96 corolla alternator swap?

Hello everyone! I have a 96 Corolla 4A-FE 1.6L and I have some high tech
equipment in it that draws quite a bit of power. When I have my gadgets
on the engine idles rough on stop lights. When I turn everything off it
seems to be just fine. I was wondering if this could be solved by
swapping the 70AMP alternator that is in it with the 80AMP one that is
used on the 7A-FE 1.8L engines and of course the main concern: is this
safe for the 4A-FE 1.6L engine and it's electrical components? Thank you
in advance!

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 03:36:35 GMT, Mick <medianon@yahoo.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>Hello everyone! I have a 96 Corolla 4A-FE 1.6L and I have some high tech
>equipment in it that draws quite a bit of power. When I have my gadgets
>on the engine idles rough on stop lights. When I turn everything off it
>seems to be just fine. I was wondering if this could be solved by
>swapping the 70AMP alternator that is in it with the 80AMP one that is
>used on the 7A-FE 1.8L engines and of course the main concern: is this
>safe for the 4A-FE 1.6L engine and it's electrical components? Thank you
>in advance![/color]

Go see a local auto electric rebuilding shop, and see how big they
can go with an alternator that will still fit in the space available
and onto the same mounting points - you might find something that
drops and plugs right in like factory.

An alternator swap to gain only 10 amps of hot charging current is a
waste of time, see if they can find something in the 100A to 120A
range for you.

The engine can handle it fine if it's EFI, the computer can bump up
the idle as needed to compensate for the extra load.

--<< Bruce >>--
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

"Bruce L. Bergman" <blPYTHONbergman@earthlink.invalid> wrote in message
news:710751h67dh8qjil49n00o42rb7toodj9b@4ax.com...[color=blue]
> On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 03:36:35 GMT, Mick <medianon@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Go see a local auto electric rebuilding shop, and see how big they
> can go with an alternator that will still fit in the space available
> and onto the same mounting points - you might find something that
> drops and plugs right in like factory.
>
> An alternator swap to gain only 10 amps of hot charging current is a
> waste of time, see if they can find something in the 100A to 120A
> range for you.
>
> The engine can handle it fine if it's EFI, the computer can bump up
> the idle as needed to compensate for the extra load.[/color]

I would highly suggest not going to 99% of those electronic shops out there
that rebuild alternators, you're almost always going to end up with a dead
alt at some point or all kinds of other electrical problems . You might be
able to swap it out for the higher amp alt from the same car if it is the
same engine, you may need the higher amp alt bracket, though.

If you do want to have your alt rebuilt I suggest these guys:
[url]http://www.gostartech.com/[/url]

I started using a mkII supra 7mgte alternator, the mounting brakets are a
bit diffrent I use a stock pully and this alternator. I have not had one
problem with it soo far, my car stays up in the higher rpm band majority of
the time 7000-10500rpm I was buring out the autolight Autozone replacements
about one a week.

The supra one comes in two styles the 100amp and a 80amp. Try using a
smaller pully on it finding a smaller pully can be done by looking at other
corolla models from previous or next generation's.

Keeping the rpm up in the alt will keep the lights from diming and the car
from stressing. Obviously when the alternator is spinning at higher rpm's
its going to die much quicker. I have a 4ag in my car which is basicly the
same bottem end "block you have" in your car. Soo I figure if you use the
supra alt remember this...There will be a slight modification to the
adjustible alternator bracket on your car I had to reem the slide adjustment
bracket out soo I could fit my belt on of course getting a smaller belt can
be a remede for that also.

--
Enorym
[url]http://atomicinternet.homeip.net/xtra/myrone/[/url]
[email]Enorym@gmail.com[/email]


"Mick" <medianon@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7PI4e.15385$ZB6.278@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com...[color=blue]
> Hello everyone! I have a 96 Corolla 4A-FE 1.6L and I have some high tech
> equipment in it that draws quite a bit of power. When I have my gadgets on
> the engine idles rough on stop lights. When I turn everything off it seems
> to be just fine. I was wondering if this could be solved by swapping the
> 70AMP alternator that is in it with the 80AMP one that is used on the
> 7A-FE 1.8L engines and of course the main concern: is this safe for the
> 4A-FE 1.6L engine and it's electrical components? Thank you in advance![/color]

PS...GO JUNK YARD HUNTING anything made by nippon denso from 1985-1993
should work bring your sample alternator soo you can compare the alternator
shells for mounting purposes, and plugs.

