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Need some information

2K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  fold_em83 
#1 ·
Hello, I joined this forum to hopefully find some information on where I can find parts to upgrade my car. I own a 1993 Ford Thunderbird LX with the 3.8L 232 V6 (no supercharger), and it has air conditioning. I recently invested about 2K in having the transmission rebuilt, so it's more or less become my project car now. I bought the car for $500 from my parents, and my father is a mechanic for the US Postal Service so I am very, very familiar with this car's history and track record for maintainance. Despite the fact it's been in 3 accidents when they owned it, it runs great even with 160K on the odometer. You can barely hear the engine running at idle, and gets fairly decent gas mileage even in town. I have a laundry list running of mods I want to do to the car. The hood needs replaced, and it needs a new paint job. These are all things I am going to do to it once I return from my next tour in Iraq. The question I am looking for some information on is this: I recently installed a Pioneer CD/MP3 player to replace the factory stereo. This head unit has a high output of 50W x 4 channels, plus I have a Kenwood KAC-921 amplifier (100W x 2) running bridged to one channel in the trunk driving a 12" Alpine subwoofer in a sealed enclosure. Needless to say, I'm putting quite a draw on the factory alternator. I am wondering if a 3G alternator will fit in my Thunderbird. I have looked around on the Internet, but I haven't found too much useful information and most of what I have found is vague at best. I have a couple more things I want to do interior-wise (DVD player with flip down screen in the headliner for the kids), so I will need the high output alternator. Along with the alternator will be a bigger battery in the engine compartment and the stock battery will be moved to a battery tray in the trunk along with the isolater I will need to run this set-up. Any information on alternator upgrades and if the 3G will fit in my T-bird would be greatly appreciated.
 
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#2 ·
as far as i know, the 3G will fit perfectly fine in your t-bird. the problem however, is whther it will fit with the new larger battery in the engine compartment. this i dont know for sure. i would say yes, but im not an expert.
i just replaced the stock alternator, and battery on my '93 Thunderbird LX. mine works fine, and i have a new head unit, like yours, but a Kenwood, a Rockford Fosgate Amp (250x2), and 3 MTX 10" subwoofers in a single sealed box in the trunk. so i would say im drawing the same amount of power, if not more than you, even after you add the dvd. so i would think you would be fine.
but you should definatly look into the 3G, or the battery, not necessarily both at the same time though...

ill look into it for you, and ill get back to you on it, butthats my thought for now
 
#3 ·
Thanx, this is the first info I've gotten back on this. Again, it's gonna be a bit before I make this switch, but I am getting my ducks in a row beforehand. You said you replaced the stock alternator, so I'm assuming you went with the bigger battery and kept the OEM alternator, is that right? If so, what size battery are you running? I was toying around with the idea of a gel cell battery, but I prefer a battery that I can maintain (I don't buy into the idea of a "maintainance-free" battery, no such creature!). Thanx again for the info.
 
#4 ·
no, i just replaced the battery with a similar battery, no bigger one or more powerful one. and the alternator is same as oem
 
#5 ·
OK, another question, as I have continued some research on this alternator upgrade I want to do. I found out where some of my problem was, corroded battery cables. The car was acting up and in the process of checking the cables, I could take the cables and bend them and hear a crackling noise! Not good.... So a little elbow grease and some cussing and the positive and negative battery cables were replaced. (Who designed the 93 T-bird anyway? I got a few words of wisdom for some of the head scratching I've done when I find something on the car that just doesn't make sense from a design standpoint!) Anyway, the electrical system seems to run fine but I still wanna upgrade to give myself that cushion since I will still be installing a DVD player in the future. I found the 6G alternator at 130 amps and it would fit my needs perfectly. Again, the question is will this alternator fit in my T-bird? And, if so, are there any modifications I will need to plug it up to the car? I'm going on the assumption that a straight swap is not going to happen and I will need to have a different plug-in to plug into the wiring harness on the car. Ideally, I don't want to have to shave housings or order brackets or any other serious modifications in order to get this thing to fit.
 
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