Upgrading Alternator
 

So....not saying that I will be doing this but I was wondering if anyone has done this. Also in your opinion when do you feel that it is necessary to upgrade the alternator in this car (at what wattage rms). I am planning on putting a system that will require about 1400 watts rms. I have seen the lights dim at about 800 watts rms but that is with out the big three, battery, or cap upgrade. Thanks for your input.

I'm not too sure about the Z inparticularly but I would say that if you plan on pushing more that 1200w, I would upgrade your alternator. Most cars I see can hold a good 800 to 1200w without the head lights dimming. Unless of course you are blasting the music, then there isn't much else you can do except for the big three the battery and the alternator upgrades.

Unless your going to be adding a stupid amount of power.....2000 + watts I dont think its needed. Upgrading the battery and the stock wiring will be fine! A great battery that I like to use are the SEARS DIE HARD PLATINUM PLUS series. These are the same as the Stinger batteries but much cheaper! The P4 is what I think fits the 370Z

Not trying to thread jack, it still goes with your general question david.
Just wondering Jeff... I am pushing around 1500W and I have upgraded the ground wires and added a Yellow Top Optima and my headlights still dim when my subs hit. That's 500W less then what you're saying here. Is it something I've done or is this just unusual?

Perhaps it depends on the car and your stock alternator.

+1 on that. Not every car is going to hold the same stock ANYTHING. Hell, just looking at the dyno results for the same cars tend to hold different results. I am going off of the alternator in a Mazda 6 so I couldn't be all that sure of a Z.

Ok what amps are you using?
What is there fuse rating?
What is their current consumption?
What size wire are you running from the battery to the amp?
Is your ground wire the same size as your power wire?

MTX X1000D for subs and MTX X704 for components
fuses are 40's
800W RMS from the subs, 400W RMS from components
4g Power wire and 4g ground
4g Ground from battery

How many 40 amp fuses? with that much power you need 2ga or 1/0ga power and ground from front to rear.

There is one 40amp in each amp. Really??? 2ga or 1/0ga??? I would have never thought I needed to go that low.

Yea....I was running a total of 1600 watts and use the 1/0 guage. On a side note.... I just tried to have my two L7's in the trunk in a 2.5 cu ft sealed box. It sounded horrible, so i'm just going to run one. When i was running the two L7's the interior lights definitely dimmed, and I have upgraded the battery ground to 1/0 guage. My guess to the reason why the subs didn't sound too great is due to the small volume of the box and the distance from the back of the box to the sub. I took one of the subs out and it sounds alot better. But anyways looks like i'll have to go back to the drawing board.

Yeah, I could imagine that the 2 subs in that small of a box sounded pretty "muddy" On another note, it doesn't really matter how close the back of the sub is to the box, just as long as there is some clearance and you match the box's volume as close to the sub specs as possible.

If you want to upgrade your alternator check these links:

High Output Alternators and Accessories | PowerBastards.com

Powerful alternators for auto sound

SPL Alternators

High Output Alternator Hi Amp by HO