Remove alternator without removing intake manifold?

[amonti]

Well, I thought I'd just start the swap when my wife arrived home from work yesterday evening, but I was able to complete the entire swap in just over an hour! My goal was to remove as little as possible, and I ended up only having to remove the inlet pipe - nothing else. Here's the process:

1. Disconnect the battery (negative terminal)
2. Loosen the clamp connecting the induction pipe to the air filter box and pull the pipe off (tighten the clamp slightly if you don't want the clamp to fall off)
3. From underneath, loosen the clamp connecting the inlet pipe to the throttle body and pull the pipe off the throttle body
4. From the top, lift the induction pipe out (if the resonator box - the triangular piece of plastic connected to the inlet pipe - prevents you from lifting the pipe out, loosen the clamp connecting the resonator and disconnect, then lift both out of the engine bay.
5. Remove the alternator nut (think it was 12mm) with a ratchet and long extension from the left-hand side
6. Disconnect the "dashboard light" connector on the alternator; it's a 'barbed' connector in that you have to push down on the back of the connector while pushing in toward the alternator to clear the barb on the regulator housing, then pull back (removing these and moving the cables out of the way will help with subsequent steps - move them as required for all remaining steps)
7. Using a 10mm socket, remove the top two alternator bolts - only the left one is can be completely removed - the right one will stay 'loose' until the alternator is free
8. Using a 12-point offset box end wrench, remove the bottom two alternator bolts; the one on the right is easy and can be seen if you sight it from the right where the induction pipe used to be; loosen the bolt and remove it completely, then use your fingers to 'feel' the left-hand lower bolt and slowly back it off a few degrees per turn - once free remove the bolt
9. The lower mounts have brass sleeves and if they're stuck, you may have to use a long-handled screwdriver to pry the alternator away from the engine - make sure you can feel the sleeves either on the alternator or on the engine as you're going to have to use these to line-up the alternator when re-mounting it
10. Once the alternator is free from the engine, pull the alternator to the left and remove the belt connecting the alternator to the accessory pulley, then remove the last bolt (upper-right)
11. Slowly rotate the alternator towards you so the mounting face is towards you, and then counter-clockwise so the regulator is facing down and the pulley is facing up; at this point, it's a good idea to work a towel or other soft surface underneath the regulator to protect it - just lift the alternator up by the pulley in-between the intake manifold holes and feed the towel underneath, then set the alternator down
12. Remove the alternator pulley cap by cutting away at a small amount of rubber from the edge, then inserting a sharp knife or screwdriver into the gap and prying up; this takes some patience, and I eventually used a knife to lift and create a gap, then inserted a small screwdriver and lifted up
13. With the cap removed, insert your alternator removal tool with a box-end wrench around the outside nut, and a 1/2" extension and breaker bar in the centre
14. Turn the breaker bar counter-clockwise while holding the wrench and break the pulley free; remove the tool and unscrew the pulley by hand (remember, it's reverse-threaded)
15. If you're changing the pulley because the accessory pulley nut became loose, now would be a good time to tighten/replace the nut; it's supposed to take 63 Nm of torque, but I could only put 50 on it before the entire accessory belt started turning - under normal operation, it's self-tightening (as is the alternator clutch pulley), so exact torque isn't critical here, and there's no point in thread locking the bolt either - it really won't loosen if the alternator clutch pulley is working properly
16. Install the new pulley by reverse threading it onto the alternator shaft, then insert the tool again and torque clockwise to 80 Nm (again, it's self-tightening, so exact torque isn't critical)
17. Install the cap onto the pulley with your thumbs only, making sure all edges seal and are flush with the outer pulley ring
18. If the lower alternator mount bushings fell out at any point, re-insert the bushings into the engine-side mounts by lightly tapping them into place with a small mallet
19. Lift the alternator, remove the towel, rotate the alternator into rough position, pre-install the upper-right bolt, then put the belt back in place over the two pulleys
20. Manoeuvre the alternator into place so the lower sleeves are in-place - then hand-tighten the upper-right bolt so the weight of the alternator is supported, then double-check the fit to ensure the bushings are lined-up - don't worry if there's a small gap as tightening the lower bolts will close any gap
21. Reinstall the three remaining bolts and use your fingers to tighten all 4 as much as you can - you may have to lift and/or jiggle the alternator to help turn the bolts
22. Using a 10mm socket, tighten the upper bolts - if you have a slim torque wrench, tighten the bolts to 25 Nm, otherwise do not over tighten or use any thread locker/anti-seize
23. Using the 10mm box-end wrench, tighten the lower bolts (again, do not over-tighten - 25 Nm isn't a great deal of torque) - there's no hope of using a torque wrench on the lower bolts
24. Re-connect the "dashboard light" connector and reinstall the alternator cable with a long socket (maybe clean the eyelet with a bit of 800+ sandpaper first, if it's dirty) - the torque on the nut is 15 Nm - be careful to not crack the regulator housing as that's basically they entire cost of the alternator
25. Re-connect the inlet pipe, noting that you may have to re-connect the resonator while the pipe is 1/2 way in (if you had to remove the resonator to remove the inlet pipe), then tighten the upper and lower clamps
26. Re-connect the battery and test

It looks like many steps, but I've covered off all the details, so the actual in-car time is quick; this technique saves you from removing the lower skirt, lower induction pipe bolts, all 8 connectors, and 7 bolts from the intake manifold. Reduces risk of: cracked connector housings, dropping things into the combustion chamber, and so on. I've tackled this repair both ways and while this method does have a couple of tricky parts - mainly around moving the alternator around, it's way faster, cleaner, and easier than removing the entire intake manifold. I know someone else who changed the regulator in-place, and as long as your armatures aren't shorted, you should be able to repair your alternator quickly and fairly easily.

I'd upload photos, but the upload manager keeps rejecting all of my photos regardless of size or other attributes. If anyone know why this is, please let me know.

Hope this helps! Noticed that this forum is much quieter than it used to be (could it be the insane number of ads?) - not sure, but if there's no interest here, I'll cross-post elsewhere and maybe post a video. Many years ago, this place used to be hopping, but I understand that stuff happens...good luck and please post any questions.