Bolt-in EA series Alternator upgrade. Nissan Maxima alt installation guide.

[phantomD]

Sorry for the thread revival guys, I'm new to this forum.

 

I have done the Maxima alt conversion on a 1989 Brat (Brumby over here in Australia) and can confirm that because (and I verified this) the alternator is exactly the same size specs as the stock EA81 alternator, it fits fine and no trouble with the stock Hitachi carb/air cleaner/air conditioning compressor either. I simply made an adapter cable for the Maxima alt, nice and easy to swap the two over again.

 

Now for a little help please. I seem to have landed myself a dud alternator. Can somebody confirm that the 90A Maxima alternator should be able to handle a/c, stereo, headlights, blower fan, the works without breaking a sweat at idle?

 

Thanks in advance.

[renob123]

Sorry for the thread revival guys, I'm new to this forum.

 

I have done the Maxima alt conversion on a 1989 Brat (Brumby over here in Australia) and can confirm that because (and I verified this) the alternator is exactly the same size specs as the stock EA81 alternator, it fits fine and no trouble with the stock Hitachi carb/air cleaner/air conditioning compressor either. I simply made an adapter cable for the Maxima alt, nice and easy to swap the two over again.

 

Now for a little help please. I seem to have landed myself a dud alternator. Can somebody confirm that the 90A Maxima alternator should be able to handle a/c, stereo, headlights, blower fan, the works without breaking a sweat at idle?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

At what RPM does your Brumby usually idle? Did your stock alternator handle all of that? The Maxima alternator should definitely handle more than your stock one.

 

Jacob

[phantomD]

I'm not sure where my Brumby idles but it's definitely not a low RPM, about 800 I think. The electrical guys swear that the Maxima alternator is OK but I swear equally black and blue that even the stock 50A alternator seems to be working better!!

[renob123]

I'm not sure where my Brumby idles but it's definitely not a low RPM, about 800 I think. The electrical guys swear that the Maxima alternator is OK but I swear equally black and blue that even the stock 50A alternator seems to be working better!!

 

That's odd. Maybe GeneralDisorder will have an idea of what it is. The only thing I can think of is maybe your engine runs at that speed, but the alternator is not. Are you sure there's no problem with the belt, or maybe the pulleys are slipping? Either that, or maybe Maximas have weaker alternators down there. I never asked as much as you do from your alt, but I know mine was a definite improvement.

 

Jacob

[The Dude Abides]

Will be in the jy this weekend and check around for this alternator. Lookin to upgrade.

[Suba9792]

now... this upgrade on the ALT should in theory increase spark, which in turn could increase overall performance right? I know its not going to make it jump up to like say 120hp or nothing, maybe not even an increase in hp, but better ignition,fuel economy etc, now can it also hurt the system, since most of the electrical in the car (92 Loyale) was set up for 55a? please correct me if I am wrong I am by no means a Subaru guru. GD if it will be safe and help my overall performance(mainly lighting and gadgets) I will be please to have you make one up for my 92 Loyale!:-\

[GeneralDisorder]

It can't hurt anything in your car - you *should* add a seccond wire from the back of the alt to the battery positive terminal to protect against a dead battery attempting to draw more amps than the stock wire can feed to it. If any accesories you add are wired correctly and safely the alt will not cause any damage. The potential for burnt wireing is only there if you don't add additional wireing to carry the load of your additional accesories.

 

It will not change the spark - that is controlled entirely by the number of windings in the coil and the voltage supplied to the coil. It has nothing to do with the amperage capacity of the alternator. And in any case the stock ignition system is capable of igniting the fuel/air mixture with a 99.9999% success rate - which is all it needs to do. A hotter spark does nothing for performance if the weaker spark it replaced was already working at near 100%.

 

I can certainly supply one for your Loyale. Just let me know how many grooves there are on the pulley and I'll get one right out to you. I have both already made up.

 

GD

[eulogious]

Hello all,

 

Reviving the thread to add some useful info that I found out after getting one of the Maxima alts from GD (thanks BTW ). I installed this into my 1990 Loyale Turbo Wagon with A/C. This is the one with the A/C on the outside, and the alt in between the Power Steering pump and the A/C. It's a super tight fit, but it does fit I mean I can't get the belt any tighter because I hit the A/C, but it is just enough tension that it's perfect. It will be better when I buy a new belt for it here coming up soon. But if the belt was any bigger, I might not be able to get the tension it needs, it's that tight of a fit. But, it works great right now!

