Fitting a Falcon 100amp alternator to you 1G pics galore

**chief tool** · 9-20-07, 1:23

Here is how I fitted a falcon EF/EL alternator to my 1G.

What it fixes...the problem whereby the lights dim at idle due to the lack of low speed current. Plus its a nice cheap mode as falcon alternators are cheap and easy to get

What it doesnt do, as yet you may not be able to use all 100amps as the fusible link is only 80amps...however this alternator will deliver 80amps consistently

First there is the issue of removing the old one...if youve already done this before, skip this bit. like any car with the alternator sandwiched between the block and the firewall its never going to be easy to get out.
First disconnect the -ve battery terminal
Loosen the belt.

See the access here from the right hand side :

I ended up removing the earth strap, the cruise control and the a/c pipe brackets, just so I could get my hand in there with cutting it to ribbons!

After undoing the ouput connector and diconnecting the input plug you can undo the bottom polt and pull the alternator out.
I found it easiest to remove it from the left hand side of the car.
But to the do this I disconnected the charcoal cannister, the speedometer cable and removed the fuel filter from its mounts.

I found my boost gauge hose and my non standard heater hoses complicated things as they used up space that I needed to get the alternator out

Fitting the Falcon Alternator:

Now the old one is out...I removed the bottom bracket to check the fit(you dont have to do this, I just proved it fits)....dont forget to squish the steel insert at the back of the falcon alternator back into the housing..I did this in the vise...
Its meant to come back out the right depth when you tighten the bottom bolt.

This pic show the falcon alternator fitted in the vise....note the bolt goes through from the opposide side.
Not only does it go through from the other side, but its longer and is a M10x1.25 where as the original is a M10x1.5

I forgot to take the bolt from the ford, when I removed the alternator off the car, So I had to reach into the parts bin to find a bolt that would fit...dont know what car it was off but it looked like it might have been an a/c bolt from a GC (having owned 5 GC's most of the parts in the box are GC bits)

About now you feed the new alternator back in the way the old one came out...but its bigger so its a tighter fit.

Now, the other down side of the bottom bolt going though from the opposite side is that its harder to get in...I found it necessary to remove the RH wheel and the plastic cover to get access to the area, and then found that the bolt wouldnt clear the chassis rail. I installed only one bolt in the lower bracket into the block...the front top one.
This allowed me to tilt the bracket down the slide the bolt in.

This photo shows it after it was done.

I then put the remaining bolts in to fix the bracket to the block

Next problem...the top hole in the alternator is bigger than the stock one and its not threaded.
Being an idealist, I chose the use a bolt large enough for a snug fit in the hole...an M10.

This meant filing out the adjustment bracket

Didnt take that long, only needed 1mm off each side..
I chose to repaint mine, as the original paint hade peeled off anyway after a master cylinder brake fluid leak previously.

Rather than use a bolt and nut, I chose to tap the adjustment block to an m10x1.5

I didnt have to drill the hole, just tapped it as is..worked a treat.

Here it is fitted

Note the belt alignment...I chose to leave the falcon pulley boss on, as I could see much value in changing it...there was still enoguh clearance to get the belt between the chassis rail on the front of the pulley.
plus there was no misalignent when fitted as shown

I measured before and after to check.

Now the electrical side...

The input plug fits straight on..bonus!
the output one...nup.
I had to cut off the original lug and crimp on a larger one...I put a dab of solder on it just to make sure there was good electrical contact...but you need a 100+ watt iron to do this.
No photos... I forgot to take a photo of this bit.

I connected it all up from the underside of the car, so I could see what I was doing...but you can do whatever suits.

Finally reconnect the -ve battery terminal....and assuming youve already adjusted the belt tension...fire it up

I measured the battery voltage at idle :

All good at about 14.5volts....which is about right for charging that battery (mine is a bit old)
Then a test drive around the block..with all loads running...lights, a/c, wipers and inside fan (it was raining so it made it easy) and no problems with the wipers getting slow at the lights like before..

Wish I'd done this ages ago...

For part two, we will see if the same mod can be done on a GC

**Lim@** · 9-20-07, 2:07

good job mate, and well done on the instruction guide for doing it, not enough people do them.

send this to a US mod to get it put in the 1g section and also in the important info for Aus section.

Karma

**CraZyOne** · 9-20-07, 2:51

Nice work on the swap. I did this about last year and its been going great ever since. In regards to the plugs and terminals, the stock plug slots straight in. If you mean the B terminal when you say output one, you can actually unbolt it from the alternator and swap it over from the stocker.

