Alternator doesn't fit

So a couple of weeks ago the charging system light came on a couple of times. I was actually a little happy in that it gave me the opportunity to put a new (not rebuilt) 3-phase 2010 alternator on my 2007. When I got it I saw the connector was in a different spot and orientation. No problem, extended the harness another 4" and thought I was good to go. The temperature finally dropped out of the triple digits after about 4 weeks so I decided to go swap them. Well I guess nobody has tried this with the Whipple manifold on their 3-valve. Or at least I never read about it. But I would venture to guess that this isn't going to work very well.




Even if I cut away the back of the housing and cut the bolt down there would be no room for the pigtail to plug in.




The alternator is not even seated all the way back on the studs. I think it would be touching if I slid it all the way into place.

So I guess I'm stuck with going back to a remanufactured POS single phase alternator. Anyone got any better suggestions?

You probably have to reclock it.

I don't think that will work. I think they are at the top of the housing and that is where it has the most clearance. I think I'm just going to have to use the right one. I will check it our before moving forward though.

If you have a alt repair shop you could ask them if they can swap the guts over to your stock alt.

I did that swap March 2015. I had the same issue with my Whipple intake and the bolt and the harness connector. If you snap the harness in before you mount the alternator it will be fine. As far as the bolt:


I been running mine like that since then and no problems. Actually everything bolted in and I had the engine idling but that bolt was within a "C" hair of the manifold so I cut it down.

In fact if you look close at my sig pic you can see the 2010 alternator.

I also wrapped the alternator in a plastic bag while cutting the bolt to keep the metal debris out of it.

wht67 said:

I did that swap March 2015. I had the same issue with my Whipple intake and the bolt and the harness connector. If you snap the harness in before you mount the alternator it will be fine. As far as the bolt:


I been running mine like that since then and no problems. Actually everything bolted in and I had the engine idling but that bolt was within a "C" hair of the manifold so I cut it down.

In fact if you look close at my sig pic you can see the 2010 alternator.

I also wrapped the alternator in a plastic bag while cutting the bolt to keep the metal debris out of it.

Click to expand...

I think I have to cut a lot more than that off. In the pics the alternator was barely on the end of the stud leaning forward and actually needs to go back almost another inch if not more. I would have to cut away some of the plastic housing to even bolt it up. I'll take some measurements today and remove the case and see what I actually have to work with.

That's unfortunate. Here is mine installed and running before I trimmed the bolt:

Well I got it on there. I did cut off the bottom plastic ear off the bottom lip to clear but ended up not needing to cut the bolt itself. The whole thing is closer than I am really comfortable with but I guess it isn't supposed to move so it should never really short itself against the manifold. Thanks wht67.

Can you grind down that stud some?

07 Boss said:

Well I got it on there. I did cut off the bottom plastic ear off the bottom lip to clear but ended up not needing to cut the bolt itself. The whole thing is closer than I am really comfortable with but I guess it isn't supposed to move so it should never really short itself against the manifold. Thanks wht67.

Click to expand...

That's great. I felt the same way when I had it first installed but with my luxk I wanted the extra clearance so I got the hacksaw out.

(sorry for the HUGE pic!)

All you have to do is take the plastic extended piece off and put the nut on the bolt screw down the nut and cut some of the bolt length off, works perfectly after that, 2010 has a longer stud on it than the 2007-2009 .. I had to do the same thing for when i installed the Whipple super charger, the bolt was hitting, cut it off and problem solved..

Anyone put the 2010 alternator on a Kenne Bell?