This article will contain how to rewire your alternator and install a Farad capacitor to your amp/audio system. I used a Sosche Amp wiring kit that comes with the capacitor from walmart for $80, so it worked great.
Lets start off with the materials you will need to do this:
Approximately 6 ft. of 4-Gauge wire
(6x) 4-Gauge Ring terminal crimps(Ace hardware carries these)
4-Gauge and 8-gauge or similar diameter shrink tubing
A Battery terminal that has more "ports"(optional but recommended)
Wiring loom protector
A farad capacitor if you choose to do so(Highly recommended!)
Zip ties
Electrical tape
You will also need basic hand tools, primarily a 10mm socket + ratchet, a wire crimping tool, screw driver, etc.
So first disconnect your positive battery terminal, you may also do the negative/ground terminal but i did not.
The wires that run from the alternator to the fuse and then to the battery are white an approximately 8-gauge.(on my car at least) Disconnect these wires from the terminal.
Open up your fuse box and unbolt the Alternator fuse and remove, also the three 10mm bolts that secure the box itself.
Flip over the fuse box and you will see the two wires that run to the battery, I just yanked them out instead of trying to nicely un-feed them through the ABS hydraulic unit.
The other wires on the opposite side of the fuse that run to the Alternator i decided to cut and heat-shrink the ends just for peace of mind. Unbolt the terminal from the alternator and electrical tape/heat shrink up the terminal. It was very cold when i did this so i did not want to un-feed the wires to the alternator and tear the crap out of the OEM wiring loom.
Here is what my kit contained: I found all of the wiring useful and still had left over stuff that will come in handy in the future.
So now you want to cut your wire to the approximate length. I'll leave the measurements up to you to decide. Once you have the proper length, take a razor blade and "saw" through the wire so you get a nice smooth cut. Make sure you have extra blades as this tends to dull the blade pretty good. Now that you have both ends cut. Cut the insulation approximately 1/4" to 3/8" long off the end of the wire with the razor blade. Slide the ring terminal over the wire but don't crimp it yet! You need to determine how much heat-shrink to cut for the end. This brings me to my next picture, you want to overlap some of the original wire's insulation and also the end of the crimp so no moisture gets into the connection. Its a crap picture, but you get the idea.(Heat shrink i got is clear)
Now slide your heat shrink down the wire and crimp your ring terminal onto the end. I found using a 90 Degree side cutter worked best for crimping such big terminals, you just want to use it directly in the middle "slice" of the crimp to get a nice bite. Grab your mini butane lighter, or run of the mill lighter and carefully apply heat to the heat shrink (duh).
Repeat on the other end.
Here it is connected:
Repeat the steps above for your wire that runs to the alternator. This is where you have to decide to run a crap load of wire across the back of your engine bay-safe from heat, or run it across the radiator or crossmember where the most heat is present.
With that said: Longer the wire the more resistance. Also the alternator output struggles with increased temperature.
I chose the shorter route and used that plastic wire loom stuff and zip ties to secure it.
That covers the Alternator rewire.
Now you don't want to overwork that alternator so get a farad capacitor.
Wow what do you know it has a positive and negative connector on it!
Secure your capacitor where you like.
Now run your positive wire from the capacitor to your positive terminal of your amp.
Next, i already had a 4-gauge ground to my amp, so i decided to use the 6-gauge ground wire and run that from the capacitor to the amp ground.
Yep, 14.6V to the amp. Eat it voltage drop!
*In this last picture I connected it slightly wrong, you want the positive wire from the battery to run to the positive terminal of the Capacitor. Then with your shorter wire ran to the amp.*
Re-wiring your Alternator with 4-AWG