The only issue I'm worried about is the Falcon alternator pulley is smaller than the stock one and thus spins faster than the stocker would. It *might* work the alternator harder and it *may* not last as long. More heat or wear out the brushes faster or something like that, but to me that seems insignificant.

P.S. The Falcon alternator I got is actually 110amp

**GotF2TinGD** · 9-20-07, 6:59

well Crazy One you will have to take in account the size of the harmonic balancer on the mazda then on the falcon to say that one will spin faster then the other.

**rodhog** · 9-20-07, 7:47

Nice work

Just one little tip on overall speeds etc. Note that Gd1021's all models and Gv1021's run the smaller pully belt on the engine.

On the Gd1022's and so far I can accoutn for all Tx-5 turbo's - not sure about N/A's

all run the larger pully belt. it's quite noticable as it's larger then the A/C P/S belt.

my one didn't quite require that much but at the same rate I got it cheap and the guy who put it on won't tell me much but he can do the job in sydney for around $450. recod bosch alternator fitted.

**chief tool** · 9-20-07, 8:33

I didnt really think to check the difference in size between the falcon one and the stock one...they didnt look much different...
But I'll measure them both and calculate the speed difference, and post.

But in a "chugger" like the F2t its unlikely that it'll be pulling any serious rpm..so it probably wont be an issue...a bit like the falcon motor!

On an FE3..I might think a bit more carefully about trying to fit the factory pulley boss...

In saying that when I left school I had a daihatsu charade...before you laugh...it wasn't entirely stock...I ended up buying half the engine kit for the rally motors..so It used to pull 8500rpm....and I never touched the alternator...and the worst thing that happened...I changed the brushes a bit more often(twice in 100kkm)...but I used to rev it hard! you had to when there was only 993 cc to play with! but in a car weighing in at 680kG..I put [shizzle] on a few people (at least in the first 60ft).

**GotF2TinGD** · 9-20-07, 8:35

I am not sure what your referring too there rodhog but for your interest or anyone eleses the harmonic balancer pulley is same size as the turbo one..

im not sure if thats what your referring too or something elese

**rodhog** · 9-20-07, 10:22

harmonic balancer -pully is different between gd1021 and gd1022

**H3ff44** · 9-20-07, 18:41

what the alternator cost you? did you grab it from a wreckers?
i need to do a similar upgrade on my car but its an n/a. i might give it a wirl later down the track when my electrical issues get worse:P

**chief tool** · 9-20-07, 20:56

I paid about $40...its a guess, As I got that and a whole lot of other things at the same time and they didnt itemise the bill!

I got it from pick n payless in Syd...like most places where you pull it yourself, its going to be cheaper...and in my case I wanted to get some of the attaching bits aswell.

I have seen brand new ones on ebay for $250.

As for the difference in pulley size....yes I measured it and the falcon one works out about 15% smaller..so it'll be going 15% faster...not a big deal.
I have a GD1021...so if roadhog is right, then I am on the smaller engine pulley anyway, and my alternator would have been going slower than it does on a Gd1022.

I dont know how much difference there is between the two...but if you own a GD1022 it may be worth swapping the harmonic balancer with one off a GD1021 if you plan on doing this mod.
I only have FE3 harmonic balancers, and they look smaller again (but I havent measured them) which stands to reason if they are, as the FE3 engine revs harder.

turbs · 9-21-07, 4:52

fantastic work on this project !
The only concern i can see is how close the pulley is to the chassis as with engine movement / flex etc you run the risk of causing a arc if it does rub eg if a engine mount brakes etc
still very impressive well done

**fredio54** · 9-23-07, 9:10

thats pretty cool. what amperage is the stock unit? and i wonder what amperage my fe3 one is? i have no need for one any bigger than stock on the ute anyway. two bosch pumps and some headlights and coils and injectors dont use a whole lot anyway.

i wouldnt imagine the alternator would give trouble from being revved to hard. given that they are cheap though, you could just kill one every now and again and it wouldnt matter.

fred.

**rodhog** · 9-23-07, 12:33

70Amp is stock on all N/A mazda Gd's and Manual turbos
Series 1 autos has 70amp as well

Seres 2 autos had 80amp.

Fe's still carryied the 70amp. but later models carried the later redesgined wirring and warning light setep same goes for GV models - not updates were after GV1022.

