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Alternator how to?

all i can say is you need a TON of extensions (or just a few long ones) :) what helped me too was the swivel sockets. i couldn't have done it without those two things.
 
That's good to hear - I have a good extension set and a couple of swivel adaptors. I also bought a spare bottle jack on clearance and a creeper last month, so it looks like all of this should come in handy.
 
all I can say is if you do it off the ground it is not fun, I ended up taking off my ypipe and pulling the whole passenger axle out, biggest pita to fix.
 
So you're saying it is easier if the car is on the ground, not in the air?:crazy:

I meant you being on the ground, car technically would be off the ground on jack stands, obviously having it on a lift make it easier to get to some of the bolts.
 
I pulled the y-pipe (took a while), but getting the lower 13mm bolt out took literally about 10 seconds with the right extension. The problem is that I've never seen a picture of what this looks like so I can't pinpoint the upper 13mm bolt. Is it accessed from below or above the car? Header side or fender side?

This is a fantastic way to spend a Friday night.
 
Nevermind, found it, got it out. The alternator is still firmly in the car, though. Do I need to pull the whole bracket or just the two big bolts holding the alt to the bracket? I heard a rumor of a 10mm bolt somewhere, but I don't see it.
 
....and I'm done. I actually got done a while ago, but spent some time messing with a foglight, a sideskirt, and since half of the car was already jacked up I went ahead and threw on the summer rims/tires. I haven't actually started the car yet, I'll do that tomorrow. Now it's time for a shower, an adult beverage, and some House.
 
it looks like you did a pretty good job there, and btw to the naysayers who think its crazy to remove the ypipe, I think your crazy for not removing it. btw I had a hell of a time getting the new alt to line up with those washer spacings, took forever to get it sitting well enough to start putting the bolts back in.
 
Congrats PurpleMystique! Thanks for taking all those pictures, this is something I'll be tackling soon. Weird thing though, I took my car out today for the first time. The battery light didn't come on at high rpm's:shrug: And my headlights didn't pulse either. WTF?
 
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