onebadmonte

haha same here Make it three over here.

Great work man! Awesome getting the little one involved. My oldest help in similar fashion when I did the first iteration of my infinite baffle build in my little olds. I'm digging what you did to get the cables through the firewall. I'll be doing the same. Keep up the good work.

x2 o_o

I cant thank you guys enough for the kind words. To hear that you guys are enjoying and learning from this build as I am is awesome. I was really hoping to bring something to the table that all of us can take and build from. It's great to hear that is happening. Again, thanks. Back to the task at hand.

Thanks, but it's actually a mental disorder I take medication for. Srsly. o_o It's like a scab. I just can't stop picking at it. I don't know what you're talking about. Your build is effin rockin. No way will my weenie 15s compare to your beastly 18s. That Yukon is lookin good.

Thanks. Yeah, the dies that came with the crimper are actually intended for wire rope, which is gauged differently that auto wire. I lucked out that the dies weren't hardened. If they were I'd still be trying to cut on them. Thanks. The spacers are so I could keep the cables inline when stacked. I could have stacked the ring terminals on top of each other but then the cables would of ended up side by side with them making a "vee" meeting at the ring terminals. If I only had a pair of wires meeting that would have been okay, but I've got 8 meeting there. I would have needed like 8" of frame to pull that off. Like this I used up 4" of frame, including the welded spacer that went unused. (opps) Thanks.

Ah, yes, the infamous forgings.

Now for the final step in my front grounds. I got all the cable crimped and ready for installation. I last left off with some grommets in triangle configuration. This is what I came up with. Here is the bracket formed and the grommets installed. Here I've got the bracket and alternator assembly on the workbench. I've installed and oriented the ground cables allowing me to place my hold-down. I've got the mounting points drilled and tapped for the hold-downs. I have also spot faced both sides of the rear bracket where the alternators mount for my grounds. Here is a close up of the triangle hold-down bracket installed in the rear alternator bracket. Here is the final assembly ready for installation. With the bracket and alternators installed I can start attaching the ground cables to the frame ground locations. Here is a shot looking up at the installed grounds. I used some steel spacers to stack the ring terminals without having to go around the bolt in a flower pedal pattern. Here is a straight shot as the grounds. Now time for some power cables. Better get back to work.

Thanks. Thought I'd give it a shot and see if I could pull it off.

Today is the day I start crimping the ring terminals on to the cables. Before I do, I need the right tool for the job. I picked up one of those hydraulic crimpers from Harbor Freight, the one with the undersized die set. I decided to modify on of the die sets for a better crimp. I stated off by putting some tape on the die set so I can draw my crimp design on it. Here is what I got. The white area is what will be removed. I'll cut out an "M" shape on the plunging die, and a saddle on the fixed die. I'll be using my trusty jig saw to cut the "M" shape on the plunging die. After a bit if filing this is what I ended up with. Now on to the fixed die. I'll be working that one with a Dremel and small sanding drum. Here is an action shot for all my cavemen homies. Here's a shot of the final die set. Before we get to how the die set worked here is a little trick I came across to get all the wires into the ring terminal to avoid this from happening. We start off with a piece of paper about 3/8" longer than the barrel of the ring terminal, about 2" long. Roll it up nice and tight. Then wrap it around the exposed wire of the cable. Now the ring terminal slips over the wires without any fraying. Now just pull out the paper with some needle nose plies. Look ma' no fraying. Back to the crimping. I set up the hydraulic crimper in a vise to make is easier to hold the cable in place and I worked the crimper. This is how the crimp is looking so far. With the cable out of the crimper, this is what the back side of the crimp looked like. Here is a shot of the front side. It came out looking good. I tried to pull the ring terminal off using a long bolt through the ring terminal and holding the cable with the other hand. It stayed together. Sorry, I don't have a pull scale to say how much force it will take before it comes a part. :| With everything looking good so far I followed up by adding some shrink wrap over the crimp. Lastly, the colored cable end the ring terminal came with to designate polarity. Not to worry, I've got red ones too. One down many more to go. o_o

