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- Jun 13, 2011
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- Location
- South Bend, IN
- Vehicle Year
- 1988
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 5.0
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- Manual
I don't know if you want to make this as sticky but I just did my 2nd 130A upgrade to my vehicles and I thought I'd share it.
My alternator went out on Tuesday so I had to park it this week and wait for the weekend. I took Fri off so i could get a jump on some maint I needed to do on the Ranger anyway. I went to the junkyard to pick up an Alternator because I'm cheap, and they want over $100 for a new one. I took off the old one to take for a core. In looking at it I realized that I got my moneys worth out of it because my truck has 172K miles on it and it was the original alternator...lol.
I found a good reman of a Bronco II with a 2.9. I then found a new for this run, 96 T-Bird with a 130A unit so I said what the heck and grabbed it too. I got to Advance Auto here and had them checked and both turned out good. I realized looking at them that the mounting tabs were off, which I remembered reading on one of the forum threads. OEM alternator has the tabs at about 6 and 4 o'clock and the 130A has them at 12 and 6.
So I went back to the JY and got the top adjusting bracket so I can extend the mount for the new one. Oh, a fuse holder can be had from a late 90s Contour with a 4 cyl eng. It's mounted on the back of the engine in front of the firewall. Snaps right off and has a 175A fuse. So I got 3 from other Contours...lol.
The first thing I did when I got home was to change the pulley, since mine was a v-belt and it had a 6 groove. I took the pulley from my old alt and the washer to see how it was going to go on. I trial fitted the v-belt pulley and it hit the housing so I had to use the washer or spacer that was on the old one along with the pulley. Worked great. There were only a few threads avail for the bolt but it went on without incident.
I mounted it up to see what all was going to be involved in extending the mount for final bolt down. The bottom mounting bolt went right thru and I left it loose enough to mess with the top mount. Because I need it for work on Mon and it was snowing out, 20deg all day today, I decided to just drill a hole in the new top mount and bolt it to the old mount. I adjusted the whole setup so it wouldn't hit the Intake Hose and tightened it down and it worked fine.
Now was time for the wiring, which is no really big deal. One of the plugs, the D connector, goes right in, no muss no fuss, the other connector had the 2 large Black/Orange wires and the small White/Black wire. I cut all wires right at the connector for max length. I taped the Black/Orange wires off and bent them back out of the way, I'll trace them and remove them later, like I said, it is 20deg today, even in my garage. I took the wiring harness from the 130A and clipped the white/black stator wire off, I didn't need anything else. I used a but connector to attach it to the white/black from the truck.
Next I routed the battery wire from the alt, thru the opening between the warm air inlet for the airbox and the fender well and under the battery tray, then I attached it to the fuse holder after I soldered a new end on the cut end. I mounted the fuse holder about 6 in from the starter solenoid. I soldered an end for the other piece and then attached it to the fuse holder and solenoid.
I then started the engine and BAM! The Batt light was out and my lights were actually bright. A far cry from the dim yellow lights that have plagued so many Blue Oval vehicles for decades. If ppl actually find this helpful, let me know and I can post some pics. I did this upgrade on my 91 5.0 Mustang last Spring and it still works awesome. Good Luck!
My alternator went out on Tuesday so I had to park it this week and wait for the weekend. I took Fri off so i could get a jump on some maint I needed to do on the Ranger anyway. I went to the junkyard to pick up an Alternator because I'm cheap, and they want over $100 for a new one. I took off the old one to take for a core. In looking at it I realized that I got my moneys worth out of it because my truck has 172K miles on it and it was the original alternator...lol.
I found a good reman of a Bronco II with a 2.9. I then found a new for this run, 96 T-Bird with a 130A unit so I said what the heck and grabbed it too. I got to Advance Auto here and had them checked and both turned out good. I realized looking at them that the mounting tabs were off, which I remembered reading on one of the forum threads. OEM alternator has the tabs at about 6 and 4 o'clock and the 130A has them at 12 and 6.
So I went back to the JY and got the top adjusting bracket so I can extend the mount for the new one. Oh, a fuse holder can be had from a late 90s Contour with a 4 cyl eng. It's mounted on the back of the engine in front of the firewall. Snaps right off and has a 175A fuse. So I got 3 from other Contours...lol.
The first thing I did when I got home was to change the pulley, since mine was a v-belt and it had a 6 groove. I took the pulley from my old alt and the washer to see how it was going to go on. I trial fitted the v-belt pulley and it hit the housing so I had to use the washer or spacer that was on the old one along with the pulley. Worked great. There were only a few threads avail for the bolt but it went on without incident.
I mounted it up to see what all was going to be involved in extending the mount for final bolt down. The bottom mounting bolt went right thru and I left it loose enough to mess with the top mount. Because I need it for work on Mon and it was snowing out, 20deg all day today, I decided to just drill a hole in the new top mount and bolt it to the old mount. I adjusted the whole setup so it wouldn't hit the Intake Hose and tightened it down and it worked fine.
Now was time for the wiring, which is no really big deal. One of the plugs, the D connector, goes right in, no muss no fuss, the other connector had the 2 large Black/Orange wires and the small White/Black wire. I cut all wires right at the connector for max length. I taped the Black/Orange wires off and bent them back out of the way, I'll trace them and remove them later, like I said, it is 20deg today, even in my garage. I took the wiring harness from the 130A and clipped the white/black stator wire off, I didn't need anything else. I used a but connector to attach it to the white/black from the truck.
Next I routed the battery wire from the alt, thru the opening between the warm air inlet for the airbox and the fender well and under the battery tray, then I attached it to the fuse holder after I soldered a new end on the cut end. I mounted the fuse holder about 6 in from the starter solenoid. I soldered an end for the other piece and then attached it to the fuse holder and solenoid.
I then started the engine and BAM! The Batt light was out and my lights were actually bright. A far cry from the dim yellow lights that have plagued so many Blue Oval vehicles for decades. If ppl actually find this helpful, let me know and I can post some pics. I did this upgrade on my 91 5.0 Mustang last Spring and it still works awesome. Good Luck!
