What a pain in the pah-tutti!

euro911sc · euro911sc's Garage

Just finished connecting the wiring harness to the alternator through the little wind deflector thingy and bolting the whole thing down... let me say that it was a total pain in the ass. Sometimes 'German' engineering ain't all it's cracked up to be!

The bolts that pass through the whole body of the alternator to nuts on the other side of the air deflector were the real problem...

1st you pass the harness through the tiny little hole in the shroud... then, with this huge piece of fiberglass attached to the wires you run them through the air deflector and connect them to the alternator... not so bad. then juggle the alternator and fan housing together to mount up on the 6 bolts through the 5 holes in the air deflector... all while trying not to ruin the nice paint job you did on the shroud...

ok so you got the bolts through the 5 holes... good for you! Now I dare you to try and put on the nuts and tighten the whole thing down from behind... oh, did I mention that the bolts are thin topped and the clearance on the alternator does not allow you to put a socket on them? So now, with one hand, you have hold, at an angle, the open ended wrench to get enough bite to hold the damn things still while tightening the nuts on the rear with your other hand... while the whole thing is loose so you can actually fit your hand in between the shroud and engine with a socket wrench...

What a pain... I cannot imagine swapping out an alternator with the shroud and intake bolted in place and the engine in the car... ouch!

Just thought I'd share my pain and suffering for the evening with you all

Best regards,

Michael

poorsha · 05-19-2008, 09:18 PM

I hope you took her out for a spin after to put that smile back on your face

304065 · 05-20-2008, 03:03 AM

Congratulations, you passed phase 1!

The key to doing this easily is to add more slack to the wiring harness: not so much that the wires drape on the cylinder heads, burn through the insulation and short, but long enough to allow you to rest the entire fan housing, alternator and shroud out by the distributor. when you finish, pull the slack outside the shroud and secure in the engine compartment.

I agree though, some kind of a quick disconnect plug would have been better-- but the reason Porsche did it like that, with the wires bolted to the back, is so they act like additional heat sinks. Particularly on the later cars with the internal VR-- you need all the heat sink you can get with the alternator 3" from the engine in an enclosed space with no airflow (when the engine is off and hot).

euro911sc · euro911sc's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by poorsha

I hope you took her out for a spin after to put that smile back on your face

Now that would have been cool... but alas, my engine is not complete... yet

I'm shooting for sometime next month to be done and running...

John- Attaching the wires to the alternator was fairly easy... after doing it twice because I didn't send them through the air deflector

I think I eventually pulled more slack in simply by trying to get my hand in there... Still, a PITA.

How did the horizontal fan have its alternator set up?

Best regards,

Michael

304065 · 05-20-2008, 05:19 AM

The horizontal fan used a regular Bosch alternator (probably a BMW part) driven by a conventional belt off the crank. It probably had a field cutout for WOT knowing those clever Germans-- although switching the field in and out can put stress on the mechanicals and the circuits.

jpnovak · 05-20-2008, 04:57 PM

Three bolts and remove the DS heater duct. Then you have plenty of room to rotate and easily hit all six bolts/nuts without scraping knuckles. Also, a ratcheting box wrench is your friend but using the aforementioned technique a 1/4" socket fits nicely.