220 Amp Alternator Upgrade

[Heywodja]

A few years ago I had swapped in a 440, and was using the regular mopar alternator, added the Fitech throttle body EFI, dual electric fans, electric fuel pump, electronic ignition.

Recently I have been having some issues with my 73 running all of the electronic components at low RPM, and really dim lights so I took my stock alternator to a local shop and had them make sure it was working properly, the went through it and rebuilt it and when they finished it was putting out a steady 70 amps starting around 1400 alternator rpm @ 13.5 volts. I am considering one of those electric compressor AC units and I knew the stock wiring would not cut it.

I called and spoke with Powermaster at length about their 220 amp alternator, 8-48539 and they assured me that the unit would work fine. The alternator is actually a GM AD244 which is supposed to put out a higher amperage at idle.

I pulled the trigger at Summit and had them send me one, it is a 1 wire alternator so that meant some electrical work was needed. I reached out to @crackedback over on the A Bodies forum, he set me up with the one wire alternator wiring setup which included a larger wire size and fusible link, an ammeter bypass adapter as well as a headlight relay setup as well, he included instructions for the electrically challenged like me.

First off, I am no sparky, but I can do simple stuff that usually turns out looking like crapola.

Alternator install went pretty smooth, had to drill one hole on my alternator bracket, and get a 5/16th aluminum spacer off the jungle website for the alternator spacing at the head where the large pivot bolt goes, belt lined up perfectly. So the wiring fun started, I went thorough all the engine and body grounds, opened up the harness and removed the external regulator circuits and un pinned the two wires that passed through to the alternator and added the firewall bulkhead "Y" adapter crackedback had made for me. I made a few calls to crackedback, and he walked me through everything patiently, I spent more time with the "as long as I am in here stuff" than just doing the necessary stuff.

Its basically a weekend project, minimal amount of hand tools and a drill. I ran by the alternator shop, @ 925 engine rpm it's kickin 120 amps @ 14.6V at the alternator and battery.

No more slow fan speeds, dim lights or weird noises from the fuel pump either. No smoke was released so I call it a win!

 

[Katfish]

That's a lot of juice, glad you got it going.

 

[Heywodja]

That's a lot of juice, glad you got it going.

The way I looked at it is there is approximately 90-100 amps running down the road with all the lights on as it was equipped, I was advised to double that so that the load on the alternator never gets more than 80% of capacity.The OEM was a heavy duty one and all it would do was 70 amps. maximum.

So me and my American way cyphered it out to get the biggest one I could afford and that would fit without a bunch of hassle. lol

 

[Challenger RTA]

It looks as you were versed on the install.

Very good work! smart move of the up grade for your needs. Just guessing. It looks like you ran the alt feed to the starter. That's good for for getting the battery state of charge where it needs to be. From that point where are all the accessories feed from? AUX fuse box? It should all be coming off the alternator feed same for feeding the fuse box under the dash.

That being said The ground need to be up to par.
The extra ground installed on the alt, cowl are a good idea. The alt bolts are the ground for it. It feeds through the motor the the battery ground. Another strap at the battery chassis ground wouldn't hurt. It probably be ok. Electricity takes the path of least resistance. What ever the output is, the same for the return for everything to work right. when there is resistance there is heat.
Very nice!