ford4v429

another 2 cents comment/opinion...

if the regulator or a problem in the field wiringwas causing overcharging, wouldnt you be popping light bulbs before melting wires? I mean if the battery is fully charged the alternator probably wont be able to pump 135 amps into it...not without a fire/'pop' anyway...but under heavy loading the alternator CAN pump out max current without melting the plugs off it. I dunno, but cant help but wonder if maybe the high current lead was maybe not tight enough (is it hard to get at on supercharged engines???), resulting in heat/melted wiring/boots etc...Id have to wonder if that didnt occur starting the problem or if for some reason maybe the crimped connection wasnt right from the factory...either way if it got that hot the cable willneed replaced anyway as the crimped connection is probably mediocre at best now, just from the heat.

exx1976

Ok, so here's the deal:

I drove to Sears and spent $200 on a nice Fluke DVOM. Why? I didn't own one, and was tired of doing everything half-assed when doing stereo installs and stuff like that. So I bought a good one that I'll have for a long time now.

So... Back to the car. Pull the inlet tube, remove the rubber boot from the alternator output, and WHOA! It's LOOSE! Like WAY loose. It was arcing back and forth. During the install, a stand-off was put on the alternator output post. This standoff allowed the output wire to rock back and forth a little bit as the engine rocked under load. So, remove the wire, remove the standoff, cut off all the factory heat-shrink tubes, blah blah, and the underlying crimp connector and wire and everything looked fine. The "melting" that I was seeing was just the heat-shrink boot and the adhesive and such that was under it. It was heating and oozing out of the connections. Clean all that up, new heat shrink on the end of it, put it all back together directly on the alternator output post, and viola! All better (for now anyway). Still wanna re-clock the alternator, and put some kind of protective something or another around the wires on the VR. I also would like to know if anyone makes a 1-wire alternator for this car, but since I can't even find a factory replacement, I doubt it.. LOL

phatphil

There you go, all fixed and not out any money for a new alternator.

ford4v429

cool- was hoping that was all it was...might want to recheck that crimped end in a month or so- heat can do weird things to wire, like start oxidizing under the crimp or something...

sevenleaf

You mean something like this?

My saleen inlet tube smashed the cable the heat melted the cable. Didn't mess up the alternator or battery just replaced the cable from ford.

I used a dremel and filed down the red piece on the alternator clocked the cable 90 degrees no problems since.

exx1976

Yeah, almost exactly like that, except mine wasn't quite THAT bad. LOL

Wow.. That looks pretty serious there, glad you got your's fixed up tho.

What ever happened with your tranny? Didn't you take it in to be rebuilt or something?

sevenleaf

I have the car and it's currently being tuned by Adam @ ST motorsports !
Transmission rebuilt by Larry's Transmission in California.

Should be up and running by end of business day today. I'm excited, Full rebuild with all new internals- new hardened input shaft, + PItriple disc torque converter, I'm told I can do 700 RWHP on this tranny with no problems!

drbobvs

Glad you got it all together. Definitely take the time to reclock the alternator. Not as difficult as it sounds at all.

exx1976

No, I know it's not difficult, I used to work at a parts store as a kid and reclocked them all the time. But, I don't have the tool to get the pulley off..

Actually, lemmie go email Brent/Dave about that now..