**fredio54** · 9-24-07, 8:03

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f323/fredio54/alt.jpg

is the best pic of mine i could find. 70 sounds familiar.

if any of your photoshop experts feel like clarifying it, or you know the format of the label, ie, where to look for the amperage, feel free to make it obvious and let me know :-)

fred.

**rodhog** · 9-24-07, 9:47

From the look of it it's missing it, it's usually the 3rd line down.

will have 70AMP wirrten on it. It does not matter anyway it's Mitsubishi unit it fails easily and does nto make 70amp till it's at peak revs. That is the reason Ford used a larger main drive pully and mazda latter did the same because it was not charging enough for short trips and batterys were not lasting.

9-20-07, 1:23	#1 (permalink)
chief tool Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Age: 35 iTrader: (1)	Fitting a Falcon 100amp alternator to you 1G pics galore Here is how I fitted a falcon EF/EL alternator to my 1G. What it fixes...the problem whereby the lights dim at idle due to the lack of low speed current. Plus its a nice cheap mode as falcon alternators are cheap and easy to get What it doesnt do, as yet you may not be able to use all 100amps as the fusible link is only 80amps...however this alternator will deliver 80amps consistently First there is the issue of removing the old one...if youve already done this before, skip this bit. like any car with the alternator sandwiched between the block and the firewall its never going to be easy to get out. First disconnect the -ve battery terminal Loosen the belt. See the access here from the right hand side : I ended up removing the earth strap, the cruise control and the a/c pipe brackets, just so I could get my hand in there with cutting it to ribbons! After undoing the ouput connector and diconnecting the input plug you can undo the bottom polt and pull the alternator out. I found it easiest to remove it from the left hand side of the car. But to the do this I disconnected the charcoal cannister, the speedometer cable and removed the fuel filter from its mounts. I found my boost gauge hose and my non standard heater hoses complicated things as they used up space that I needed to get the alternator out Fitting the Falcon Alternator: Now the old one is out...I removed the bottom bracket to check the fit(you dont have to do this, I just proved it fits)....dont forget to squish the steel insert at the back of the falcon alternator back into the housing..I did this in the vise... Its meant to come back out the right depth when you tighten the bottom bolt. This pic show the falcon alternator fitted in the vise....note the bolt goes through from the opposide side. Not only does it go through from the other side, but its longer and is a M10x1.25 where as the original is a M10x1.5 I forgot to take the bolt from the ford, when I removed the alternator off the car, So I had to reach into the parts bin to find a bolt that would fit...dont know what car it was off but it looked like it might have been an a/c bolt from a GC (having owned 5 GC's most of the parts in the box are GC bits) About now you feed the new alternator back in the way the old one came out...but its bigger so its a tighter fit. Now, the other down side of the bottom bolt going though from the opposite side is that its harder to get in...I found it necessary to remove the RH wheel and the plastic cover to get access to the area, and then found that the bolt wouldnt clear the chassis rail. I installed only one bolt in the lower bracket into the block...the front top one. This allowed me to tilt the bracket down the slide the bolt in. This photo shows it after it was done. I then put the remaining bolts in to fix the bracket to the block Next problem...the top hole in the alternator is bigger than the stock one and its not threaded. Being an idealist, I chose the use a bolt large enough for a snug fit in the hole...an M10. This meant filing out the adjustment bracket Didnt take that long, only needed 1mm off each side.. I chose to repaint mine, as the original paint hade peeled off anyway after a master cylinder brake fluid leak previously. Rather than use a bolt and nut, I chose to tap the adjustment block to an m10x1.5 I didnt have to drill the hole, just tapped it as is..worked a treat. Here it is fitted Note the belt alignment...I chose to leave the falcon pulley boss on, as I could see much value in changing it...there was still enoguh clearance to get the belt between the chassis rail on the front of the pulley. plus there was no misalignent when fitted as shown I measured before and after to check. Now the electrical side... The input plug fits straight on..bonus! the output one...nup. I had to cut off the original lug and crimp on a larger one...I put a dab of solder on it just to make sure there was good electrical contact...but you need a 100+ watt iron to do this. No photos... I forgot to take a photo of this bit. I connected it all up from the underside of the car, so I could see what I was doing...but you can do whatever suits. Finally reconnect the -ve battery terminal....and assuming youve already adjusted the belt tension...fire it up I measured the battery voltage at idle : All good at about 14.5volts....which is about right for charging that battery (mine is a bit old) Then a test drive around the block..with all loads running...lights, a/c, wipers and inside fan (it was raining so it made it easy) and no problems with the wipers getting slow at the lights like before.. Wish I'd done this ages ago... For part two, we will see if the same mod can be done on a GC

