On my F350, I had the 55Amp model. I still had to shave a little off the 3G alt.

Trimmed the rear flange just a bit.

 

Subscribing...
I want to do the G3 soon and due to the fact I'm a computer restarted, I'll be asking where the note are.

 

I picked up another 3G alternator yesterday from the salvage yard. This one was from a 95 or 96 Taurus 3.0. It was an Ultima brand from O'Rielly's, but it looked brand new. It looks and should be every bit of the exact same dimensions as the Mustang one I had, but I knocked off a lug and then clearanced the bearing boss a bit and it fits pretty good. Still closer than I would like, but I sourced a lower mount for the large case alternators for the trucks/full size cars with A/C. Both brackets in a box as an accessory kit for either just relocating the alternator to the low position or for adding factory air with the instruction sheet. $45 shipped off of the auction site so I can not wait to get it in early next week. This gives me time to finish up my wiring since the rains have stopped for a while.





Hopefully they will (and should) work, but if not I'm not out a whole lot of money. If they do I will try and put the A/C setup back to factory mounts as the dealer add-on bracketry look hokey to me.

 

...that's the plan.

 

Looking at this pic reminded me of something. I remember someone taking two of the slotted adjuster brackets, cutting them in two one the slotted side longer and the other pivot hole side longer, then welding the 2 longer halves together to make one longer bracket. Or maybe he welded an extension in the middle? Memory foggy on this. Maybe it was Steve? I think he didn't have to clearance the back side of the 3G this way.


I should have known. Sorry Hio. I am assuming you got a few threads stashed to post all at once.

 

Updates!

Success! Well kind of and including some basic work reminders:
1. Disconnect the battery before doing any work on vehicles(especially when doing electrical related work.
2. Double check your work always before firing things up!

None of the parts houses had either a working alternator testing machine (or way more likely based on my observations) had an employee with knowledge/ability to run the machine to test alternators. I figured I would just pop the case open anyhow to clock it to my needs and I could inspect the innards myself. Pinned the brushes (this is a key part so remembers it) and disassembled. Looked good so put it back together and installed it.

Hit the key and nothing...oh shoot cluster should be in before doing that? Put it in and fired right up! Crap voltage gauge is reading almost all the way left when it should be to the right! Multimeter read 12.V. Shoot, it was dark, cold and truck was parked on the street so left it til yesterday. I only had an hour but the thought hit me the voltage regulator might be bad (no I still had not removed the pin holding the brushes in and no I did not remember they were still pinned!)

Good thing about the low mount alternators is you can reach/replace the regulator from the bottom without removing it. This is when I discovered the battery was connected and the pin was in place. One hell of a spark when I grounded that damned pin to the case! And this is why I always where my full face protection when under a vehicle. Damage control time! Disconnected the battery and replaced the regulator with a known good one from the parts bin. Bingo, fired it up and 14.4-14.5v no problem!

I am on the road right now so when I get in tonight I will post some pics. The gauge works great and the power is better, no more dim headlights!

The low mount for the alternator is great! The adjustment arm is close to the balancer so I had to make sure to snug it down, but other than that I love the look and low mount location. I also painted and cleaned up the AC bracket and idler/tensioner pulley. What a difference that made! I swapped out pulleys to prep for power steering while I was at it. I didn't have the right belt to run the small diameter one I got from Orich, but I had another 2 groove as well as the 3 groove crank pulley from Orich. Amazing how good they look. (BTW I blasted all the pulleys and painted them with VHT semi-gloss black epoxy rattle cans. That is my favorite underwood and suspension paint. If you follow the directions it turns out great and hard as a rock with really good adhesion to the blasted surfaces.

I know, worthless without pics, but that will have to wait til I have computer and can post pics.

 

Success. What a beautiful word. Congrats!

 

Great thing about having time on my hands in the car, I figured how to do this minus the computer!

Ok, here is a shot of the alternator low mount and install. The red line shows the power lead out to my mega-fuse. The lead is the original from the first alternator I picked from a 95 Mustang. The double wire is a fusible link on the factory lead. Used it just get the install done, but I get a little extra protection so who knows.


Red line again is the feed through the Mega-fuse. Orange is the Bat(+) feed from 12v switched power into the main cab harness for the converted Voltage meter from RCCI. It feeds from this fuse panel into the same C8 cab harness. (If you remember earlier this 3 wire section carries main cab power via BLK/YLW wire with a red and yellow that were the shunt wires for the original ammeter I had converted). The green line shows the switched 12v from the cab. I chose to run it out from the BLK wire 3-port connector behind the gauge cluster. Right now it is fed into fuse panel under the hood directly. Eventually it will run into a relay to truly turn on power fed direct from the battery this way the power draw from the factory harness will be minimal. All power from the fuse panel will be battery fed and relay triggered. Similar to the Painless Cirkit set up. I may even eventually go that route, depends on what cleans up my wiring to my satisfaction. I also have to leave room for the Hollister Road fan control relay, a dedicated 12v non-switched constant hot fuse panel and who know what else!

 

Here is the new gauge in action. This is the reading at 14.5V at idle. You do see a discernible movement when you speed up the engine, turn on lights, turn on the radio, etc. Enough to notice something is happening. When I first set it up and had the regulator brushes pinned, the 12.2V were enough that the gauge came off zero, but barely. So if you lose the alternator or regulator, the gauge pegs left. At proper voltage, it reads almost all the way right, with ignition off it sits all the way left and with the key in accessory, it reads only the power from the battery. I love the look of the factory gauge with a usable instrument in it.

I have a lot of straightening up to do yet, routing of wires, misc clean-up work I want to do. I like the placement of the mega-fuse next to the battery tray. I scrubbed the area and hit it with some Permatex rust convertor (I really like this product) and put 1/4" nylon spacers under it to give moisture a drain path. I will yank the battery and replace it with one from my parts truck I blasted and epoxy painted. I will treat the inner fender and clean it up then too.

 

This 3G wiring diagram has a notation about adding length to the slotted alternator bracket at the end of the bracket where it attaches to the engine. I took a different approach and added the length to the slotted end, where the bracket attaches to the alternator.





I didn't cut my original adjustment bracket. I found two brackets in the wrecking yard with the same identical component numbers on them as what's on my original bracket. I cut the slotted end off one of the donor brackets and butt welded it to the slotted end of the other donor bracket, to extend it out.

 

I did see that notation, and somewhere amongst all of the 3G installs I have seen a couple ones that had lengthened the arms. I was going to go that route, but so far I am happy with this set up and there is no belt squeal. Hmm could I justify to the wife the purchase of a welder for making the bracket longer? Let the plotting begin!

 

AKA...Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. ....on the other hand, do/say what you must to get the tools/parts you need or want.

Then again, does the Mrs. OK it by you PRIOR to everytime she buys a new dress, handbag, shoes, jewelry, etc? Probably not. It probably just shows up, unannounced, with no prior warning.

Fortunately, my wife doesn't spas about my truck parts or tool purchases and I don't have to get pre-approval by her for them.

 

The easy part about the truck is she was all for buying it. Reminded her of the one her dad had when she was young. The only caveat was keeping it looking as original as possible. No problem that just means sleeper to me!

 

Good job! glad to see it turned out OK.