Why else would they make the overflow jug block the alternator pivot bolt. All they had to do was narrow the mold by what 3/4" and the bolt would be able to come right out. Now I have PBlaster soaking on the upper tranny line which I'm going to have to undo in order to nudge the shroud over another 1/2" so I can get the bolt out. Oy!!
I had the pleasure of dealing with this 3 times trying to figure out what was wrong with my alternator. What I did was I wiggled the shroud off the metal guides and lifted it on top of the lower radiator hose (assuming its the same on the 73 as the 75) and I was able to push the overflow jug over enough to take that pivot bolt out. Lots of cursing those engineers out though. What a stupid design.
I know they were only considered intermediates or mid-size, but for as big as they are, they sure don't have a lot of room to work on things...
I was griping about that to my dad actually! Almost a foot of room behind the engine to the firewall for what, but not enough room at the front to take out that pivot bolt? Quite the waste of space to be honest. Comparatively, taking the alternator out of my tiny little old Mazda was ridiculously easy. Probably 1/3 of the engine bay, but a lot of room to work where it counts.
To be honest, if you were the engineer, would you care about serviceability Yes, the engine bay is tight in the GM bodies with a Buick V8, Olds is similar, the Chevy V8 is much narrower
The shroud in the 68 riv also blocks that bolt. In the past I slid the bolt back to where it hit the shroud then marked it. Next time the shroud had to come out I used a uni bit and made a 1" hole there. no more problems. I know ya cant do that with an over flow tank.
The shroud on ‘68-‘69 GS 400s (presumably 400 Sportwagons too) is also in the way by the slimmest margin. I can imagine that, back in the day, a lot of these now difficult to find shrouds got a clearance hole like Briz did. At least it’s pretty easy to move the shrouds on these. Patrick
If I was the head of the manufacturer's warranty program I sure as hell would. The irony here is that parts that are ultra-reliable almost always are easy to replace. I'm thinking of the old Mopar slant six starters. Changing one is about a five-minute job and you don't even have to put the car on a lift. I spun wrenches for 24 years and I think that I have replaced only one.
On a non-ac car it's easier to pull the whole bracket with the alt. That way you can leave the long bolt in the bracket. Edit- probably easier with an ac car too. Just flop the compressor out of the way.
A few years ago our at local show was a Citroen SM from the mid ‘70s. It was a marvel of complication. It looked like the engineers were from an alternate universe. I hear the new ones aren’t even fun to look at. Patrick
Brought to you from the Why Make It Simple When You Can Make It Complicated School of French Engineering. They share credits with the corresponding German equivalent university, but only the engineers - not the designers
I believe a lot of the stuff we question is because the engineers "had to" "had no other choice" or "hell we forgot this piece"
