Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

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ga.spyder
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Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:19 pm
Your car is a: 1982 Spider 2000
Location: Blairsville ,Ga.

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by ga.spyder »

I saw a couple Escorts at a junkyard here yesterday.I am going to see if there is an alternator there.We are looking forward to the tutorial,sptcoupe.And thanks for bringing this potential upgrade to our attention.
Craig
Craig Nelson

1982 Spider 2000...pride and joy
1981 Fiat X1/9..gone but not forgotten
1976 124 Spider..the self-healer
2001 BMW 328ci daily driver and track car
Fling It Around Turns !
ventura ace

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by ventura ace »

Pictures from Jeff Scheferman:

Image

Image

Image

(click to enlarge)

Alvon
sptcoupe
Posts: 987
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:25 pm
Your car is a: 1972 124 Sport Coupe

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by sptcoupe »

FIrst, thanks to Alvon for posting the photos of the Ford alternator conversion (earlier in this thread). I have been on the road working from a Blackberry and had no way to get them on the Forum.

You can see he used washers to shim the top bracket. I would do something different there, but it seems to be working for him. The wiring change looks to be pretty straight forward, but I have not yet had a chance to look under the hood with the photos in hand, so I am working from memory. It appears to be a pretty good fix for an old FIAT problem, and he is really happy with "the way it handles my giant stereo system and the way the wipers work really well even with the lights on". Has anybody else done this yet? I intend to put one in the coupe with the new 2.0L going into it.
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ga.spyder
Posts: 3478
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 7:19 pm
Your car is a: 1982 Spider 2000
Location: Blairsville ,Ga.

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by ga.spyder »

I havent done it as yet,but I do intend to.The junked Escorts I saw didnt have alternators in them but I am still looking.Thank you Jeff and Alvon for following through on this,it could prove to be an excellent cheap upgrade.
Craig
Craig Nelson

1982 Spider 2000...pride and joy
1981 Fiat X1/9..gone but not forgotten
1976 124 Spider..the self-healer
2001 BMW 328ci daily driver and track car
Fling It Around Turns !
pope

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by pope »

Craig,
The alternators in those cars were 95 amps. Still a good boost over the 65 amp in my spider. Auto Zone wants $180 for a reman. and your going to need the wire plugs for it.

They made a 65 and 75 amp unit for a majority of the escorts, so I guess you have to figure out which one is the 95 amp unit.

Update: I have seen pics of the 65-75 units and they look like the ones in this forum. The 95 is different in that the bracket bolts are at a 90° angle to the ones posted here. Totally different setup. There could be a 95 amp the looks like the one pictured above, I just have not seen it.
sptcoupe
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Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:25 pm
Your car is a: 1972 124 Sport Coupe

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by sptcoupe »

OK. Here is where we are on the alternator swap. The amps on the earlier Ford Tempos are 75 amps, but they have a V-belt pulley. The 92 and on Tempos have a 95 amp (not 105), but have a pulley for a serpentine belt. So, we removed the pulley from an 88 alternator from a junker, and are fitting that to the 92 alternator. It turns out the hole in the v-belt pulley is too small for the l;ater alternator, so a quick trip to the machine shop to enlarge the hole was the remedy. It looks as if it will fit up to the engine exactly as pictured earlier in this thread. So, this may be a good fix to an old problem. Will keep you posted.
mbouse

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by mbouse »

way cool. now one more question...

anything special we need to do to the wiring? or can we simply plug in our existing wires to the incoming alternator with no issues?
sptcoupe
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Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:25 pm
Your car is a: 1972 124 Sport Coupe

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by sptcoupe »

The car we saw just had the original wires plugged in as shown in the photos. The photos are actually of the car we saw with this conversion.
sptcoupe
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Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:25 pm
Your car is a: 1972 124 Sport Coupe

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by sptcoupe »

Here are some pics of the 1992 Ford Tempo alternator (95 amps) installed on the new 2.0L. We originally had replaced the serpentine belt pulley on this unit with a V-belt pulley from a 1988 Tempo (75 amps) alternator, but it turned out that it did not line up, plus it was more than twice the weight of the aluminum pulley I had made (the one in the pic).

http://i721.photobucket.com
sptcoupe
Posts: 987
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:25 pm
Your car is a: 1972 124 Sport Coupe

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by sptcoupe »

Oh well. Guess I haven't broken the code on posting photos yet. Will try again when I have a chance.
sptcoupe
Posts: 987
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:25 pm
Your car is a: 1972 124 Sport Coupe

Re: Ford Focus Alternator for TCs?

Post by sptcoupe »

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