1985 Toyota Alternator Upgrade.
On my list of things to get done on my truck has been to upgrade the alternator. Aside from the fact that the stock unit only puts out a very meager amount of amps, it is also very sensitive to water. And as such I have just recently killed by 4th. So I decided it was time.
So I started my research. I came across this site, LINK Reading though his write-up everything seamed in order. And this would be the reference for my install.
As soon as I saw the GM adapter for the 22-RE I bought it from trail-gear LINK
I found the 47294 alternator from summit racing LINK
Once everything was at my door it was time to start.
First off the new alt is substantially bigger
Then I made sure the mounting ears fit into the new bracket. Which it did. Only a small amount of wiggle room.
Instead of pulling the lower radiator hose I pulled off the dist. cap and the power steering reservoir. I did this in order to give myself plenty of room to work and see to make sure everything lined up correctly.
Then I unbolted the stock alt. and installed the new lower bracket.
Then while I had plenty of room to work I started mocking up some of the wiring including splicing into the stock wiring. I elected to make full use of the 3 wire setup. It is possible to use this alt as a one wire but I wanted to retain use of the stock charge light and volt gauge. All that is needed to do this is to separate the "L" wire (yellow) and hook it up to the "1" position which is marked on the HO (high output) alt. Then a small wire is need to go from the "2" position to the "B" post on the alt. From the "B" post a large gauge wire is run to the battery.
Once I had most of the wiring sorted out I installed the HO alt and upper bracket and tightened it down. Everything fits! not much room to spare but that's ok.
Replaced all the stuff I took off. And started the wiring at the battery end.
The wire supplied with the battery is 8 gauge. Which is probably a little small but I decided to go ahead and use it and see how it works. I did need to go out to napa and grab another 4ft.
I decided to run my charge wire along the firewall instead of along the core support in case I needed to access it.
The wire from the "B" post is run to a 175amp fuse. which is run to the battery.
Now onto the wiring that needs to go into the fuse box that is located under the hood.
Pretty simple first pull the black 80amp fuseable link and remove the stock wire that goes to the battery. *note leave the plate and just cut the wire. if you remove the plate you will find you don't have your headlights. Then move the wire that goes to the 40amp fuseable link to the downstream (fused) side of the 80 amp. Then run a wire from the upstream (unfused) side of the 175amp fuse to the upstream side of the 80amp fuse.
In this picture you can just see the 80 amp fuseable link. Pull the wiring that is attached on the left side and move it to the right. Then run a wire from the charge wire to the left side.
That's pretty much all there is too it.
Right away I noticed much more power and smoother running. The small 8 gauge power wire got warm after a good high-reving test drive but wasn't hot so I will be sticking with it.
A recommendation is to get the pigtail harness from summit for the HO alt. It will make your life much easier. I didn't but will be placing an order for one before long.
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