Thread: Upgrading my alternator

Originally Posted by matt5112

Ha fair enough.

Go LSx

i'll be contacting u or 1800 on some more audio tweaking, I want to up my amp to a zx1500. I know my lights are gonna blink and low voltage will begin. with a HO alt. would I then need to do the big 3 to support the new Alt?

As far as I know you don't need to necessarily upgrade the big "3". Just throw a bigger gauge to the battery(assuming your amp POS comes from the battery) and be sure that that the battery is grounded to the frame properly. Apparently our vehicles maintain a ground from the alternator to the block AND the frame.

So by grounding the battery to the frame you don't have to upgrade the ground from the alternator that leads to the block and frame.

That seems confusing...so here's the link:


Grand Prixs Of North America • View topic - cant find The Big 3

Factory the engine has a ground for the battery to the frame and engine block to the frame, the ground locations are different but you can change them as long as the battery and engine block are grounded.

Example:

Engine block ground - to - battery ground - to - frame

Engine block ground - to - frame :: battery ground - to - frame


Either one will work but depending how you do the wire and length you could obtain more resistance then what you currently have and cause issues but if the grounds stay under 18 inchs you will normally avoid resistance issues. Now if the engine block wire does have to be longer then 18 inchs that is fine ASLONG as the battery ground is less then 18 inchs.

If you guys would like some pictures of the big 3 I have a few when I was doing the rewire.