May 19 - well, it's in

First off, the big news -- Stef and Aaron bought a house in Barrie !  They will be quite close to Alex and David's store.  Their closing date is July 8, same as the closing date for their sale in Oakville.   

There were a number of times that I thought that I was going to have to have the car towed, but I squeaked through.

First off, it's difficult to get the alternator in place.  The tolerance is very tight, so much so that just the thickness of the galvanizing might make it difficult to press it in.  Metal has no "give".  But, I got past that. 

Next, I had to get the lower bolt threaded even though I had no way of seeing if it was lined up with the hole.  This bolt goes through the alternator into a hole in the engine block and then back into a threaded insert in the alternator.  I finally figured out that if I put the upper bolt into place, but not threaded, I could rotate the alternator through its arc and find the hole.  Even so, it was a matter of using a small screwdriver so that I could "feel" that it was lined up, no shoulders to impede the insertion of the bolt.

Now came the tough part that was supposed to be easy.  The upper bolt passes through an idler pulley, through the alternator, a hole in the engine block, through an open 1" channel that I could see and then screws into the block.  If the bolt is long enough, it can screw right through and out the back end of that hole.

The bolt wouldn't thread.  I worked at that for 45 minutes to an hour, trying everything -- with the pulley, without the pulley, clean the threads over and over, use the vice-grips on the bolt head to allow me to push it forward (I can barely get my hand down there) ... but no luck. 

At that point I thought that I might be beat.  Then I realized that the open hole would allow me to use a longer and thinner bolt.  I looked around but the only thing that I could find in my workshop was a bolt the same size but with SAE threads.  I also had some 1/4" threaded rod that could be used as a last resort.

Checking in the garage, since there's no telling what my Dad might have had lying around, drawers, shelves, etc., I came upon a section of threaded rod the same size and lo and behold, who'd a thunk, it was metric.  Why there would be a piece of metric rod I have no idea.  Anyway, it was too long so I cut off an inch which left a very aggressive thread at the end and it threaded !  I figured that would have cleaned out the threads, fixing any issues since the block is aluminum and might have damaged threads. 

Nope.  The BMW bolt would still not thread.  Well, if an aggressive thread will work, why not ... so I cut off about 1/8" from the BMW bolt which is the round "nose" on the bolt and tried ... yup !

From there it was just a matter of time to get everything tightened up and back into place.  The "snorkel" was easy to get on the alternator (thought that would be difficult) and I attached the control plug and positive wire.  I had to figure out how to route the serpentine belt, but I had the X5 as a reference (same engine).  The plastic parts of the air filter housing were quite difficult to line up but I got there. 

Oh yes, and the radiator hose needed re-attaching.  I think that I could have done the entire job without removing the hose since I did the re-install with the hose in place but not tightened.

Oh yes, and the battery needed to be connected :).

I'd started the car before putting the air filter back into place so that I could see everything working and still have access.  There were a variety of engine codes that needed clearing and the "Brake" and "ABS" lights were on.  I wasn't sure about those ... having done brake work ... but in the back of my mind I remember that they might come on when power is disconnected and don't reset until the car actually moves and the sensors can work.

All together again, run the car and check the voltage ... 14 ... wonderful.  That's actually a bit high.  I would have expected 13.7, but oh well.

I drove it to the end of the road and back, rushed into the house, had a shower and went to Britt for Mass.  I didn't trust the car yet, so I drove the X5.  Later in the day I would take the car for a little run to Lange Road and back.  Today I'll go into town for another test.

What else ... David helped me move more wood; the woodbox is now full.  That's great -- last year I think that it took me a week to do this, moving a few loads a day. 

It rained in the a.m. but cleared up later, a lovely day.  We had a gang in the gazebo before dinner - Sandy and me, everyone from next door.  David used the gazebo a lot as well, down there reading.  It's a wonderful spot.

David had a choice of either salmon or crappie for dinner and he chose salmon.  I did it on the cedar plank, which is always good.  Potatoes on the grill and fiddleheads completed the picture.  The fiddleheads were a treat.

Onward ...