Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Alternator removal 1994 +8

Hi all. 1994 +8, the engine/gearbox has to come out to fix a gearbox problem. Among other things the alternator needs to be removed prior to the big lift out.

Having sweated blood and used every spanner in the tool box to undo the three alternator mounting bolts it seems that the front bolt is too long to remove. The front of the car is to the right of the photo. The head of the bolt contacts the inner wing surface long before it clears the bracket.



Am I missing a trick? or do I have to remove the alternator mounting bracket which is bolted to the cylinder head?
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Have a look on the thread here that covers alternator removal of your particular mount version. It appears you could remove the whole mount or possibly cut a hole in the inner wing surface from the cowl direction to allow bolt removal.

Yes, you are missing a trick. But you are lucky. The classic Plus 8s were designed while the Factory still reacted, often, to the problems of access. Do you see the long vertical slot in the characteristic Plus 8 bulge on the adjacent valence? The sneaky fellas at the MMC put it there to give you access to the BRACKET bolt you cannot access from below or the side. Trying to remove the alternator only is a PIA. It was not planned that way. Remove it wit the bracket

BTW, the MMC alternator you have is of obscure Italian origin (at least for overseas folk) and NOT very potent. It can cause anomalies by your year. You can cure that fairly cheaply by switching (pun again!) to a more reliable locally-available-everywhere alternator producing double the amperage.


As noted, there is already a slotted hole put there by the MMC/

gmg

Hi Richard, thanks for the link regarding alternator bolt removal. I did a search before posting my query but didn't pick up that post.
Update. The front bolt is definitely too long to remove due to insufficient clearance at the front. I didn't fancy cutting a hole in the inner wing so went for removing the alternator bracket. This is only retained by 3 bolts with reasonable access. Once the bracket is free the alternator bolts can be wiggled out.
The nut on the front bolt is very difficult to access but rummaging through one of my late father's tool boxes I found a double ended half inch ring spanner with a bend in the handle. It was just the job to go down between the alternator and the inner wing to hold the nut and then loosen the bolt with another ring spanner on the head of the bolt. Someone must have been looking out for me!

Just stumbled on this. I had exactly the same problem several years ago and did indeed opt to cut a second slot in the inner wing