The Pony Car Project-More Power!

The following statement from Late Model Restoration's product page described the dilemma I was in:
"1986-1993 Mustang stock alternators suffer from small wiring and low output, and the power wire plug is prone to melt and even cause an under hood fire. Add under drive pulleys and running your accessories such as headlights, A/C or the heat and you'll likely see the lights dim and the battery gauge drop. Throw an electric cooling fan in to the mix and the stock alternator simply cant keep up."

My Mustang never seemed to have a fully charged battery. At night, when I would stop and the engine drop to idle, the lights would dim and the voltmeter in the dash would drop to the bottom of the normal range. Furthermore, even in the daytime, if I drove very far, stopped somewhere and tried to restart the Mustang, often it would grind over slowly before it would start. This could have also been a failing starter. So after Black Friday, Late Model Restoration was having a sale and one of the items was a SVE 130 amp alternator and wiring kit including a number 4 gauge power wire. The sale price was very discounted so I bought the kit.

Last Friday I installed the new alternator. Since it is physically larger than the stock alternator, I had to modify the mounting bracket by cutting a notch in the bracket. The wiring required new terminals crimped on and new connectors soldered onto existing wiring. Lastly, a new number four power cable with fuse was run from the alternator to the starter solenoid. It took me about two hours to complete the installation.

The new alternator puts out much more power. At just above idle, it now puts out about 14.3 volts and keeps the battery charged to 12.8 volts. The battery is charged enough now so that the starter spins the engine over nicely instead of grinding over real slow. Now, I can stop worrying about changing the starter!

 The alternator bracket needed to be notched to clear the larger alternator.

 The 130 amp alternator kit arrived with all the parts needed to install.

 The new alternator installed. Some of the connections are in a different location than the stock alternator. This actually allowed more room with some other components around the engine.

While I was at it, I also changed the instrument cluster with one from a 1991 Mustang that I bought a week ago at a wrecking yard. The old cluster had weak, faded out backlighting and the background paint was peeling off allowing light to bleed through. Also the gages did not seem to indicate properly. I don't know if this was because of dirt, a weak power supply or if someone had removed the needles and reinstalled them incorrectly. The new instrument cluster has bright backlighting and the gages seem to indicate properly. So far, it has been very worthwhile to change out the instruments.