Alternative altermator

Charles Smith fonqueu at gmail.com
Mon Apr 7 20:03:03 CDT 2008


I swapped in a 99-01 altima alternator into my NX. I read on the sr20forum that it outputs 120 amps, although i was unable to confirm that. However, the installation was straight forward. It was a direct swap, I didnt even swap the pulley. The altima alternator housing is slightly larger than an sr20 alternator housing. The pulley on the altima alty is smaller in diameter than the NX2K alternator, but it falls in line with the sr20 drive belts. I still have the stock pulley just incase something unfotunate happens down the line. I have had it on for several months without issue. I picked it up at a local junkyard for $50.
The maxima alternator sounds like alot more work, since all of the connectors on the altima alty are exactly the same as the sr20 alternator.

Charlie
92 NX2K
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Mark Holden 
  To: SE-R List 
  Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2008 7:07 PM
  Subject: Alternative altermator



  Some months ago I mentioned that i was looking to adapt a 125A alternator from the 95-97 Maximas to my SR20DE.

  Well, it's done, and here's what I learned.

  There are two alternators used on the 95-97 Maximas, a 110A unit and a 125A unit, both I believe are Hitachi made.  I expect that everything I learned about the 125A unit applies to the 110A unit also, but I can't say for sure.

  First, a couple of links to some data sheets:

  The alternator for the 91-94 SE-R/NS2k and 91-93 G20 - http://www.vicic.com.tw/alternators/gva8010.htm

  The alternator for the 95-97 Maxima and 96-97 I30 - http://www.vicic.com.tw/alternators/gvhn11250101.htm

  The differences are fairly slight:
   - 1mm difference in the radius between the center line of the pulley and the pivot at the block
   - 2mm difference between the center line and where the adjuster bolt attaches.  
   - The pulley on the Maxima unit is 63mm in diameter and the SR20 unit is 70mm.
   - The connectors are different
   - The Maxima unit lacks a nice threaded hole to attach the ground wire
   - The post of the output on the Maxima unit is larger in diameter.
   - The pivot points at the front of the alternator is 13mm on the Maxima unit rather than the 25mm of the SR20 unit.

  What I did mechanically:
   - Swapped the pulley from the Sentra alternator to the Maxima unit.  It's handy to have a small impact wrench for this because then you don't have to clamp the pulley to remove the 24mm nut.  If you had to clamp it, you'd want to pad it well to avoid damaging it.  My HF 18v unit that doesn't have enough torque to break loose a lug nut was plenty for this.
   - The unit will slip right on, but because the pivot point at the front is 12mm thinner, there will be a gap.  What you want for this is a 12mm spacer with an inside diameter of 10.5mm or greater.  I still need to find something like this, I just put a nut in there as a temporary fix.  There is a sleeve that came installed incorrectly on the alternator I bought, that is on the other pivot point.  I had to tap it into place with a small hammer (or whatever was handy, probably a wrench :) ).  Because I used the nut instead of a spacer, I had to take off the bracket at the front of the block that holds the front alternator pivot in double shear and then reattach it after the bolt was through.
   - In order to get the adjustment bolt attached to the alternator I had to loosen the adjustment bracket where it bolts to the block, get the adjuster attached to the alternator and then re-tighten the bracket bolts.  This is because of the slight difference in the diameters of the alternators, and is only an issue at the far end of the adjustment range.
  - there is a 0.3mm difference in the location of the pulley with the new alternator, however, in practice, it doesn't seem to make any difference.

  What I did electrically:
   - Because this unit puts out such a higher amperage (my specific alternator bench tested at 158A peak output!), I added a 4ga wire that runs from the alternator to the battery.  I left the original wires in place (one runs straight to the battery, the other to the main fuse/relay panel by the battery), but had to crimp new rings onto them to fit the larger post on the alternator.  I also ran a 4ga 32" long pre-made negative cable to replace the stock ground.  Because i will be relocating the battery and I have a deep-cycle Optima bluetop, I just attached it to the extra terminal on the battery for now.  The battery will move, and in it's place will go a 1-into-4 distribution block.  If the battery was staying and a normal sort, I'd look at one of those battery terminals that integrates a distribution block.
  - Because the new alternator lacks the threaded hole for the ground, I took loose one of the nuts on the alternator housing (probably right where the regulator is) and attached it there.
  - I pulled a spare Maxima alternator at the junkyard, and took the wiring harness with it.  I cut off the last 6" and made a pigtail with Anderson Powerpole connectors.  You could also splice directly into the Sentra wiring harness, but I wanted to be able to swap back to a stock unit quickly (this is a race car, so things like that happen).  Each alternator has an S and an L terminal and there's a diagram right on the alternator showing which is which.


  That's it.  Works like a champ!

  The specific alternator I used was a brand-new (not rebuilt) unit made by NSA (ALT3205) bought through Rock Auto.  The build quality seems quite good for a low cost unit.

  -- 
  Mark Holden
  meh710 at gmail.com 


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