My first review of Nations 200 amp alternator.

[Bdubbs]

I will keep this thread updated as time goes by. There are a couple thing worth mentioning that are NOT talked about in the instructions. Which are basic instructions and NOT 03-04 cobra specific.

The kit comes with a bolt that I found out was to big in diameter to fit in the lower alternator bracket. I retained all the oem bolts.

Here is the complete kit, I decided to purchase the 2 gauge wire upgrade with inline fuse. The pulley on the nations measures out to about 2.9 inches or so, and my stock one was around 2.6 inches.

That blue square on the external regulator is for adjusting the voltage. It has some silicone over that needs to be peeled off. A little screwdriver is used to turn the dial up or down. I have mine set where the volts on my aeroforce gauge is reading in the 14.2-14.7 range.

My biggest mistake and it wasn't mentioned in the instructions is to place the supplied washer in between the alternator housing and the oem alternator bracket.

This caused a misaligned belt and it was walking off the backside of my crank pulley!

I didn't drive the car with it like this and only ran it for 5-10 minutes. This was enough to ruin my factory belt tensioner.
Here is a YouTube video of the noise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ-h220NTYU

Here is a picture underneath with the 2 gauge power wire going from the alternator up to the fuse power block. The instruction do tell you what wire you need to tap into from the factory alternator harness to the white wire coming from the regulator harness. You connect the red wire from harness and the factory terminal to the alternator. Pretty simple.

I added a bigger ground from the motor to the frame. Here is a picture of the factory one and the 2 gauge I replaced it with. This one is located by the oil filter.

I ran a 2 gauge ground from the alternator bolt up to the negative battery terminal. And I also added a 8 gauge accessory ground wire that goes from factory green bolt in front of battery behind the head light. That goes to the ground terminal on battery

Here you can see the wires coming up to the battery. The inline fuse is between battery and fuse block

In these pictures you can see the alternator and the external regulator which I mounted in towards the bumper, hopefully away from heat.

I took my first drive today, only about 45 minutes of city driving. Voltage stayed in the 14.2-14.7 range on a 75 degree evening. Even with the ac on it stayed in that range. It's very early obviously but I will update date as needed. I will be doing some data logging soon as I need to revise my e85 tune on 21 psi, so I will be monitoring voltage.

I hope this helps anyone in the future at least a little bit if plan are to install a Nations alternator.

 

[Brutal Metal]

did you check voltage with the headlights on?

 

[Shadow Grey 03]

I am trying to decide which alternator to go with right now. This one or the mechman. Keep us posted on how it holds up.

 

[olympic]

Be careful with the Aeroforce voltage readings. I know mine reads a good 0.5v less than what I measure at the battery terminals with a DMM. Don't want to cook the battery or something with too many volts.

 

[Bdubbs]

did you check voltage with the headlights on?

I had the fog lights and ambers on with the ac running, and volts stayed the same. But I didn't have head lights on.

Be careful with the Aeroforce voltage readings. I know mine reads a good 0.5v less than what I measure at the battery terminals with a DMM. Don't want to cook the battery or something with too many volts.

I verified it a few days ago, I believe the battery volts were 14.7 with the car running. I'll have to check again.

 

[CobraBob]

Nice write-up Brady. I'm sure you'll help others in the future who go the same route.

 

[Bdubbs]

Thanks Bob, I hope it can help others out that do go this route.

I checked the battery volts with the car running. At the battery it's in the 14.7-14.8 range.

 

[MineralCobra]

Great write up. Very helpful for the next guy trying to install one.

 

[Nightmare302]

I ran into the too large of bolt issues too. I also found my original bolt had broken off in the alt bracket. So I spent the day removing a broken bolt in the alt bracket and pully bridge in 110 heat index (ugh). I also am glad I read your stuff about the spacer.

 

[oldmodman]

The remote regulator is why I am probably going to go with it when my current alternator dies.

Keeping the electronics cool really does give it a stable voltage and long life.