 

Pics!

 

 

 

I had to extend the two wires that plug into the alt because they are located on the side of the alt, not on the back like the stock one is. So they wouldn't fit without a lot of pulling and stretching that isn't good for things. You can see where I added wire to make it fit better. It's just because of the way the alt is mounted that you need to extended it. I also used heat shrink and dielectric grease to prevent corrosion when I did it. I use this method on all my solder connections in the engine compartment. I also added a nice ring terminal I had kicking around, and I managed to stuff both my new cable, and the existing stock into it, so that made it much easier to deal with. The stock ring terminal is too small for the new alt anyways, which was the real reason I decided to use my nice ring terminal for it. I will probably end up putting some shrink on it with some grease as well, but I think I am going to replace the faded old blue wire with some new wire this weekend, so that's why I didn't do it now

 

 

 

Here you can see where the wires go in at the side…

 

 

I also added some 4awg wire that I had laying around so that I wouldn't catch my car on fire So you can see the blue wire(the faded dirty one ) that I added for that…

 

 

 

So far it works great! While idling I finally don't have a huge voltage drop when I have all my accessories on, and my radio bumping. It's great! Thanks GD for hooking me up with the alt all ready to go! I would highly recommend any do this swap if your alt fails. Mine failed, so I decided to do it right and get rid of the turd that's the stock one and got a much better one. This was easy enough that there really is no reason not do to it!

 

I hope that helps someone else out! Thanks again GD!

[GeneralDisorder]

That looks really nice in there! Reminds me of the XT6 alt's. I like that there is no exposed fan on the Maxima units.

 

Glad you are pleased with it. That one is exceptionally clean and nice - must have been a recent replacement on the Maxima that donated it to us .

 

And I'm very happy to now know the details of the fitment with the outboard AC compressor. That is very valuable info and thank you for the pictures. Good to know that the wires need extending in that situation. For the EA81's at least I haven't had to do that. But I'm thinking it's very unlikely I will ever go back to the stock alt so I may just solder on the Maxima's connector - I did send that to you right? I was pretty sure I included it. I always cut the wires well back from the alt when I pull them and send those along with them.

 

I would get a 1/2" smaller belt and in conjuction with not being old and stretched that should insure you have enoug adjustment on the alternator to get the proper tension. Might have to roll it on to get it over the pulley, but such is the price you pay for power.

 

GD

[eulogious]

I really like it so far, it does look better. I am glad that it doesn't have the external fans as well, looks better, and is safer as well. I was noticing that it was really clean as well, so that's awesome for me Thanks for picking out a good one for me

 

I was thinking the same thing about getting a smaller belt. Thanks for verifying how much shorter. I will be replacing that belt here in a little bit. So it's good to know what I need to be looking for

 

Yes you did send me the connector, but I messed it up and broke it trying to remove the connectors that I didn't even need too Oh well, live and learn. So the connector is broke, but I put some new spade connectors on it and smothered it in dielectric grease, so it's good for now. I am going to head to the JY here in the next few days and when I replace the belt, I will add the correct connector. Like I said, live and learn.

 

Thanks for hooking me up with an alt! No problem with the pics, it's the least I can do to try to contribute back

 

This is an awesome upgrade, and I highly recommend it!

[ghost]

Im planning this upgrade tommorow. Just really want to make sure i got it correct. First, I get an alt from an 86-94 SOHC Maxima VG30 engine. Second, I swap my pulley onto it from my GL? Third, I slap it in and wire it?

 

Thats it? The pulley thing is all im really confused about. On my 87 GL, I should just be able to swap the pulley right? I see in the original posts needing a spacer to fit.

 

This is my engine setup too. Are my A/C and alt in the wrong spots? Compared to the pic above they are. Whats up with that...

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/6286/s5030086.jpg

[GeneralDisorder]

There were multiple setups for AC - some inboard and some outboard.

 

You have the idea - swap your pulley over. You will have to make the spacer under your pulley smaller as pictured in my first post.