Yes and no. The parts were purchased with a plan in mind, and even that is questionable. You'd laugh at how many subs were bought and sold before I settled on these, and even now I am already eying an upgrade. :\ As for the installation details, those are the ones that are made up as I go along. I mean we all know what we need to get the job done. Amps, wires, mounting locations, but it's not till I get to that step that I actually figure out how I'm going to do it. Like the ground points on the frame. I knew I was going to ground directly to the frame when I started this build, but not till earlier this week did I know I was going to do what I did. The reason being is first I had to get the alts in. From there I can review the area I can work in to achieve the desired goal. From there it's a little bit of creativity splashed with some ingenuity and finished off with little elbow grease and a git'er done attitude. It's been like this the whole way through, from mounting the speaker box to making and routing the RCAs. Then there are the opportunities that arise, like installing the quad alt bracket. Stuff like that keep me on my toes.

Just an inch of progress today guys and gals. I started working on making the ground cables. First things first, I made a mock up cable about 24" long with a single ring terminal. I compressed the cable end of the terminal just tight enough to hold but still removable. I lucked out that my cable has a teflon type sheathing over the actual wire, making it easy to install and remove the ring terminal as necessary. A single winding of electrical tape would suffice if the cable didn't have the sheathing. I started looking around for a good area to make my frame to block ground. I decided on the point where the rear power steering bracket mounts onto the block. This is how I'll be orienting the ring terminal at the block. It's a bit of a trick getting to this location since it's at the bottom of the engine block. I've taken out the inner fender well to get into this area. If you're willing to take the extra effort of removing the inner fender and the front wheel of the car you'll be rewarded with better access and less frustrations through out the project. Now the only limitation is having tools to be able to reach. This is what I used to be able to sand down the block for my ground point. The extension is actually for screw driver bits. Roaming the aisles of a family owned hardware store I came across this wire brush cup with a hex just like a screw driver bit. Problem solved. I followed up the sanding of the block by sanding both the front and backside of the power steering bracket. Here is a shot of everything back in place with the modified ring terminal. Here is the mock up cable in place to give you an idea of how the cable will be routed to the ground on the frame. With the cable in place I am able to mark off the length required to make the cable. I did this for all my ground cables. To make things go a bit faster I'm one to take notes. The ol' memory bank isn't what it used to be. Here is my notes sheet. To keep the cables in order I'll be making some small brackets. Here is a little preview of that.

No soup 4 u! Word on the streets is the neo is no more for the SSD. With all the whispering of forgings going around. I'm guessing a one piece forged back plate and single slug ferrite setup as before. Think mini ufo blt. You didn't hear it from me.

You kicks, kick ass, and I'm not talking about those ass kicking boots you wear. Loving that sculpted look to them. Interesting choice of gauges. Air/Fuel Ratio meter? In an 80 Caddy? Planning a turbo upgrade? Just messing. Keep up the good progress.

Yeah, that alt install was a little bittersweet. It was a bish to get it in, but it looks awesome. Thanks for those kind words. With the level of equipment I've purchased I figure I'd better bring my "A" game to the install.

Yep, will be painting the area. The pics look clearer before painting. The flat black paint washes out all the depth and contrast in a photo. Glad you like the grounds. Feel free and have at it, no patent pending. Lol! Thanks bro. The wife said as long as I could find a good paying job to go for it. A little separation between me and her would be good for us she said. o_o

With the alternators in place its time to get the power wiring in. I'm starting off with some heavy duty grounds on the frame. I made some simple steel spacers to weld onto the frame. I want to make sure I got some solid grounds in place. I made a little template to get the locations spot on. Here is what I started off with. A handful of steel spacers my template and precision measuring and drawing tools. I located a convenient spot on the frame near the alternators and the front battery to use. I've prepped the area and will be laying out the hole locations with my template and high tech marking device. Holes are drilled and now I am following up by tapping the holes. I have tapped the spacers and have located them tightly against the frame with a bolt. Before I start welding the spacers in place I wrapped all the heat sensitive areas with multiple layers of premium heat shielding foil paper. o_o Tah-dah! Spacers welded, and I still have a suburban. Here is a sneak preview of how it's all going to work.

