landon1405

hey guys i got a 05 carbed 5.3 that i am dropping into a 89 fox and i am looking for some ideas on mounting and style alternators everyone is using. i am not going to be running power steering so i have some options i would think but i dont want to do alot of pulley changing to get things to align up with my stock set up but if i have to then i guess i will spend the extra coin to make it right. anyways thanks for yall input

bigchief52780

iTrader: (10)

easiest way is to get ls1 front setup. if you have access to metal, make a plate to use the truck style or your mustang alternator.

landon1405

I guess i am just trying to figure out the best way to mount it. If i go with the factory alternator my next question is does the engine or chassis harness hook up to the alternator. My car was already striped down, but i have all the harnesses laying in the trunk.

87lsttop

iTrader: (2)

If using the gm altenator it will hook up to the engine harness. i used a 3g altenator and made spacers and a bracket to mount it in the stock gm location on a truck bracket assembly. If staying with the fox you will use the fox harness.

landon1405

i am running a carbed set up so none of the gm engine harness is going to be used. so if i go with the ford alternator does it connect to the factory chassis or motor harness? do you have any pics of your set up that you could post up?

87lsttop

iTrader: (2)

The Altenator wires for the Ford come off the headlight harness I believe. They go straight to the Ford starter solenoid or power lug for your body harness

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

Mounted a denso alt off a celica off the side of the head. I'm carb'd also so no harness to speak of. Ran the sense wire to the charge light in the dash, a voltage sense wire to the fuse box and an exciter wire to a switched line.

87lsttop

iTrader: (2)

Here are a few pics of my setup with the bracket I made. I have a 2gauge wire with inline fuse going from the alt my power lug on the drivers fenderwell. It normally went to the ford starter solenoid but I scrapped it.

cruisin'73

iTrader: (8)

Here is a pic of what I came up with for my carb'd 5.3 swap into my 73 Nova. I am not running power steering either and wanted a simply clean FEAD. It is a truck alt, in an F-body bracket mounted to the head with via the triangular bracket I designed. My belt routing is very close to PopNWood's, but my alt is just higher. Let me know if you are interested I had my machinist buddy make an extra bracket so I have a spare in aluminum.

psiconversion

iTrader: (5)

Nice Bracket!

Jon
PSI

87lsttop

iTrader: (2)

yea thats a very clean design. Good job on that

landon1405

thanks guys for the posts this is a major help in me deciding on which way i should go. i am really liking the fbody mount up high looks very clean. i might have to hit you up on the bracket!

cruisin'73

iTrader: (8)

Thanks Jon, means a lot coming from you.

Thank you as well 87'.

I try to employee the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid!

The only problem I have run into with it to this point is that the alt was not grounded to the block through the painted alt body, painted F-body bracket and my painted bracket! so I had to go in and use a gasket scrapper and sandpaper to create a ground path to the alt body. Now 14.5V for everyone!

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

Keep in mind vette vs. F body vs. truck belt spacing. The truck accessories put the belt a full inch and a half farther from the block than the vette stuff. I'm guessing cruisin73's nice set up has truck accessories so his adapter bracket is probably 3/4 inch thick to move the F body bracket out the correct amount. If you had vette accessories you would need to get rid of the adapter bracket and machine 3/4 inch off the F body bracket. So wouldn't work for that.

I do wonder about flexing with only two bolts directly above and below each other holding the F body bracket in place. Only reason I say that is I had a belt that was a tad too short with my original bracket. The the excess belt tension ended up cracking the bracket. My first impression is it would be nice to triangulate the alternator bolts in some way, but if it has been running awhile then I guess it is good to go.

cruisin'73

iTrader: (8)

You are correct, I am using truck accessories and spacing, hence the bracket is 3/4" thick to align the F-body bracket.

I have the same concern for the design, that flexing in the bracket may over time lead to belt misalignment and possible fatigue failure. So far I only have about 1hr of run time on this setup. hardly long-term proven. I am considering adding a strut with spherical rod ends, and reverse thread center rod to add a triagulation to the bracket. Time will tell if this is neccesary.

landon1405

well if it means much i actually looked at my buddys sbc s10 last night and his alternator set up is a 2 bolt set up and look super cheesy and has held up for years of abuse. yours looks a thousand times better so i am pretty confident yours should do good if its torqed down good. adding a little extra support never hurts though just for that piece of mind.

1981TA

iTrader: (7)

I went with a GM alternator, connected the chassis harness on my car. If you do this, you'll need to put a resistor in one of the connectors. See the pic below.