86, then all the T/c's, then 87-88 cars. Should cover all the bases

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #2
generally speaking, i dont see why there would be much of a difference ,, i never took a close look at the tc charge but id recon they are duplicates.

what was your issue?

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #3
Mine, I forgot to hook up a wire and it's still not charging. That and my battery light is still on.

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #4
The difference is that older cars originally had an external regulator. Still an easy install, though - you just disconnect the external regulator entirely, run the green/red stripe to the 3G's regulator plug as shown in your diagram, and wire the rest as shown.

That diagram looks familiar, BTW - almost looks like one I made up a while ago:


:D
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #5
Carm, on the Black with orange, is it from the battery to the alt, or from the black and orange wire already in the car to the battery. Thats where I got lost at. I just don't wana hook it to the wrong place

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #6
The black wire with orange stripe is already in the car. I dunno about external regulator alternators, but the 2G found in 86-88's has that black wire in a plug on the alt instead of bolted to a stud. There are actually two black/orange  wires in that plug, but they are spliced together a few inches back in the harness. Ford decided it would be better to split the current between two terminals instead of one to prevent overheating and possibly a fire. Didn't work. Even with two terminals they're pr0ne to fire.

If you use a large enough wire (6 gauge or better) from the output stud of the alternator to the battery you don't really need to connect that black/orange wire at all (which is why I put "optional" in the diagram). I did it anyway - it's there, and it doesn't take a lot of effort to put a ring terminal on it...

I don't have a pic of the setup in my current car, but here it is in my old '87 Sport (the alternator isn't fully bolted in in the pic - the top bolt is out and the alt is rotated out to where the air cleaner would be to make showing the wiring easier).

You can see the original black/orange wire attached to the stud (approaching it from the bottom) as well as the 6-gauge wire (approaching the stud from the top, with loom on it). You can also see the aluminum filings from where I had to grind a bit off the bracket to fit the physically larger 3G into the bracket.

Note that in this pic I don't have the yellow regulator wire looped directly to the output lug on the alternator, as in the wiring diagram above. That's because, IIRC, I made that diagram up for a 1G (external regulator) to 3G swap. When you've got the 2G alt you can leave the yellow wire as it is and only loop the white/black wire to the "S" terminal on the alternator body
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #7
So just this then, for my 84 atleast...
I dont have a small yellow wire, but a orande and blue one. and insted of the big red wire you have on there, I used the yellow/white wire from the tarus on there.

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #8
Looks good to me
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #9
Aight, have it perminatly mounted tomorow after I scrounge up a coil

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #10
Is doing the yellow wire like above recommended?

I'm getting a huge overcharging state with my alternator, so I got it replaced and the replacement overcharges exactly the same. The voltage sensing wire reads the same voltage as the output (up to 15.1v(!), with the minimum around 14.6 unless all accessories are on, electric fan, at idle) so I'm assuming I need to ditch NAPA's alternators (lifetime warranty/replacement) for a good PA Performance one. Ignition on wire is a little lower, but not much. I double-checked the wiring and its wired up right (both by color and pin/wire testing with multimeter), but why does it seem like perhaps its regulating on the ignition wire?
1988 Thunderbird Sport

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #11
The yellow wire should be connected directly to battery voltage, and that BAT terminal is the closest place to get it. Ford regulators switch on the ground side, and that yellow wire provides the positive to the field. It has nothing to do with sensing - that's what the white/black wire does.

Are you sure it's overcharging? 14.6-15.1 is a bit high, but not completely out of the question, especially if you've got a dirty connection somewhere (corroded battery terminal, f'rinstance), or a weak battery (if the battery is struggling to take a charge the alt will put out more power).

It is highly possible your multimeter is reading high - I've got one that shows 17 volts on my 13.8 volt regulated power supply (I've checked it with other meters and it shows 13.8 volts)

And, of course, it's highly possible that your NAPA alternators were both . They use very cheap regulators, and multiple failures is not uncommon (just ask Eric)
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #12
For the record, here's the factory wiring diagram for a 3G as installed in a '95 Mustang. The diagrams Scott and I posted above are essentially the same thing, but much easier to read:
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #13
Quote
multiple failures is not uncommon (just ask Eric)

LOL Don't get me started. Between  alternators and  Optima batteries, I don't know whose head to start bashing in first...

Yeah, I can post this stuff on the site. Thanks for the effort guys!

3g install **go directly to post 50 for drawing

Reply #14
My multimeter's accurate, as is the digital one I added to the dash that got me seeing these numbers (Minus the voltage loss I get on the ground wire to the dash-mounted one, need to run a new ground - the wires read ~0.2v less than at the battery). No resistance between my alternator and battery (0 gauge ran), with very little from alternator out to yellow wire (will have to take a measurement again, but it was next to nothing). As far as I know, its either a py regulator or a bad battery, and both have been replaced with no improvement. Wonder if someone would buy my "lifetime NAPA" alternator w/receipt(s) from me for like $150 on craigslist :p Went for $250 or so, worth 1/10 that at idle output.

Oh, and I'm assuming a PA Performance one won't bog down the motor as much either. The NAPA guy was surprised when the "bad" alternator kept killing his machine, so he called in a replacement. The new one barely ran, pulling 10+hp from it at full output (143A or so). The new one seems to have less output at idle then the old (voltage dips more frequently) and at startup, for the first couple minutes, I get like 15.3v, before it drops to 14.8 for some time. Afterwards deciding whether it wants to give me more or less which seems to depend on whether I'm in stop/go driving (stays about the same or drops a little) or on the freeway (slowly climbs back up to 15v, old one also did this, reason I replaced it).
1988 Thunderbird Sport