 

GD

[ghost]

Alrighty. So swap my pulley and modify the spacer i should have on there to be slightly smaller. Is it just an eyeballing exercise to determine how far to cut it down? Im not familiar with the operating of alts. Are we cutting it down to even out where the pulley is sitting in relation to the belts position or are we cutting it down just to be able to attach the pulley to the new threaded bolt coming from the Maxima alt (like, is the spacer too long and cover up threads on the Max alt meaning you cant physically bolt the pulley on?)

[GeneralDisorder]

It's both - there won't be enough threads to get the nut on and it ALSO doesn't line up. Cutting it down moves the pulley into alignment and also gives enough thread to hold it on with.

 

Yes - it's basically an eyeball thing. Being a V-Belt it doesn't have to be perfect. This is not a swiss watch part. The most critical part is that the spacer be the same thicknes all the way around so the pulley doesn't wobble. When I did them by hand I would measure them in 6 or 8 places and mark where it was too high then take off more material with a draw file and the spacer held in a vice. These days I chuck them up in my lathe - run a dial indicator on it and then spin off the amount I want them shorter.

 

GD

[bheinen74]

there are more subarus around here in the junkyards than maximas of that era, so its not something i can do when i cant locate a maxima alt. too bad, my Brat needs extra juice with the cyclps and hella updgraded lights

[ghost]

Thank you for all the clarification GeneralDisorder! I only have a few hours at most tomorrow with my buddy to get this done, i like to make sure i know exactly what to do. The pulley i have is correct right? I see on the EA81 engines you need the double groove one. My EA82 single groove one in the pic above one is the correct one for my setup right?

 

My alt IS going bad i think, so i have to get the new alt on tomorrow. He should have plenty of toys to get that spacer down in size. Ill report back when done to report my results!

[GeneralDisorder]

You can use either pulley. You may have to make the spacer a bit shorter to clear the threads with the single groove but it will work. I've used both. Initially I used the two-groove because it's what I had laying around that happened to fit. Since that time I've used both without problems.

 

GD

[AWD TURBO!]

 

You just have to get the job done - you only need to make one. Even if it takes your entire saturday - it would still be worth it.

 

GD

 

lol my Maxima alt upgrade was a big improvement thank you

[Petersubaru]

lol my Maxima alt upgrade was a big improvement thank you

..and that goes for me too..

[ghost]

Me too now! We almost messed up putting the pulley 0n (striped the nut to hold it on but we filed down the alt shaft and it went on... phew)

 

Only thing we couldn't do was get the spacer perfectly flat but we got it close. Wobbled a bit when we eyeball it but tossed it in anyway. No noticeable wobble while running and it all looks fine!

[mudER wagon]

since im such a nub here to help me clarify i have a 88 gl wagon all i need to do for the maxima swap is change the pulley and spacer and fro the most part its plug and play?

[ghost]

Yup. If it looks like my engine setup a page back back you need to:

 

- Buy 86-94' Maxima alternator (off a SOHC engine)

- Remove the old GL alt.

- Take v belt pulley and spacer off GL alt, place fan and alt aside.

- Take 4 rib pulley off the Maxima alt.

- Grind spacer down from GL so you have enough threads to bolt on the V pulley to the Maxima alt. (try to make it flat. Perfect isnt easy to get, mine wobbled a tad but works fine so far)

- Bolt spacer and v belt pulley onto the Maxima alt.

- For wiring you need to remove the GL connector (leave the spades, just hack off the plastic. Mine were brittle as heck and snapped off easy)

- Hook up the 2 spade connectors. Make sure to get the wires correct! I used a pic back on page one to confirm.

 

After that, just get the tension on the belt and blot it up. Easy peasy.

[mudER wagon]

super dope thanks i noticed that after i read this thread that the stock alt does suck major eggs lol deffinately need a change

[Crazyeights]

Another successful alternator upgrade:banana: Thanks GD! I actually had the correct size spacer in the "alternator pulleys and spacers" box so I didn't need to grind one down.

 

System voltage seems to be MUCH more stable at lower RPM's than it was before. This is a SWEET upgrade. BTW I took one look at the mud puddle under the Maxima at P-A-P and went for the reman:grin:

[phantomD]

System voltage seems to be MUCH more stable at lower RPM's than it was before. This is a SWEET upgrade.

 

Agreed 100% and THANK YOU for the thread. My headlights don't even dim at idle with all the fans/stereo/ac turned on and up. Just amazing.