I have been trying to keep the stock alternator cool since 2004. I ran a fresh air duct to blow right into the coolant holes in the alternator. I will keep doing it even with the new Nations alternator. There is no such thing as being "too cool" ;-)

 

[BlksvtCobra01]

Very nice write up.

 

[Nightmare302]

I just finished mine. Thanks to bolts breaking everywhere it took me 2 days. First off, thank you for posting about the spacer. To everyone else, keep all your original bolts. The supplied bolt and hole in the nations is too large for the alt bracket. You have two choices, either tap the alt bracket or just use the old bolt. Mine was sheared off in the bracket so I went and bought a new bolt. Fired up and I'm sitting at 14.0 on my nGauge. Will get the multimeter out and finish adjusting then mount the remote reg in the tire/front bumper area.

Edit: 14.0 never strayed. It's 98 with a heat index of 108. AC lights and radio on and it never dipped.

 

[Bdubbs]

I just finished mine. Thanks to bolts breaking everywhere it took me 2 days. First off, thank you for posting about the spacer. To everyone else, keep all your original bolts. The supplied bolt and hole in the nations is too large for the alt bracket. You have two choices, either tap the alt bracket or just use the old bolt. Mine was sheared off in the bracket so I went and bought a new bolt. Fired up and I'm sitting at 14.0 on my nGauge. Will get the multimeter out and finish adjusting then mount the remote reg in the tire/front bumper area.

Edit: 14.0 never strayed. It's 98 with a heat index of 108. AC lights and radio on and it never dipped.

Glad you got it! The instructions are to generic. It took me a few days to get everything sorted out and a new tensioner. I forgot what your setup is? I figured with a return fuel system and bigger pumps I want to keep voltage in 14-14.5 range.


Thanks everyone for for the kind words on this thread.

 

[Bdubbs]

Update: Well I think I still have an alignment issue. The washer I put in was about 1mm, and the one now is almost 1.80mm which takes up the whole gap between the alternator bracket and alternator. I can't confirm this is the issue until tomorrow. It's after midnight and my neighbors wouldn't be happy, lol.

Here's the gap.

Here's the supplied washer, I've heard some people never received a washer.

And here's the one I just put in.

I'll hopefully get this figured out sooner than later.

 

[SYMach1]

I had to shim my mechman alternator if it makes for feel better

 

[Bdubbs]

I had to shim my mechman alternator if it makes for feel better

It's kinda a joke isn't it? Spend this much money and it's suppose to be a oem fit. I'm sure I'll also get the flickering battery light in the upper rpms like many others.

 

[MrSwa]

It's kinda a joke isn't it? Spend this much money and it's suppose to be a oem fit. I'm sure I'll also get the flickering battery light in the upper rpms like many others.

Any reference to the flickering light? I haven't kept up with this forum like I should have over the last couple years. I rebuilt my stock alternator ~4yrs ago and it's going out again. I've being debating internally the Mechman vs. Nations. I lean toward Nations for the remote regulator portion.

 

[Bdubbs]

Any reference to the flickering light? I haven't kept up with this forum like I should have over the last couple years. I rebuilt my stock alternator ~4yrs ago and it's going out again. I've being debating internally the Mechman vs. Nations. I lean toward Nations for the remote regulator portion.

I haven't brought the rpms up very high yet. But the first pull to redline I'll be data logging. Should be soon.

 

[99-venom]

Looks like your alternator was under tension when you removed the bolt and measured the gap. You might try relieving the tension and see what the gap is then. Was it still shredding belts when you had the 1mm spacer?

 

[keith89]

Any reference to the flickering light? I haven't kept up with this forum like I should have over the last couple years. I rebuilt my stock alternator ~4yrs ago and it's going out again. I've being debating internally the Mechman vs. Nations. I lean toward Nations for the remote regulator portion.

There's an issue with the mechman where the battery light on the dash isn't getting a clean signal from the alternator. Mechman is sending out replacement pigtails to correct the issue. The alternator charges great when data logged, but the light on the dash flickers at high rpm.