I decided to do swap my weaker 42 amp 1st gen alt for a 2nd gen 60 amp alt.
I read a few sites on how to do this but they were either incomplete or hard to understand.
So I decided to do a walk thru on how to do this. Its not that difficult and takes about 45 mins.
Things you need to complete this swap:
1. 2nd gen alternator
2. 2nd gen mount
3. 2nd gen alternator wiring harness (you can make your own but you really want the correct plug for the alternator)
1st step is to remove the old wiring harness and alternator (you can swap the bracket when your ready to install the new alt)
Then remove the external voltage regulator.
Once you have the old harness removed you need to have access to the 3 plugs. I ended up removing the radiator res and my power steering res, then unplugged the head light, side marker light and washer motor.
This allowed me to pull the harness over the fender.
Now with the green plug that was connected to the old alternator wiring harness, you need to pull the rubber boot at the back of the plug.
This will allow you to remove the wires from the plug. The 2nd gen wiring is different so what we are going to do here is change the wire locations and swap 2 wires into plug.
Here is a pic of the wires I changed.
Remove the wires from the plug. Take a small flat head screw driver and push it in where the notch is next to the female plug.
I will take a picture of this since its hard for me to explain it. You do need to push fairly hard to get the female plug and wire to come out.
Now your gonna need to cut the plug off that ran to the voltage regulator. This is most likely gonna be an oval plug with 5 wires running to it. Note: I believe the 83 has 6 wires. I will need to look at the 6 wire plug to see what the blue wire from it goes to. I believe its not used.
Once you have all the wires removed from the green plug, you need to get your 2nd gen harness so you can match up the location of the black wire.
The black wire is the only wire that is not cut or modified. It just changes location in the plug itself.
If you look at the picture above you will see that there is 2 yellow with red stripes. Those wires need to be spliced together. What I did was stripped about a 1/4" of shielding off the wire that has the fitting and soldered the other wire to it. The reason I did it this way was to keep the connection inside the plug itself. No need to heat shrink or tape it.
You will see the small white and green wires. Cut the ends off end pull the wires from the rubber seal. These 2 wires are going to get connected to the green and white wires that went to the voltage regulator.
The red and large white wires which went to the voltage regulator are now going to the green plug. You can see in the picture that I pushed them thru the boot.
If you dont have any of the fittings which will fit into the green plug then you can always solder the 2 plugs which were cut from the green and white wire to the red and large white wire.
Once all the wires have the fitting on them, simply insert them into the plug.
This may be a little confusing since I need more pictures but I believe you will get the idea.
Now the only wire which is not connected is the larger white wire that directly connected to the alternator.
The factory 1st gen has a separate plug and wire for this. It is the single wire green plug.
You can use the 1st gen wire or use the 2nd gen wire which is wrapped into the harness.
I liked how the 2nd gen wire locked into place on the alternator so I decided to use it. Tho this does take adding another female fitting to the 2nd gen larger white wire.
Imo its easier and cleaner just to use the original 1st gen white wire. Less mess and work.
Now that all the wiring is complete its just a matter of installing 2nd gen alternator and bracket.
The bracket can be a pain since 2 of the bolts that hold the bracket on go thru the engine mount. I just use a bar to pull the mount away from the block and inserted new mount.
From here just plug in the brown plug and bolt down the white wire.
I need to read thru this post and make some wording changes and add a few more pictures. Im still waking up.
You have any questions or comments feel free to post. Hope this helps out a few and is fairly clear and easy to fallow.