Thanks. It was something else getting the alts in the end it was worth the effort. Nothing says I mean business like four alts. The MS-8 is something else. It's hard to admit that I won't be using it to its full potential right now, but I need to get the project done before I get ahead of myself with upgrades.

:| Bummer.

Thread resurrect! What's happening? I'm back from Easter holiday and making progress over here. It's electrical work from here on out. I'm working my way from to from front towards the rear on this one. Up first installing the tejcurrent quad alternator bracket and my four 200amp Tuff Stuff Alternators. The bracket install was far from smooth. For all those interested in the details of the bracket install I've started a thread in the product review section. Check it out HERE I do have some pics to share here. Up first is the pre-assembled bracket just before it went in the vehicle. The backside. The whole sheabang ready to rock.

Thanks. I figure it's time someone sheds a little light on what a takes to do things at this level, and not just show off their purchasing power (or hook up ablilities. )

Make it a good one. Remember what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

That's what I'm talkin' about. Thanks. Well said my friend. Thanks.

These are my thoughts on my trials and tribulations installing the tejcurrent quad alt bracket. My ride, a 2004 Chevy Suburban 1500 4x4 with a 5.3l V8 This is what comes in the box. The hardware is good quality stuff. The bracket is nicely finished. The instructions are of the standard issue variety with some nice color pics. Lets get to the installation. I read over the instructions a couple of times just to get familiar with the installation process. At the same time I checked the hardware against the instructions to make sure I got everything needed. A packing list would have been nice. There were a couple of typos. This one was a little concerning. The instructions call out for 100mm bolts to mount the alternators, but 90mm bolts were included. The 90mm bolts work, so no biggie, but still should be addressed by the manufacturer. Right off the bat the bracket didn't fit. I removed only what the instructions indicated to remove, and pre-assembled the bracket/alternator assembly as required. When it came to placing the assembly in the vehicle, disaster. The vehicle ECU interfered with the lower alternator. From here on out I was on my own. o_o Here's what I did, hope this helps you. First I removed the fan shroud and the cooling fan. I took out the battery and battery tray. From there I unmounted the vehicle ECU and temporarily located it to where the battery mounts. With the wiring pushed back towards the firewall I tried once again to get the assembly in place. No dice, something wasn't lining up. I removed the power steering pulley. I unbolted the power steering pump from the factory alternator/power steering bracket. Not to worry, the power steering pump is still held in place by a steel bracket on the backside attaching it to the engine block. I proceeded to remove the factory alternator/power steering pump bracket from the engine. With the factory bracket out of the vehicle I'm able to take some measurements and see what the deal is with this mofo not fitting. :\ Here is the bracket I removed. Giving the bracket the evil eye I could not tell if the bosses that the quad alt bracket mounts on are of equal height. I ran the mounting bolts the quad alt bracket came with through the backside of the factory alternator/power steering bracket. With the bolts protruding through, I am now able to measure how much of the bolt extends beyond the boss. If they all measure the same, the bosses are of equal height. Here is how I measured. If you're like WTF, a wooden school ruler? Let me explain. I am going to get this bracket going with the bare minimum. No fancy depth gages, digital micrometers, or CNC mills. Just real simple, real basic tools, and tons of manual labor. See what I do, learn from what I do. If you got fancy tools, have at it your way. If you don't have any tools, and have no clue, here is one way to skin this cat. Back to the measurement. I got 3.5cm for all three mounting bosses. Cool, they're all the same height. Now to get a quick measurement from the boss to the face of the factory alternator/power steering bracket. Here I get about 1.5cm. If your wondering about that little bit I missing since zero on the ruler isn't on the edge. I consider that bit a constant. Since I will be taking all my measurements with this ruler it's not going to throw anything off. Obviously the numbers I am using are not absolute, but they are consistent. That's all I really need, consistent numbers. Now onto the quad alt