Looking for input on which alternator to buy for my 71 smallblock cuda with air.

I'd suggest the 78 amp one from late 70's (I forget the exact year/app) & ground (1) field lead if your on the old system & clean ALL the terminals everywhere including the ammeter terminals and seperate the bulkhead halves that have the (2) main in/out large wires (the lead from the alt and the lead past the fusible link) & ESPECIALLY clean those 2 pairs of brass terminals and you will b fine. A small metal bristle brush works on the male ones and a new male brass terminal works well on the female ones NAPA 725145 (might be 725147 I forget which) ~ 44 cents ea

89 full size newyorker. dual field 74-78 amp alt.

OK so then should I still add a big fat ammeter wire up to the gauge and then add a fuseable link on the wire back to the solenoid? I'm worried about melting stuff. I read Ehrenberg's and others tech articles.

personally, I would bypass the amp meter.
just put the two ends together on one post.

I would take appart the bulkhead as sugguested and replace the connectors, OR just pull those wires and run a straight through wire like mad electrical shows.

you can put a fusable link prior to going through the bulkhead connector as well.

Are you adding some extra electrical draws such as a stereo etc or just wanting a better alt than the oe '71 one? If you keep the stock ammeter needle close to 12 0'clock you'll b fine which means little flow in or out and I would highly suggest cleaning all the connections which is time consuming as they are 40 yr old

Yes I have 1500 watts of sterio amplifier, MSD ignition and just want brighter lights, etc. Used to pull a boat from time to time but probably won't do that any more. Most of the alternators I see like in Year One and such have higher Amps than the stock 37 Amp units. Thanks for the input.

Along w a better alt might consider powering all the additions w relays from the alt side so it feeds them right there from the source to elim heavy amperage going in/out thru the bulkhead which causes alot of the probs and adding a fusible link on the alt output stud 2 sizes smaller than the line ie 12 ga FL for an 8 ga line.

1500 watts alt, even being true, won't suck that ammount of power unless top volume, just some peaks accordin with dinamic range of music.

My advice is use a capacitor to keep safe the alt ( whichever alt you use ) to keep power to peaks

and with ammeter in line, feed everything from alt side, not from batt

Capacitors are a marketing gimick. They just don't store enough power or recharge quickly enough to be of any use on a serious system.

If your alternator can't keep up in the first place, how is adding another power sucking device going to help?

If you want some serious reserve capacity for your stereo or your hotrod, check out one of these.

They'll smoke any cap you try to put in a system as a bandaid, and start your car good too. Check out thes discharge rates theses batteries pump out. They make smaller ones too.


http://www.odysseybatteries.com/battery/pc2150.htm

Capacitor are just for the peaks on Stereos... like Bass bumps and they work as far they are correctly rated and set on the system. They are not THE solution, just transitory on some systems

Some ppl have though they ARE the solution and thats why could be considered as "gimick". They have simply his specific application. Lot of ppl OVERAPPLICATES those.

( something like add a performance cam without think on TC... or change batt for a more reserve batt without step up the alt too )

not ANY capacitor work, and they don't work to become on a CONSTANT source.

Anyway, a bigger alt is mandatory though