long term review 220A Scion xB Alternator

[bmxscion]

It is coming up on 3 years since I have had my 220A Alt installed on my 2005 xB and I just wanted to say a few things that I have encountered and experienced in this time. First off if you have a gen 1 xB and are going to install a large case conversion alt you will have to get a longer belt. What I have discovered is that by using the stock upper bracket that the belt over time stretches and eventually can not get enough tension on the belt as you max out the adjustability that the bracket will allow. All the rest of the hardware you will need comes with the alt so there are no worries there.

The AVBM is awesome and it is a must to fine tune in your voltage output. I have had to slightly tweak the output for the different seasons because in the colder months the resistance was too low at startup and I was regularly charging at 15.1 or sometimes as much as 15.3V. My MS-8 processor does not like 15V+ and would make a crazy bad hissing sound at those levels. So the adjustability is awesome to have so that can be turned down a tad when needed.

My output is always strong as long as I keep the engine RPM's up a little after it is fully hot in the hot summer heat of the south where I have lived since I have had this alt. I do notice that sometimes when slowing down and downshifting the RPM's will drop down 1.5-1.8V momentarily but it goes back to 14.4-14.6 where it usually is set at once I stop and maybe give the throttle a rev or two.

All in all this alt is awesome and has met all of my expectations. I am working on getting a new upper bracket made so I can get a but more tension as to eliminate the cold start engine belt squeal. I hate hearing that in the early morning hours when I have to leave for work.

Here is a comparison pic to the stock alt for reference:

[hdorre]

Nice review Also, WOW.. That Mechmans case is much bigger.

[MECHMAN]

Thank you for the good word. Be sure to post pics of the install

[bmxscion]

Here is a shot from the side with the front bumper cover removed. I had to zip tie the AC line out of the way as well to keep it from hitting the pulley.

Top looking down:

2 AWG frame ground and a 1/0 AWG direct to battery ground. Single 1/0 positive run to battery also:

D3400 and custom designed (by me!) Toolmaker terminals:

[Txsupra71]

I got my mechman 240a last week for my 04 xb and haven't put it on yet. A few questions for you.

1. What particular brand belt did you use?

2. Was this a 2 man job?

3. Did you use the OEM ground and power cables? I like to use both.

4. Did you have to use a longer bolt for the lower adapter bracket or OEM?

[bmxscion]

1. Gates Micro-V. I don't have the part # right this minute, but it is not the stock belt part #.

2. Having a helper is always nice, but I have gotten good enough where I can rip the bumper off, and do everything by myself. You will need to remove the bumper to do this properly. So if you have never removed the bumper having a second person is nice especially if your paint is in flawless condition. I recommend putting some frog tape or something similar on the edges of the bumper and on the fender to prevent scratches when taking off and putting back on, where the bumper and fenders meet.

3. I actually took out the OEM wires, but you can use both. I replaced my OEM wires with 2AWG Knukonceptz wire and then added 1/0AWG to compliment that.

4. All the bolts and hardware used came with my alternator. I only used the factory hardware on the upper bracket. I have found that i need to make a longer upper bracket to get the proper belt tension, because after the new belt stretches I am now at the limit of the upper bracket and I still need it to be tighter. It squeals like a mofo at start up and is annoying.

EDIT: Now that I look back at some other pics I have, I did use the factory bolt on the lower bracket also. The silver colored bolt you can see in the pic above came with the alternator, the other bolt at the other end of the bracket is the factory bolt.

Edited March 24, 2014 by bmxscion

[bmxscion]

I decided to do some cleaning and updates the other day. I cleaned up my terminals, did a little polishing, nothing serious, and added a few small details and connected a run of 2AWG of power wire from alternator POS to battery POS.

Here are some pics:

Check out the .38 Special shell I used to cover the threads on my battery hold down rod.

Added some shrink tubing on the POS inputs to the battery. From left to right we have 4 AWG from starter, 1/0, 2AWG from alternator. The 2AWG was there already and is actually ran through the factory wire harness where the stock wire used to be. It wasn't being used and I figured it was a good time to make use of it while I was in there and now I have 2 runs of both POS and NEG to my battery from the alternator.

POS connections at the alternator.

The template I made for the new upper bracket to allow for proper belt tensioning.

[Txsupra71]

Heres a video of water pump install where they remove the alternator without removing the bumper.

[bmxscion]

The stock alternator is much smaller than the Mechman and there is room to remove it without taking the bumper off. The Mechman has to be put in from the front next to the radiator. With the bracket that is on the Mechman you have 2 lower bolts and it is hard to get to the one without having access to the bottom. Plus you have to check the belt alignment and you need the bumper off so you can see down the belt properly.

I do agree with the guy in the video about the bracket with the airbag sensor on it being in the way to get the lower bolt out, although I did not remove mine but it was a PITA. You can try it without taking it off and if you can't then just remove it if you need to.

Another thing is if you decide you put a ground wire from the alternator case to the beam connected to the radiator support like I have, you will have to have the bumper off to reach it. Make sure to sand down the paint/primer on it first and leave enough slack in the ground wire to allow for engine movement or it will rip itself out over time. Yes this happened to me the first day I had it hooked up.

The bumper is not hard to remove. It only takes like 10 minutes. If you don't have factory fogs it is even easier and a few less steps to do too.

[Txsupra71]

Thanks I'll try to install it this weekend.