--
Enorym
[url]http://atomicinternet.homeip.net/xtra/myrone/[/url]
[email]Enorym@gmail.com[/email]
"Mick" <medianon@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7PI4e.15385$ZB6.278@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com...[color=blue]
> Hello everyone! I have a 96 Corolla 4A-FE 1.6L and I have some high tech
> equipment in it that draws quite a bit of power. When I have my gadgets on
> the engine idles rough on stop lights. When I turn everything off it seems
> to be just fine. I was wondering if this could be solved by swapping the
> 70AMP alternator that is in it with the 80AMP one that is used on the
> 7A-FE 1.8L engines and of course the main concern: is this safe for the
> 4A-FE 1.6L engine and it's electrical components? Thank you in advance![/color]

Besides the physical size issues that may or may not be present, there is no
reason why you couldn't use an 80A alternator instead of a 70A. The question
is, will 80 be enough?

All of your stuff is rated in watts, but the alternator and battery are
rated in amps, so you have to do the conversion. Divide the total watts by
the voltage (12) to arrive at the needed amps. I would round up in all
cases.

Frankly, I am not sure how much stuff you can actually put on a Corolla,
that the Corolla can haul around town, and exceed the output of the
alternator. I suppose you could put in a subwoofer and power amplifier that
take more power than the engine produces, and add blender to make margaritas
....

In any case, add the wattage of the all of the accessories and divide by 12.
If the result exceeds 80, then 80A will not be large enough. Bascially, 80A
will provide enough juice to run 960W of stuff. The odds of running
everything at once is usually pretty slim, so you could reasonably run
perhaps 1200W of stuff from an 80A alternator, but you can't run all of this
stuff at once, and I think that any loads greater than this will leave you
in pretty much the same place as you are today. For example, you have added
the monster sound system and upgraded the lighting up front; you may find
that you can't run the stereo at night because the combination of the sound
system and the lights exceed the power output of the alternator.

What you are noticing is that the loads are drawing down the available
voltage because they exceed the power that is available. When the power
demand exceeds the output, the voltage drops. Power and voltage are related,
and when the demand exceeds the supply, then voltage is sacraficed. You
notice the votlage drop as rough running at idle. Frankly, if you were drag
racing with the subwoofer blaring, you should notice that your 1/4 Mile
speeds should drop off as well.

Just because you have an alternator that can produce 120A does not mean that
the wires will get cooked. What happens is that the individual loads on the
car have certain demands, and they have these demands whether the alternator
can meet them or not. If the alternator makes 70A, but the loads demand
100A, then the voltage will drop to about 8.5 in an attempt to provide the
amperage. Obviously, a circuit getting 8.5V, that wants 12V, isn't going to
work very well. But, if the alternator can produce 120A, but the loads only
demand 100A, then there will be plenty of voltage to run everything.






"Mick" <medianon@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7PI4e.15385$ZB6.278@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com...[color=blue]
> Hello everyone! I have a 96 Corolla 4A-FE 1.6L and I have some high tech
> equipment in it that draws quite a bit of power. When I have my gadgets
> on the engine idles rough on stop lights. When I turn everything off it
> seems to be just fine. I was wondering if this could be solved by
> swapping the 70AMP alternator that is in it with the 80AMP one that is
> used on the 7A-FE 1.8L engines and of course the main concern: is this
> safe for the 4A-FE 1.6L engine and it's electrical components? Thank you
> in advance![/color]

Thank you for the info. This was very insightful!