bracket. Since the bosses on the factory bracket are recessed from the face, the quad alt bracket has three spacers welded on to the back side. In theory, these spacers put the backside of the quad alt bracket in-front of the face of the factory alternator/power steering bracket. Let's see what my little ruler says. 1.4cm is what I got for all three spacers. That's a difference of 1cm, about a washers thickness. Therefore I'm going to have to put a washer at each mounting location. No fun, I can hear the washer falling off the bolt as I try to line everything up. Now that we have that out of the way let's see how everything lines up, or doesn't. With the bolts still in through the backside of the factory bracket I added the necessary washers, and then installed the quad alt bracket. This is what I got. Two thing here are wrong. First, the hole in the quad alt bracket inside the yellow circle is noted in the instructions as being 1" in diameter. It measures 5/8". Secondly, that same hole should be lined up with the hole behind it on the factory bracket, not overlapping it. There is a steel bushing in the factory bracket that interferes with quad alt bracket because of this hole being undersized and in the wrong location. The simple fix would be to remove the steel bushing, but there is more to it than just that. Take a look at this. The steel bushing in the factory bracket is in a raised boss. This raised boss and the ridge next to it are keeping the quad alt bracket from properly seating on it's mounting bosses. Here is a better look at the offending boss on the factory bracket. First things first, out with the steel bushing. Here's what I used. Now to remove the offending boss and the little ridge next to it. Check this out. I basically took a knee, putting all my weight on the foot over the bracket. Then I took a file and with both hands, filed away till the bish was flat. Let's take a look at how everything lines up now. Looking good now. Now just to get the setup to fit in the vehicle. Here is a shot of the vehicle ECU and it's mounting location. For reference the top of the pic is the front of the vehicle. Rivenuts to the rescue. I moved the vehicle ECU about three inches forward in vehicle. Here is the vehicle ECU in it's new location with the battery tray in place The next area of concern is the factory power distribution box. It is mounted onto the factory alternator/power steering bracket, in the exact location that the quad alt bracket mounts the lower alternator. Here is the little booger in it's original location. The instructions mention nothing about relocating this little booger, but obviously something has to be done. I took a closer look at the pics in the instructions and noticed that it is still used, just in a modified position. With nothing else to go by but just a pic and my ingenuity, this is what I came up with. I added a new pair of mounting holes and gave it a slight bend to keep it from hitting the valve cover. Another shot with the alternator in place. Alright, now we're in business. Time to test fit the assembly in the vehicle. The bracket went on, getting the washers in place over the bosses were a pain. A quick visual inspection revealed this. The return line from the hydro-boost braking system to the power steering pump reservoir was being pinched by the lower alternator bracket. Fhawk! This is going to be a real bish to fix. First off I removed the drivers side inner fender, just to get a better view of the area in question. Here is a close-up of the main offender. This is a very delicate fix. I am going to bend the fitting straight. o_o True to my word, only simple tools. My main concern is cracking the fitting where it meets the reservoir. I did my best to support the fitting where it meets the reservoir. I used the biggest hex key I could fit in the fitting and slowly bent the fitting straight a little bend at a time. I re-installed everything back in for the umpth-teen time. This is what I ended up with regarding the hydro-boost braking system return line. Finally, the bish is on. That belt didn't go on without a fight. Now that's it on, concerns still linger. Here is a pic of the belt tensioner with the factory accessory driver system. The marks are there for reference. Here is the tensioner with the new setup. The belt is tremendously long, so I'm not sure how much if any this belt will stretch. All I can say is that the tensioner is fully compressed. Unfortunately, the instructions do not mention what the alternator pulley diameters were used when this bracket was developed. My alternators have undersized pulleys, as my high output alternators do. :\ The bish is on. Final thoughts: The bracket kind of works, the instruction manual sux. Good luck, I'm out.