Putting a Maxima alternator in your Z31

The first thing I have to say is...This (putting in a Maxima alt) was hell and I hope that in the long run it saves me some troubles. Now let me relieve your worries, if you have a turbo it is supposed be as easy as unplugging/unbolting the old one and plugging/bolting in the new one. For us with NA's we have to make a bit more of a decision...do you want to keep the V-Belt setup or go to the serpentine belt setup.

I make one disclaimer in writing this page...I did this conversion on an '84 NA Z...I can't guarantee that it will work on any model year, though I suppose it must. Others have done this conversion and I'm sure not all of them are '84 NA's, in fact I don't think many people with NA's have ever done this.

First of all I guess I should answer, "Why put in a Maxima alternator." Well you do this if you have added specific electrical components to your car that would require an alt. with higher output. The original Z alt puts out 70 amps whereas the Maxima alt. puts out a whopping 90 amps. Say you added a high power stereo and an Electric Fan (Conversion). The amp on the stereo may call for a 30 or 40 amp fuse and the fan a 30 amp fuse...these are juice sucking components and you need to compensate for them. Shortly after I installed the electric fan, my alt. seized to work. And its not good to drive around with a bad alt.

So...you choose...do you get the Maxima alternator and stick with the v-belt configuration. If so, you need to remove the old alt., remove its pulley, remove the Max alt. pulley, and stick the old Z pulley onto the new alt. Some people think the Maxima alt. pulley is smaller than the Z alt pulley, which means it would turn faster and create more amps...but from what I saw they were pretty similar...so this wouldn't be a bad way to go. It will save you lots of money over converting to serpentine belts and you will not have to replace your belts like I had to by converting to and underdrive crankshaft pulley and serpentine belt for the alt/waterpump. After you replace the pulley onto the Max. alt, you should be able to stick the thing right where the old alt. was and start your car and go. Make sure your battery is fully charged. Many times it won't be 'cause your replacing a bad alt. and the last minutes of driving nothing was charging the battery. So make sure its full voltage. (UPDATE ON THIS PROCESS: I got some feedback on the CHANGINE ALT. PULLEY process from DREW...):

I have an 86 NA. I went with keeping the v-belt configuration. Everything worked great except the shaft on the maxima alternator was slightly larger than the shaft on my Z alt, so I had to buy a pulley from a guy that rebuilds alternators [Drew said they looked at used alt. pulley till they found one that would work]. That cost all of $80 so it was a pretty good deal.

If you decide to go the serpentine route this is what you'll need:

The Maxima alt. for either an '89-'90 model year (and I've heard you can use others...but these are the no doubt ones).

The crankshaft pulley from a Turbo Z or an underdrive pulley from Unorthodoxracing. The underdrive pulley is supposed to free up some power, but it underdrives the accesories (water pump, AC, etc). Don't count of feeling much of a difference...I sure didn't...here's My Opinion on the Underdrive Pulley.

You will need a new water pump pulley from a Turbo Z. This has to be a serpentine pulley.

You will need a serpentine belt to drive the alt. and water pump (and that will match your new crankshaft pulley). If you get the underdrive pulley you'll need to replace ALL the belts with new ones.

So count your pennies if you're planning on converting to a serpentine alt. system. If you can get the parts you need from a junkyard (alt., pulleys) you could save a lot of money. Buy new belts, please. If you get everything new or rebuilt you're looking at $150 for the alternator (if its a quality one...not from Checker, Autozone, etc.), $120 for the underdrive pulley (or $140 for a normal), $40 for the water pump pulley, and $30 on the belts. That's a total of $340!!! Ouch, heh? If you find the parts at a junkyard you'll be looking at $200 (considering you buy the alt. rebuilt somewhere). If you just switch out the alt. pulley you'll only spend $150 for the alt. and you'll maybe lose $50 on the core for the old alt. if they won't let you put the serpentine pulley back on the old Z alt. (doubt they'd let you). So that route is looking like $200 also. If you're really lucky and find a good Maxima alt. from the junkyard and all the other parts you may only end up spending $100.

Good luck if you're gonna do this. Email ME if you have Q's.