Wanting to wire up new stereo with subwoofers

[Respawn27]

Hello everyone, I'm new here to 4wd Tercel world. I have an 84 Tercel sr5, had her for 2 years now. I am wanting to wire up a new system as the one that is in it is shot. I'm getting a Kenwood deck, pioneer speakers for the front, Bose for the back, And 2- 14in infinity subwoofer (1000w peak). I am going to be using 2-1400 watt bass inferno amps to power each subwoofer separately. My main concern is am I going to need a new and bigger battery and alternator? I have a new alternator and battery in it already (540cca 675a max). If anyone has done anything like this before and knows what alternator will work and is compatible as well as battery and anything else.

[4wdEconoBox]

I'm not going to promise you this for sure, but I would say better alternator and battery would be needed. For example, I've only got one Kicker 10" and a 1200 watt Hifonics amp, and at full blast it makes my lights dim pretty bad and drops battery voltage to about 13.8 volts or lower, the regular running voltage for mine is 14.7 volts if that says anything.... Someone else with more experience than me will have to chime in here, but I wanna say a 80s Corolla alt will fit with minor mods, or at least I think it was a corolla... I still plan on going this route whenever I find the right alt.... I really want to say that someone else put a Chevy 100amp alternator on with a little more modifications... I'm curious to see other people chime in on this too though haha

Edit: Found one of the links for different alternators swaps, it was a MR2, not a corolla haha

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11628&p=88219&hilit ... tor#p88219

[Respawn27]

Thank you that was very helpful and Informative. What size battery are you running? Just a standard size one like I have? I'm also going to be wiring in a 01 Ford taraus radiator fan to help keep the engine cooler and have it on a toggle switch. Engine gets a little warm and i don't want any wires to get burnt up by it.

[Petros]

if you are running warm there is something wrong with your cooling system. Adding a fan will not help, above about 27 mph no more cooling capacity will be added with a fan.

Make sure you have a good quality thermostat (made in USA or Japan, not one made in a communist factory). Make sure your lower hose is firm and does not collapse when you rev the engine (older weaker hoses get sucked close by the suction of the water pump). Make sure you have the correct double row radiator for the Tercel4wd, and it is clean inside (often people put in the smaller single row radiator from the 2wd sedan because it is cheaper, and usually it is not an issue but it has limited cooling capacity if you live in a warm climate or in hilly terrain).

If you are losing coolant, and you can not find a leak, likely you need a new head gasket. Any overheating of the engine, no matter how brief, will almost always compromise the head gasket. It will still run okay for a while, but if it is compromised you will continue to loose coolant, and the seepage will get worse. If you need a head gasket, use the head gasket replacement procedure I wrote up over in the repair guilds section.

[Respawn27]

I probably should have been more specific with it, she doesn't run hot while driving only when she is off. The wiring that goes to the tenp sensor is shot. The original sensor in the car was shot to were when the fan was plugged into it it wouldn't even turn on so I just left it unplugged so the fan was on only when the car was on. When I replaced the sensor and plugged it in the fan would work with car on but not with car off so I'm wiring up a toggle switch to it so I can keep it on for a bit when the car is off to help cool her doen

[BaileySims]

I like that idea. A lot of modern cars have that. It would be nice to incorporate that into a terc. I think I might tie that in when I go about wiring up a RAP timer someday.

[Respawn27]

Yeah it is definitely worth wiring up. I'm wiring it through a relay so I can have a smaller amp switch and not burn it out. Wiring it up to is super sinple, you don't even need to cut the plug to the fan, if you use butt connectors they will slide onto the prongs on the plug. I out the relay down by the radiator overflow and then ran wires up thru the firewall( there a rubber plug that you can cut a hole in on the left side of the firewall) and then if you have a switch with a light there is a spot on the passenger side going up the firewall that has a threaded hole perfect for the ground.

[helipilot77]

I worked for car toys as an installer when I was younger. You will definitely need a better battery and the biggest alternator you can get your hands on. A large 4 farad capacitor and second battery might be needed as well. The two 1400 watt amps alone will draw 230 amps at peak and that doesn't even account for the head unit and all the regular power requirements of the car. The alternator is the most critical piece of the puzzle to keep you from digging yourself into a power hole. When shopping for a battery you want to look for one with a high watt/hour rating. Cold cranking amps are less important.