ok ive got the beast running!!!! WOOOHOOOO one problem sloved now the alternator from the 97 z28 isnt charging so i hooked a volt meter to the battery and nothing so i brought the alternator in tested it and it was bad ok fine kinda good news, THE NEW ONE DOES THE SAME THING!! so i come to u guys for help. its the two wire setup one big one one small one, now ive read through lots of posts and they all point to the little red one needing 12+ source (initialize) well i did that and thought i fixid it till i watched my volt meter climb to 18.89 voltss!!!!!! this happened instantly as soon as i conected the lil red wire to the 12 volt souce, now im reading that u need a bulb inline??? if so are we talking like a 194bulb( peanut type) HELPP!!!! im kinda confused because i thought the PCM would initialize the alt anyway if u guys can help you all would be my hero seein how i need my car for a 10 hour road trip to VA wends!!!!! thanks again - Tricked-Out-Toy

 

I think we've all had the same thing happen to us after doing the swap. I went through about 5 alternators within a year and a half before we realized there has to be some kind of load on the red wire.


One thing we found though is that on one of the alternators we got, the pulley was a different size and it didn't overcharge like the rest of them. Well, that would have been fine until I dropped a screw driver against it one day and blew the damn thing up After that, we just swapped pullies and its worked great ever since. Don't know if it was a fluke or what, but havent had any problems.

 

Congratulations on getting it running! It must feel great, I hope to join you soon.

 

alright i hooked the third alternator up and i used a 560 ohm resistor inline on the small red lead and it worked great for about an hour, then in droped just like the other two!!!!is there a specific resistance that i need???? ANYONE HELP!

 

I'm looking at the schematics for my 93 and it shows a 470 ohm resistor in the ciruit. HTH

Ben

 

Can anyone tell me what the exact resistance is for the small alternator wire (red) for a 97 camero? I have tried 560, and it blew, I have tried 12 volts by itself and it blew. I need to get the right resistance so I don't have to keep exchanging these alternators. Thanks in advance.
Tricked-Out-Toy

 

This is a common problem that I luckly avoided.
Here is what I found that helped me save my alt.
I have had my alt. hooked up this way since completing my LT1 swap with no problems and I am using a 95 F-body alt.
Basicly just disconect the wire you are curently using on the L terminal and conect IGN +12 VDC to the F terminal
Here is the link I found the info on
The L and F pins are on the conector that plugs into the alt and they where labled on mine.

http://home.sprintmail.com/~halmc/veeeight.html

Another prob. that I have encountered is that the alt. A Camaro has two wires, One heavy one that is mounted with a ring terminal to a stud. The other is attatched to the "L" terminal. The heavy wire goes directly to Batt. positive. The other has a 470 ohm resistor in it and this goes to IGN on. I have blown two alt's ($190 a piece!). I decied a little more research was needed . I discovered that the resistance needed is dependant on what else is in the circit. The final voltage is VERY critical. The solution is to forget about "L" and the resistor altogether. Instead, feed full batt. power (from IGN) to the "F" terminal (Field). I have recommended several people use this method on differing applications and so far, not a single failure

 

So what you are saying is basically clip the wire going to the plug port on the alt. and wire that port to the IGN which is the purple wire going to the starter selinoid? Is that right??? Because I have tried a 12 volt source going to that plug port and I fried the alt. Thanks for the help.
Trick-Out-Toy

 

No that is not what I am saying.
You need 12VDC Bat. going to the post on the alt and the hevy red wire on the plug so leave those wires alone as long as you measure 12V.
What I am saying is hook 12V IGN to the F pin (sometimes called I) instead of the L pin and dont use any resistor. The F (sometimes I) pin is the pin next to the bigger Red wire.
Here is a pic of the plug I am talking about with the white line pointing to the brown wire conected to the F pin

http://www.boomspeed.com/ejfagala/Alt2.JPG

Hope this helps