Wes this maybe of interest, stock look, standard hookup, 100 amp. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33573&item=7953057027&rd=1
Alternator I just put a "rewound" alternator on my Mav. After adding a few power hungry items such as power memory seats, I figured it wouldn't hurt. I pulled my old alternator off, and took it to an alternator shop here in Forrest City. The guy put it on his test machine, and found that it was putting out 34 amps max. I asked him what we could do about this and after explaining that Ford builds their alternators with stricter limitations about rewinding, he said that I could go with a much hotter wound Chevy alternator, but I'd have to drill the bolt holes out, because they were smaller than the Ford mounting holes, and figure out the 1-wire installation. I told him that I'd rather stick with a Ford alternator, and he said that he would see what he could do. I went back the next day and he said that he was able to wind it to 95 Amp output! He also gave it a 3 year guarantee. If it fails within 3 years, he'll rewind/replace it for nothing. All for $20. My father and I have always taken our vehicles to him for alternator/charging needs, and he's always "done us right". Maybe you've got an alternator shop around there that can do the same! -Eric
Actually, there's a couple alternator/starter shops in the city here that have been around for a very long time and still do a good business. One that I'm familiar with was my first stop last year. The tech told me that there is little that they could do with a 5" case alternator because of the internal size limitations. The best that he could promise me was one with a 70 amp max output. I'd have to go with a larger pulley to put out any more juice at idle or low revs. I decided to go with the PA Performance part for sure.
BTW, to get more current from the alternator you have to spin it faster. That means a using a larger crank pulley or a smaller alternator pulley.
I put in a GM 10SI 100 amp "one wire" mated with my March underdrive pulleys. What a mistake. One time out crusing....I forgot to rev the motor up and was actually driving around without the alternator 'turned on'. Battery completely drained and left me stranded. I put the stock pulleys back on and hooked up the aternator to "3" wire configuration (main battery, voltage sensing wire, and ignition turn on wire). Now I have a good and reliable charging system. I'll NEVER hook up a "one wire" alternator again. All the auto factories use a "3" wire configuration for a reason.
The step by step install is posted under "Special Topics". You will not need to modify the pulley. At idle with no load, it was putting out in excess of 14.5 volts at the battery. With full load on at idle, this means ALL the electrical accessories on including all of the police lights and siren power on my car (sealed beam rotating/flashing lights draw a lot of juice), it was putting out over 14.5 volts. I used a good digital multimeter to measure the output. For those that are considering a larger output model than this, do you really need it? This model will max out at 120 amps without damaging the unit even though it is rated at 95. The tech guys confirmed this. A couple things I want to address. First, the amp light seems to work with the PA alternator and the OEM fake regulator install kit. If it will work with just installing it one wire, I'm not sure. The techs may have the answer if you call them. You can install it that way I was told by them. Second, they offer larger output alternators than the one I bought and told you about. They make upgrades up to around 200 amps for various vehicles. These are primarily for newer cars and those that want to put mega stereos in them and such. The case sizes are larger on the 130 amp models and up. While this may not be much of an issue for non a/c cars, it will be an issue if you have a/c as I found out when I tried to install one from an LTD. The problem is not enough room for adjustment of the belts. Third, if you opt for one bigger than the one I am recommending, make absolutely sure about the condition of your original car wiring system. You don't want to start burning out areas of your harness because you put through too many amps in a system that wasn't designed to handle that amount of load. FYI, anything larger than the 95 model will not be lifetime warranted. It was explained to me that they have had too many returns of them because owners have screwed them up by having problems in the cars wiring from installed items damaging the alternators, not because the alternators were defective. Few of these were professionally installed and neither were the aftermarket electrical items that the higher output alternators were needed to power.
I never had a problem with my one-wire (eight years now), but then I'm not running underdrive pulleys. You do need to maintain a minimum rpm for them to "turn on".
Fords have the main power junction on the left/forward terminal of the solenoid switch at the firewall next to the battery, so a one wire alternator can read the load without too much trouble. However, when you have batteries in the trunk along with a relocated solenoid, you now have the load downstream and now the remote voltage sensing feature becomes more important. Older bow-tie muscle cars have load downstream away from the alternator so they too can benifit from the remote voltage sensing. Often times the high amp one wire is actually worse and weaker than the stock lower amp "3" wire configuration because of the inability to read the load at a more distant location. You have a good battery charger, but not such a good load responsive system. Good article from Mad Electrical at; http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/onewire-threewire.shtml
