Alternator mounting to front of 24V V6 engine

Hi,

Merry Christmas to everyone..... Loads of snow with us, so in the garage !

Has anyone fitted the alternator to the front of a 3.0L 24V Alfa 166 engine.

Standard fitment is to the rear of the engine and this is OK for drive belt routing if there is an Air Con Compressor on the other side.

Part of the issue is the sprung belt tensioner and only so many ways that the drive belt can be reconfigured to use this tensioner.

I'm removing air con and thus no compressor.

I wondered if there was a standard bracket that would be easier than having a wholly new mounting bracket made up.

Andrew

The 12v front engine mount fits and that has an alternator mount. That's what I have used on my GTA engine. Depends on how your engine is fitted....

Andy, If I'm reading right.... Currently your alternator is fitted to the rear and you're removing the front mounted compressor? If so, then maybe leave the alternator in situ and replace the belt and tensioner with alterntives. This is a standard set up with many V6 installs - works a treat.
See thread..

Or do it like this (I think Sando suggested this a while back). Belt length is 915mm. Loosen alternator and shift it so that you can get a little bit of slack. Fit the belt around the crank and alternator and then use a spanner on the alternator to spin it to give some slack on the belt, enough to gradually get it over the water pump pulley. Pull the alternator back into place, and don't bother with a tensioner......

Attachment 7691

Hi,

Thanks very much for the info.. Spot on.

I thought there might be a thread / info somewhere, but for the life of me I couldn't find it.

Cheers

Hi Andrew,

i found this pic!
i hope it helps.

saluti Enzo

Hi,
I tried Sando's solution first.... Simple is good.

Bit of faff getting the belt on and once on seemed a little slack.

Took up all clearances on mounting bolts.... nipped the bolts up and I'd say the belt is pretty much perfectly tensioned.

Attachment 7702

:)
Did 20k miles like that too. I've done the same again with my new engine.
It is a bit of a pain to wind the belt on, but saves a lot of aggro and keeps the loom as it was.

So How tight is that belt?
Just asking as I had mine like that, but with the alternator on the front & a manual tensioner - it slipped on the crank pulley when the engine was revved, probably due the the rapid acceleration of my engine due to the flywheel clutch combo (It didnt slip while driving) It wasnt a problem before, but then I didnt have the water pump, so had a better wrap on the crank pulley.

It feels about the same as when it was through the auto tensioner, maybe slightly tighter.

I've not had any problems Neil, even gone one less rib on this new belt as its doing far less work than the original set up with air con and PS.
easy enough to get a belt slightly smaller if you wanted it tighter. I just experimented to get the length and tension that worked for me.

Just to add my three penny worth I reengineered it like this:

Attachment 7707
Attachment 7708
Attachment 7709

Seems to be fine so far, but then I've hardly gone that far...

Rob, I have a mechanical tensioner on mine, so can get the belt as tight as I like - Maybe i am just not tensioning it enough....
Fitted a couple of idlers today, to get max wrap on the pulleys.

Attachment 7712

Attachment 7713

No slip now when I rev the engine, but took it for a drive and the belt jumped 1 rib away from the engine on the crank and water pump pulley.... Tomorrow I will try a different belt and different routing...

Thinking on, and seeing Jeff's photo has reminded me mine is actually still with the idler - just without the off centre adjuster that Jeff has made up. . . Fit and Forgot!

Put a bit more tension on the above set up & been out in the car today & belt stayed where is should have & no slip, so must have jumped due to lack of tension... I was going to try a different belt route, but I measured wrong for the belt, and it was too short, so need to change that tomorrow...