ehall

Tom, are you going to add this to your web page, which IMHO is a must read for a few 951 jobs/DIY's? It would be a good addition.

mahoney944

I like the insulator, has anyone found a better one than the one in tom's post? It looks like that one would help a lot, mine is exposed completely. I'll probably order that unless someone found a more seal perfect one that fits.

Tom M'Guinn

I was planning to, just haven't had the time. Stay tuned...

Cloud9...68

This may be a dumb question, but will the type of bracket shown in posts 51, 53, and 55 of this thread work with a stock alternator? I removed my AC awhile back (it died, and the car is primarily a track car), but haven't removed the comrpessor yet because I'm balking at the price of a bracket from places like Lindsey, and I'm not sure I want to go the Quest alternator route. So for me, the simplest and cheapest solution would be relocating my stock alternator after removing the compressor if I could do it with a home-made bracket. Thanks.

mahoney944

Yes, you could but for how cheap this upgrade is why would you want to use a stock alt regardless. Those things are bulky and poorly cooled. Heavy heat box. No matter where you put the alternator I'd upgrade it.

Cloud9...68

I hear you - it's more a matter of inertia and simplicity than anything else. My stock alternator is working fine, and reading through the threads on the Nissan retrofit, it seems that they don't always go smoothly. My car is a 968, so I don't have the space issues the 951 guys do. Just thinking relocating the stock alternator would be the simplest way to drop the dead weight the compressor is representing, for nothing but a bit of fabrication. I could always go with a Quest alt when the stock one dies.

I'm sure it was stated somewhere in this thread, but about how much lighter is the Quest alternator than the stock one? Thanks.

Black51

Weight savings is roughly 2.5lbs.

topley

So could the stock alt fit here? Possibly. I didn't try and line it up... I felt I was really lucky when I eyeballed the quest in position. I know a lot of racers want the alt down there and I've only ever heard of the stock one being mounted with the Lindsey (or stock non AC) style bracket. I'd probably try it.
Good luck!

Cloud9...68

I finally completed the relocation of my stock alternator, and I'm happy to report that it worked, using the same basic approach to bracket fabrication as reported here for the Nissan Quest alternator. I'm not sure how much interest there is for this here, since the stock alternator is so much larger than the Quest, and the primary purpose of the swap for the 951's is to save space (and a little weight), but for those interested in staying with their stock alternator, it is possible.

Since the stock alternator is larger in diameter than the Quest's, I had to use slightly longer brackets to enable the alternator to swing up high enough to clear the sway bar below. The holes in my brackets are 55 mm apart, vs. about 40 mm for the Quest brackets, as near as I can estimate from the pictures. I also had to grind a little material off of the bracket holder, as well as some off the alternator itself, to allow it to be mounted high enough. It took a couple of tries to get the belt length right, but I ended up using a 305K6 that I bought off eBay for about $7.40, including shipping, so the whole project cost me less than $15, giving weigth savings cost of under $1 per pound.

I took it to my first track session since the relocation yesterday, and I'm happy to report no problems of any kind, despite an elevation drop in one of the turns that temporarily gets the car slightly airborne. So, despite the tight fit, the alternator and sway bar never had any contact under the most extreme conditions they'll ever see. I made very sure the pullies lines up perfectly, so there's not belt noise of any kind, either.

Here are a few pictures - sorry they're a little blurry, but the low light conditions resulted in a slow shutter speed, and it was hard to hold the camera perfectly still at the awkward angles I needed.

Attachment 1042030

Attachment 1042031

Attachment 1042032

Attachment 1042033

topley

That is tight! Good to hear that it is putting up with track abuse.
Jay

ekoz

Before I start grinding away on this, just wanting to verify. Do these pics seem correct?

Thanks in advance for all previous documentation.

Tom M'Guinn

Did you see post 90 and the summary of grinding I listed? Your plan looks right, but is only part of the effort needed!

ekoz

Yes.. and thanks for posting. I read it and was laughing because there has been a heat advisory here the past few days so I'll probably be going through the same thing you did this weekend.

I do have access to a machinist (family friend who does work for free). If I tell him to match it, he could put it spot on but obviously my car would not be there to test fit so wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something obvious.

Tom M'Guinn

I forgot about that heat...and don't envy you. A machine shop could make it look prettier for sure, but my process didn't lend itself to a machine shop's services -- grind, test fit, grind, test fit, repeat nine million times...

mahoney944

have my engine out..... pictures of the Nissan alt mod