High Voltage

I finally got around to installing the 3G 95amp Upgrade Alternator Kit that I purchased from PA Performance months ago. I'm not sure I needed to upgrade to a 3G alternator right now, but I plan to add a small stereo soon and maybe A/C one day.

I was able to wire the fat positive cable in the kit to the solenoid on the fender, along with other positive leads from misc items like my electric fan so it looks pretty clean. The alternator itself didn't quite fit in the intended space. The positive post on the back was almost touching the Edelbroack aluminum head... I took the alternator to a local alternator and starter shop and they re-clocked it for me by disassembling the unit and twisting the back half around. I didn't want the wires pointing up since that would be unsightly, so I had them point down. This caused the negative post to switch places with the positive almost touching the head, but that's Ok since it won't short out.



The electrical system now puts out 14.21v at idle without any electrical items running. When I turn on the headlights (they use a relay harness) the system drops to 14.20v. When the electric fan kicks on, the system drops to 13.89v and then immediately recovers to 14.19v. (Compare this to the weak 13.1v recovery I saw a few months ago with the 65amp alternator.)



This system uses a modified external voltage regulator, which looks stock but picks up the proper circuit, and uses the rest of the stock wiring behind the alternator. But I think (not sure) that the internal regulator on the back of the new alternator is operational instead. Also, I have the stock positive lead (and ground) hooked up to the back of the alternator, and my ammeter still works fine (so far!).

Gained a Pound Over the Holidays

For the brief time my car has been mobile, I've found that it's not uncommon for the coolant to overflow after driving and shutting off the car. I made sure that the coolant level was just covering the cores inside with at least an inch of empty space at the top of the radiator. I figured the radiator cap was in need of replacement, although it was only five years old.

When I replaced it, I found that the current cap was a 13# unit and the replacement was listed as 13# as well. This means as the pressure builds within the cooling system, 13 pounds of pressure will cause the cap's spring to let some coolant past the cap and into the expansion tank (on newer cars) or pee out the overflow tube at the bottom of the car on mine...

The replacement cap showed up and it was 14#, which surprised me, but the car hasn't overflowed again since I've been using it. So that extra pound made a difference. In the photo the 14# cap is marked with the number "14" on it, and the 13# cap is below with the number "13#" on it...

You Should Be In Movies...

I was on YouTube this evening and found a cool video featuring a red '65 (ok, looks like it's really a '66) and the song "65 Mustang"... Yeah!



And here are the lyrics.