Hello friends
One of the things I learned while visiting with fellow Fiat owners on my Fiat meetup a few weeks ago was that my alternator bracket was really an old A/C bracket. I got a new bracket and belt but when I went to change them out while ago it seems that this might be a little more involved than I had anticipated. It seems that there must be bolts under the timing belt cover am I correct?? If so it'a a bit more involved than I thought. It seems to be working fine, just not sure it's getting the proper support is all under the current configuration.
Also do I have the correct replacement braket??
Thanks
Clark
1978 Spyder 1800 make that 2L! Finally making real progress!
I'm not 100% sure for the '78 but I believe the alternator goes on the passenger side of the engine. The new bracket you have is identical to one on my '75 parts car that is definitely on the passenger side towards the top. Since we cant see the other side there is no way to determine if you have all the parts you need.
I see... well I wouldn't mind it being on the other side. However there was the smog pump over there before in the same spot as that picture, that being long gone now.... there's nothing over there now except my hugely annoying oil leak!!
Speaking of oil leaks! I attempted to tighten the oil dipstick nut today with a little success it turned a small amount. I then sprayed the area down with brake cleaner to see if I did any good. I took it for a spin, then popped the hood and took a look, it wasn't the dipstick base that was leaking!! it is the oil separator hose where it comes out of the block!! It looks like Bayless still carries them I hope they still have them!
1978 Spyder 1800 make that 2L! Finally making real progress!
Some 77 & 78 spiders had the alternator on the drivers side. Also you do not have the correct crank pulley to mount the alternator to the passenger side. Remove the AC bracket and you can mount the top alternator bracket. Take off your timing belt cover to see where the ac bracket is mounted to. Probably an easy removal as the Spider AC system were dealer installed.
BTW The lower alternator mounting point for driver side alternators is the oil filter housing.
Ok so is this the only piece I need then? That means I'll need a new gasket for the block and drain the radiator and all that. Well now at least I can make proper plans... I'm not sure it's worth changing it!!
I am curious... if this is the old A/C bracket where did the alt mount when the A/C was still there??
1978 Spyder 1800 make that 2L! Finally making real progress!
I've had two 78's, one early and one late. Both had the alternators mounted on the drivers side. The bracket you show in the third picture is the correct alternator bracket, not an AC bracket. If you remove that large bracket/plate that is currently on there, you might see a stud sticking out of the side of the block. Mount the bracket on that stud and viola, a lot cleaner, and correct mount.
If you want to properly mount the alternator on the passenger side you will need a single track crank pulley, a recessed water pump pulley, an aluminum mount that fits the two lower studs on the passenger side, a new shorter belt, and some wiring.
The bracket pictured in the link Rook provided is an air pump bracket to push the alternator more forward so a recessed water pump pulley and single track crank pulley is not needed. The bracket may be slightly modified. This would be the alternative if you wanted the alternator on the passenger side without sourcing the extra pulleys, but its any body's guess what the lower mount in that picture looks like. Probably a modified air pump lower mount with several washers to get the spacing correct for all the pulleys to line up.
Depending upon the length of your lower pivot bolt (some are 1/4" longer) and whether its fed in from the front or back you may not need to remove the radiator. The long lower bolt and the oil filter housing mount should provide enough rigidity to prevent the alternator from wobbling, I'm sure you've had it up to 4000 RPM's without the belt flying off, but the adjuster mount does look odd.
As for your oil leak there are only a few places it could be coming from: The head gasket, the two upper exhaust manifold studs(second in from each end), or the two lower air pump bracket studs. I'm not sure if the upper air pump bracket stud goes into the oil way. In the picture you provided the stud is missing, try plugging that hole with a shallow bolt and copper washer to see if it stops. It could also be a coolant leak at the heater tube connection or the hose to water pump connection.
Rook, if you have the aluminum bracket for the two lower passenger side studs and Oklahoma doesn't want it, I'll take it, as I have the correct pulleys and want to do the alternator switch.
Matt thanks for more clarification. I wasn't aware that my oil leak on the pass side could be the head gasket. I knew about the exhaust studs. I took the smog pump off, I think it had a bolt and not a stud. But I may plug that just in case. I guess I need to take a can of brake cleaner and clean it off to see exactly where it's coming from. I am hoping it's the studs as Mark suggested a while back. He said to dry out and clean out the studs under the valve cover and silicone it, but I haven't had the time yet to do that procedure and have time to let it set up properly. The leak does seem to have gotten worse though so I need to do that. Maybe over the long weekend...
1978 Spyder 1800 make that 2L! Finally making real progress!
I'm glad you were able to get the proper help on this. When I went home last night I looked at the bracket on my '75 and it appeared to be part of the block cast (hard to tell under all of the oil) rather than a bracket. I was out of ideas to help you at that time. Good luck.
I wanted to share some pictures with you of my '78 and the way the alternator is set up in the car. This is my second '78 and both were set up the same with the alt on the driver’s side and both with the same type of bracket as you had shown in your picture.
My current car is also a California car and the smog pump and other things fell off when I pulled the engine last and they did not make it back on the car. The car runs great without them and it is a lot easier to resolve a lot of problems without the added junk.
I am not very good at adding the picture stuff so I added them to one of my websites and below is the web site. Let me know if you need any additional info on the '78s I seem to have had a great many issues that I have addressed and a lot of things that this website has helped me resolve.
With an ac compressor stuck in there the alternator would be mounted tightly
