GS Alternator Swap
Okay, so let's get down to it. We all know or have heard of this upgrade. As it says the in the 4-cyl FAQ under the swappable parts thread:
Swapping 60Amp (RS) for 90Amp (GS) alternator:
I notice a couple of weeks a go, on my friend Ron'sProtege that the engine RPM's would change each time the lights flashed when the emergency flashers were on. The stock charging system was having a hard time keeping up to the electrical requirments of the car. I gave Ron my spare 90Amp alternator to see if that would fix the problem of the engine speed dropping everytime he increased the electrical demand on the car. He had to swap pulleys from the old 60Amp to the 90Amp alternator because the "B" engine use a V-belt where the "K" engine use a serpentine belt. Also the Mounting bolts attach from the opposite side. Once the alternator is mechanically installed the wiring just plugs in. Now with the charging system having more capacity it uses less engine horsepower to operate all the electric systems.
Boy,
this really is a stretch of the imagination calling this a "plug and play" mod. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother dedicating a section of it in my work log. And it kinda sucks to post threads asking about this mod and get bombarded with "RAWWR! USE SEARCH ROOOOOAR!!!" because if it was as easy as the description says, then that response would be justified. The moral of this post is that if you plan on doing this swap, have all the parts you need. If possible, use the mounting bolts off the GS alt, the RS bolts are too short to work. You'll also need to buy a battery lug, 4 gauge. So without further adieu, I'll tell you how I got this going.
PARTS
GS Alternator ONLY (no bolts, no pulley)- $15 (bitter sweet under his circumstances, but thanks Dark_Rider2K3)
Alternator Lower Mounting bolt from a Nissan Pathfinder [thread size M10x1.25] - $5 (Junkyard in Newark, guy told me to give him whatever amount of money, I gave him what I thought was fair)
Lynx 3/8" diameter 4-6 gauge Battery Cable Lug - $3.29 (Autozone)
Extra nut & bolt I had lying around.
ALTERNATOR SWAP
I won't go through the steps, it really is simple enough. I guess the only reason I was ranting about it is because it's not as easy as JUST swapping the two parts and I had to go to hell and back just to get the missing bolts I needed. As the FAQ says, you'll need to swap over the pulley, so no surprises here. The RS pulley has a nut and washer. When you swap it over to the GS, you can't use the washer because there won't be enough thread to screw the nut on, so disregard the washer.
Here is a pic of the old alternator lug next to the new one. The bolt where the terminal is supposed to mount on the GS alt is too big for the orignal lug, which is why I needed to buy the bigger one.
Here is a pic of the elusive lower mounting bolt, with the bolt itself a little blurry in the picture.
The one I got off the Pathfinder is longer than the GS bolt, but every other bolt I tried was too short like the bolt for the RS, and after spending the better part of the afternoon searching for something that worked, I didn't care that it was longer, as long as it worked. I have to mention that during the week, I went EVERYWHERE to look for this bolt. Autozone, Pepboys, Strauss, Advanced Auto, Napa, Home Depot, Lowes, Fastenal, Grainger and a few mom & pop auto and hardware stores, TO NO AVAIL!!
hence why I ended up getting it at the junkyard. Where as you can work under the hood taking out the old alternator, you'll probably have to go under the car to mount the bolt for the GS alt in because the bolt mounts in the opposite direction of the RS bolt, as is stated in the FAQ.
But you may be asking yourself, "Why not just take off the nut and use a different nut bolt combo?" Good question, that's because the nut doesn't come off, not without destroying it. It's not exactly welded onto the alternator, but it's held firmly in place, so there was no other choice, I had to get the correct bolt to make it work.
Here is a pic of the upper mounting bolt and the wires connected.
Again, the problem here is that you couldn't use the RS bolt. In fact, the bolt for the RS screws into the alternator itself. The saving grace here is that you NEED a bolt & NUT combo to hold it into place, because there aren't any threads in the GS alt to screw the upper bolt into, so this was painless.
And there you have it. I did this swap because my 20 year old alternator is starting to bite the dust. It started squealing this winter when it got cold. And even after the engine is warm, if I put electrical load, like defrost or climate+brake+loud radio, I get squealing. So this isn't something that you should do just for the sake of thinking it's gonna give you better performance. I did this mod as a matter of circumstance, and that's pretty much how I encourage anyone else who wants to do this to go about it. I mean, if you wanna do it just because, it won't hurt, but that's a half a tank of gas or another mod that could be more beneficial. Just remember, if you're doing this for the first time, get the proper mounting bolts and the new lug for the terminal. DO IT!
And it's kinda cool to go through other member's work logs and see the pieces I had when it was on THEIR cars.