Best regards, Mick

"Jeff Strickland" <spamcatcher@yahoo.net> wrote in message
news:Z8udndlXSKKBg8nfRVn-jQ@ez2.net...[color=blue]
> Besides the physical size issues that may or may not be present, there is
> no
> reason why you couldn't use an 80A alternator instead of a 70A. The
> question
> is, will 80 be enough?
>
> All of your stuff is rated in watts, but the alternator and battery are
> rated in amps, so you have to do the conversion. Divide the total watts by
> the voltage (12) to arrive at the needed amps. I would round up in all
> cases.
>
> Frankly, I am not sure how much stuff you can actually put on a Corolla,
> that the Corolla can haul around town, and exceed the output of the
> alternator. I suppose you could put in a subwoofer and power amplifier
> that
> take more power than the engine produces, and add blender to make
> margaritas
> ...
>
> In any case, add the wattage of the all of the accessories and divide by
> 12.
> If the result exceeds 80, then 80A will not be large enough. Bascially,
> 80A
> will provide enough juice to run 960W of stuff. The odds of running
> everything at once is usually pretty slim, so you could reasonably run
> perhaps 1200W of stuff from an 80A alternator, but you can't run all of
> this
> stuff at once, and I think that any loads greater than this will leave you
> in pretty much the same place as you are today. For example, you have
> added
> the monster sound system and upgraded the lighting up front; you may find
> that you can't run the stereo at night because the combination of the
> sound
> system and the lights exceed the power output of the alternator.
>
> What you are noticing is that the loads are drawing down the available
> voltage because they exceed the power that is available. When the power
> demand exceeds the output, the voltage drops. Power and voltage are
> related,
> and when the demand exceeds the supply, then voltage is sacraficed. You
> notice the votlage drop as rough running at idle. Frankly, if you were
> drag
> racing with the subwoofer blaring, you should notice that your 1/4 Mile
> speeds should drop off as well.
>
> Just because you have an alternator that can produce 120A does not mean
> that
> the wires will get cooked. What happens is that the individual loads on
> the
> car have certain demands, and they have these demands whether the
> alternator
> can meet them or not. If the alternator makes 70A, but the loads demand
> 100A, then the voltage will drop to about 8.5 in an attempt to provide the
> amperage. Obviously, a circuit getting 8.5V, that wants 12V, isn't going
> to
> work very well. But, if the alternator can produce 120A, but the loads
> only
> demand 100A, then there will be plenty of voltage to run everything.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Mick" <medianon@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:7PI4e.15385$ZB6.278@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com...[color=green]
>> Hello everyone! I have a 96 Corolla 4A-FE 1.6L and I have some high tech
>> equipment in it that draws quite a bit of power. When I have my gadgets
>> on the engine idles rough on stop lights. When I turn everything off it
>> seems to be just fine. I was wondering if this could be solved by
>> swapping the 70AMP alternator that is in it with the 80AMP one that is
>> used on the 7A-FE 1.8L engines and of course the main concern: is this
>> safe for the 4A-FE 1.6L engine and it's electrical components? Thank you
>> in advance![/color]
>
>[/color]

"Jeff Strickland" <spamcatcher@yahoo.net> wrote in message
news:Z8udndlXSKKBg8nfRVn-jQ@ez2.net...[color=blue]
> Besides the physical size issues that may or may not be present, there is[/color]
no[color=blue]
> reason why you couldn't use an 80A alternator instead of a 70A. The[/color]
question[color=blue]
> is, will 80 be enough?[/color]

There is a reason, and that is the brackets may be changed, unless you know
something I don't. The alternator casing as far as I know are different and
used different brackets. This is the case with my 90amp on my '94 5sfe mr2,
which uses a different bracket than some of the other alternators made for
the same year, same engine and same car.

If you do go to a junk yard looking for an alternator be sure to take the
bracket with you.

"Josh" <nospam@anywherebutrightoverthere.net> wrote in message
news:geucnZsxjM9w_8nfUSdV9g@ptd.net...[color=blue]
>
> "Jeff Strickland" <spamcatcher@yahoo.net> wrote in message
> news:Z8udndlXSKKBg8nfRVn-jQ@ez2.net...[color=green]
> > Besides the physical size issues that may or may not be present, there[/color][/color]
is[color=blue]
> no[color=green]
> > reason why you couldn't use an 80A alternator instead of a 70A. The[/color]
> question[color=green]
> > is, will 80 be enough?[/color]
>
> There is a reason, and that is the brackets may be changed, unless you[/color]
know[color=blue]
> something I don't. The alternator casing as far as I know are different[/color]
and[color=blue]
> used different brackets. This is the case with my 90amp on my '94 5sfe[/color]
mr2,[color=blue]
> which uses a different bracket than some of the other alternators made for
> the same year, same engine and same car.
>
> If you do go to a junk yard looking for an alternator be sure to take the
> bracket with you.
>
>[/color]


I have no clue as to the physical attributes of the higher output
alternator. I was trying to explain how to decide if the new alternator was
going to meet the electrical needs, or not.