9-20-07, 2:07	#2 (permalink)
Lim@ Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Melbourne, Australia iTrader: (0)	good job mate, and well done on the instruction guide for doing it, not enough people do them. send this to a US mod to get it put in the 1g section and also in the important info for Aus section. Karma
	1990 GD mazda mx-6 turbo 4ws, Td05H turbo, custom manifold, 2500lbs rx7 clutch, 18" wheels with 225/35/18 rubber, Short Shifter, super lows, KYB struts, CAI, Exhaust, twin pot Liberty GT calipers, walbro 255lph fuel pump, 18mm rear swaybar Traded With: Crazyone, Adamx6, Mitchyboy, TX5F2T, JeTx5, LXSS, SABBAI, Yodo, jesiotrot, zorb_rules, mx6t91, boki82, tomee, broken diff, adylim, my1stmx6, joe91mx6, sik_turk

9-20-07, 7:47	#5 (permalink)
rodhog Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: LAKEMBA Sydney Australia, Australia iTrader: (0)	Nice work Just one little tip on overall speeds etc. Note that Gd1021's all models and Gv1021's run the smaller pully belt on the engine. On the Gd1022's and so far I can accoutn for all Tx-5 turbo's - not sure about N/A's all run the larger pully belt. it's quite noticable as it's larger then the A/C P/S belt. my one didn't quite require that much but at the same rate I got it cheap and the guy who put it on won't tell me much but he can do the job in sydney for around $450. recod bosch alternator fitted.
	RIP WAGON 626 GV 1023 7 seat auto 10-5-05. RIP BA-ASTINA 323 V6 -KF P-plate victim 2-9-07 FORD TELSTAR TX-5 TURBO, 80's ICON RIP 01-07-07 REBORN WAGON -MAN 28-07-07 - A NEW START I am STILL addicted to Porn. "MXSIX" out

9-20-07, 10:22	#8 (permalink)
rodhog Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: LAKEMBA Sydney Australia, Australia iTrader: (0)	harmonic balancer -pully is different between gd1021 and gd1022
	RIP WAGON 626 GV 1023 7 seat auto 10-5-05. RIP BA-ASTINA 323 V6 -KF P-plate victim 2-9-07 FORD TELSTAR TX-5 TURBO, 80's ICON RIP 01-07-07 REBORN WAGON -MAN 28-07-07 - A NEW START I am STILL addicted to Porn. "MXSIX" out

9-20-07, 18:41	#9 (permalink)
H3ff44 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: melbourne, Australia Age: 20 iTrader: (0)	what the alternator cost you? did you grab it from a wreckers? i need to do a similar upgrade on my car but its an n/a. i might give it a wirl later down the track when my electrical issues get worse:P
	"Keep smiling, it makes people wonder what you're up to." Traded with : Txxx5, Sabbai, Zorb_rules, jesiotrot

9-20-07, 2:51	#3 (permalink)
CraZyOne Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 28 iTrader: (1)	Nice work on the swap. I did this about last year and its been going great ever since. In regards to the plugs and terminals, the stock plug slots straight in. If you mean the B terminal when you say output one, you can actually unbolt it from the alternator and swap it over from the stocker. The only issue I'm worried about is the Falcon alternator pulley is smaller than the stock one and thus spins faster than the stocker would. It might work the alternator harder and it may not last as long. More heat or wear out the brushes faster or something like that, but to me that seems insignificant. P.S. The Falcon alternator I got is actually 110amp

9-20-07, 8:33	#6 (permalink)
chief tool Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Age: 35 iTrader: (1)	I didnt really think to check the difference in size between the falcon one and the stock one...they didnt look much different... But I'll measure them both and calculate the speed difference, and post. But in a "chugger" like the F2t its unlikely that it'll be pulling any serious rpm..so it probably wont be an issue...a bit like the falcon motor! On an FE3..I might think a bit more carefully about trying to fit the factory pulley boss... In saying that when I left school I had a daihatsu charade...before you laugh...it wasn't entirely stock...I ended up buying half the engine kit for the rally motors..so It used to pull 8500rpm....and I never touched the alternator...and the worst thing that happened...I changed the brushes a bit more often(twice in 100kkm)...but I used to rev it hard! you had to when there was only 993 cc to play with! but in a car weighing in at 680kG..I put [shizzle] on a few people (at least in the first 60ft).

