Wow, nothing is going right today!! Busted the alternator Bolts (see pic-offer help)
 

Hey everyone. So was looking forward to getting out and cleaning out the front of the 911, but wanted to get the alternator back in after painting the shroud.

Problem one- Paint scratched every time I tried to put the alternator in the housing. So now think I'm just going to get it sand blasted and powder coated, think that should allow less scratching right? I'll not mess with the fan since the tolerance is tight.

Problem two, could not really get the alt in the housing unless I used the threads of the bolts to sort of pull each side in closer. Then as it was almost all buttoned up, noticed the bolt was actually backing out. so I took the whole thing apart tightened the alt bolts with the allen wrench best I could and tried again. This time the threads were a bit stripped and the damn alt bolt backed out again. So decided, thats it, I'm just going to buy new alt bolts. But they wre incredibly difficult to unscrew. So hence two busted ! I have no idea what to do to get them out!
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1310239088.jpg

cut off in the middle of the threaded part with whatever you have that will get in there, disassemble alt, grab with visegrips.
then clean up the inside of the housing and around the edge of the alternator so it doesn't need to be pulled in.

JWW Thanks for that great advice. !! I will work on that tomorrow, not sure if they are too recessed...but i'll give it a go. How much do you think new alt bolts and nuts will cost me?

A small dremel or cutters can get in there, most decent hardware stores will carry what you need. Using SAE hardware won't kill it.

If you knick the casing a bit, life won't end. It's thick and no one will see it.

Wow, I finally got one of the bolts out!! Dremel worked to cut the bolt diagonally. Then worked out busted bolt pieces and the front casing was able to be gently pryed away. Then the inner coil loosened away far enough to get vise grips on bolt to reverse it out. I saw a broken piece of one of the two retractable parts. So wondering if this was the culprit of charging issues, or maybe it broke once the alt was out.? Going to go persuade the other bolt out and put the alt back together. Still not sure where to get a set of new bolts??