High output alternators
 

What vehicles have a higher output rating than the stock alternator?

Im looking to get the highest output possible

needs to fit a 5.0 block

Any input will help thanks

Short answer:

All of these Ford vehicles had the 130amp 3G

(1994-95) Ford Mustang 5.0L
(1994-00) Ford Mustang 3.8L
(1994-97) Ford Thunderbird, Mercury Cougar 3.8L
(1990-95) Ford Taurus, Mercury Sable 3.8L
(1993-99) Ford Taurus, Mercury Sable 3.0L
(1995-98) Ford Windstar 3.8L & 3.0L
(1991-94) Lincoln Continental 3.8L
(1992-97) Ford F Series Pickup
(1992-96) Ford E Series Van

Be careful there was a 95amp 3G, it's ok, but not high-power
Most of the 130amp 3G's will crank out 140-160amps.

Good reading here: Fullsize Bronco.com - 3G alternator FACTS

Why did they put 130 amp 3g alts in those cars and not in my truck. It has a 95 amp 3g and is a bit on the weak side.

Quit your whining... :-X19 I am stuck with a crappy 60-ish amp 2G alternator on my '92 F350. Maybe this summer I'll do a 3G upgrade :D

Best bet would be buying an aftermarket HO alternator. I think 130 will be all you can find in a junkyard.

Cause the cars have E fans.


Lol Quit your whining and hurry up and get you a 130 amp 3G. ;)

Why? Do you have lots of offroad lights? Giant power inverter? Monster sound system? It's said that high-power alternators generally crank out less power at idle than a factory 130-amp 3G alt, but will catch up and quickly surpass it as the engine speed increases - obviously do your own research on this, but keep in mind that if you spend lots of time idling or driving at low engine speeds then a 250-amp beast of an alternator may not be your best choice.

The most our setup (6 rib belt) will obtain from any alternator will be 180amp, this has been explained several times already, so the 3G 130amp alternator will be more than ok.

130amp from the above listed vehicles or a 160amp from RJM RJM Injection Tech » High Power Alternators

Much more and you're pushing the limits of the 6 rib belt as stated before.

And +1 for quitting your whining... I've got a 75amp 2g in my 90 Plow truck... :)

Why?

I had a 93 Continental, and it had a rear electric defroster, full power seats, full heated front seats, power windows, power locks, air suspension (electric compressor), digital everything (dash, climate control, etc), electric powered sunroof, motorized truck, more courtesy (interior) lights than you could count, and get this - FOUR ash trays, each with it's own cigarette lighter.

That's why it had a 130A alternator.

Not true. Mine put out 208 amps.

Frederic, that's a Lincoln for ya - if you got the money, they got the creature comforts and then some :D

Continuous-duty tho? Or just every now and then, for short periods of time? Cause on several recovery operations I've gone way over what my single V-belt is supposed to be good for without stretching it or even causing it to slip - I'd imagine tho if you and I were to full-field our alternators all day every day both your serpentine setup and my V-belts won't be long for this world... Of course I could be wrong about this, in which case do correct me.

well I got a small sound system, dual electric fans, cb radio, a couple off road lights, but im gonna get a bunch more around 8ish, i plan on hookin a winch up, and a dual battery setup. If i leave the truck for more than 3 minutes with the key in the on position (fans will still be runnin then) and some kind of acc. on the battery dies.
and i figured that its not necissarily the altenators fault for not charging the battery but wouldnt hurt from getting an upgrade either to run all that junk

.
86f150302 where did you get a 208 amp alt.?

would the 130 power all that sufficiently?

Your light output, what are you looking at, in total? I got right around 1kW, and I really can't imagine needing more than that... This would make for 70-75 amps of current draw alone.

The e-fans, think the most power-hungry setup I've seen was around 40 amps on the high setting.

PCM and stuff will be another 20 amp, least that's what it's fused at, so go with it.

HVAC can be another power hog, it's fused at 30 amps so use that number as well.

This means that under worst-case conditions during semi-normal driving (no winching) you'll need a 160-amp alternator. That winch tho, it's gonna rain on your parade, hard - the larger the line load the larger the current draw, look up the specs of the winch you plan on using and you'll probably scare yourself half to death, lol. This is why you need good batteries for winching, even the most powerful alternator can only supply part of the current needed, the rest has to come from the batteries. You can obviously alleviate the situation some by reducing the line load through pulleys (which you should always try to do anyways), turning off them offroad lights and the HVAC blower will make a big difference too, but even so chances are if you get stuck real good the alt won't be able to keep up with the winch alone!

So, my suggestion would be to get an alternator that still has a decent power output at lower engine speed, and for winching get another battery and make it a big one while you're at it.

heh, it wasn't as expensive as I "assumed" it would be based on the badge.

Back in early 94 I wanted to buy a road sedan because my job changed and driving 3-4 hours daily (round trip) and doing that into Manhattan with a crewcab was painful for a variety of reasons - parking, gas mileage, stiffness of ride, etc).

I went to buy a basic 94 Crown Victoria - the all American sedan. The 93 Continental I ended up with was the same price, had ever option imaginable, and was the same price because it was a demo/leftover and had about 5K on the odo. The CV I passed up, while a very nice car, had PS/PB/PL and that's about it.

While my friends often made fun of the appearance of the car (Grandpa car, Taurusnental, etc) it really was a good car. Comfortable beyond my expectations - good seating and excellent air suspension on all four corners, not just the back. The steering was tight and quick, the brakes I thought were far better than anything I've driven in years, and for what it was I have to say it was fairly nimble. Not corvette or porsche nimble, but nimble enough.

And it was a fun car to modify too, because there was no aftermarket support for it - so everything I did was fabricated over the years - even the block girdle and the main caps so I could cross-bolt the block :)

The one thing that tortured me was after all the mods, I ended up running Electromotive's TEC EFI system, but I couldn't remove the factory EEC because of the air suspension - it was controlled by the factory EFI computer - so ended up with this insane parallel system - electromotive running the engine, and the ford EEC thinking it was running the engine, at least just enough to articulate the air suspension.

One of those projects that in hindsight, I'd have done very differently.