9-20-07, 20:56	#10 (permalink)
chief tool Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Sydney, Australia Age: 35 iTrader: (1)	I paid about $40...its a guess, As I got that and a whole lot of other things at the same time and they didnt itemise the bill! I got it from pick n payless in Syd...like most places where you pull it yourself, its going to be cheaper...and in my case I wanted to get some of the attaching bits aswell. I have seen brand new ones on ebay for $250. As for the difference in pulley size....yes I measured it and the falcon one works out about 15% smaller..so it'll be going 15% faster...not a big deal. I have a GD1021...so if roadhog is right, then I am on the smaller engine pulley anyway, and my alternator would have been going slower than it does on a Gd1022. I dont know how much difference there is between the two...but if you own a GD1022 it may be worth swapping the harmonic balancer with one off a GD1021 if you plan on doing this mod. I only have FE3 harmonic balancers, and they look smaller again (but I havent measured them) which stands to reason if they are, as the FE3 engine revs harder.

9-21-07, 4:52	#11 (permalink)
turbs Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 37 iTrader: (0)	fantastic work on this project ! The only concern i can see is how close the pulley is to the chassis as with engine movement / flex etc you run the risk of causing a arc if it does rub eg if a engine mount brakes etc still very impressive well done

9-23-07, 9:10	#12 (permalink)
fredio54 Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Auckland, New Zealand iTrader: (1)	thats pretty cool. what amperage is the stock unit? and i wonder what amperage my fe3 one is? i have no need for one any bigger than stock on the ute anyway. two bosch pumps and some headlights and coils and injectors dont use a whole lot anyway. i wouldnt imagine the alternator would give trouble from being revved to hard. given that they are cheap though, you could just kill one every now and again and it wouldnt matter. fred.
	DIYEFI.org - TRUE DIY engine management Mazda FE3/FE-DOHC Master Index Thread (work in progress) Mazda truck with FE-DOHC/FE3 "BIG like your house" Holset Turbo drinking 2.2 litres of fuel per minute ~= 385hp crank RIP SleepCounter :-( we will miss you! - RIP fredio54 :-( will we miss you?

9-23-07, 12:33	#13 (permalink)
rodhog Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: LAKEMBA Sydney Australia, Australia iTrader: (0)	70Amp is stock on all N/A mazda Gd's and Manual turbos Series 1 autos has 70amp as well Seres 2 autos had 80amp. Fe's still carryied the 70amp. but later models carried the later redesgined wirring and warning light setep same goes for GV models - not updates were after GV1022.
	RIP WAGON 626 GV 1023 7 seat auto 10-5-05. RIP BA-ASTINA 323 V6 -KF P-plate victim 2-9-07 FORD TELSTAR TX-5 TURBO, 80's ICON RIP 01-07-07 REBORN WAGON -MAN 28-07-07 - A NEW START I am STILL addicted to Porn. "MXSIX" out

9-24-07, 8:03	#14 (permalink)
fredio54 Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Auckland, New Zealand iTrader: (1)	http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f323/fredio54/alt.jpg is the best pic of mine i could find. 70 sounds familiar. if any of your photoshop experts feel like clarifying it, or you know the format of the label, ie, where to look for the amperage, feel free to make it obvious and let me know :-) fred.
	DIYEFI.org - TRUE DIY engine management Mazda FE3/FE-DOHC Master Index Thread (work in progress) Mazda truck with FE-DOHC/FE3 "BIG like your house" Holset Turbo drinking 2.2 litres of fuel per minute ~= 385hp crank RIP SleepCounter :-( we will miss you! - RIP fredio54 :-( will we miss you?

9-24-07, 9:47	#15 (permalink)
rodhog Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: LAKEMBA Sydney Australia, Australia iTrader: (0)	From the look of it it's missing it, it's usually the 3rd line down. will have 70AMP wirrten on it. It does not matter anyway it's Mitsubishi unit it fails easily and does nto make 70amp till it's at peak revs. That is the reason Ford used a larger main drive pully and mazda latter did the same because it was not charging enough for short trips and batterys were not lasting.
	RIP WAGON 626 GV 1023 7 seat auto 10-5-05. RIP BA-ASTINA 323 V6 -KF P-plate victim 2-9-07 FORD TELSTAR TX-5 TURBO, 80's ICON RIP 01-07-07 REBORN WAGON -MAN 28-07-07 - A NEW START I am STILL addicted to Porn. "MXSIX" out