the cost of front end accessory brackets is stupid expensive, as many of you know i preach build your own
i had my alternator out to replace the regulator this week and took a few pics of the bracket
everything was cut out with a 4.5'' grinder with a cut off wheel and a drill press for holes
3/16'' flat plate, some 3/8'' thick wall tubing for spacers and an adjuster bar i had laying around
it may be a little too industrial for some, but it has worked flawlessly for 30k miles
here's the view from the front, same basic location as the original generator
side view with alt removed
front view
3 bolts and spacers that go into the vortec head
the thought/design process is pretty simple:
start with a cardboard template of the head bolt locations
transfer to the main plate, lay out the mounting bolt locations, then the alternator bolt location to clear the head
trim plate to a nice shape and fabricate the actual alternator mount, i traced the main plate to make the shape of the smaller plate
for the spacers i estimated the length and bolted it up to check belt alignment, then adjusted the length to fit
i tack welded the spacers on while the bracket was bolted to the motor
for the adjusting bracket i cut the slotted end off a bracket i had, bolted it to the alternator and welded 1'' angle down to reach an existing bolt
no extreme engineering or autocad drawing needed, just designed and fabricated on the motor
fabricating your own brackets allows you to place components where you want them, not where ''they'' want them
it started with my ac bracket, all the universal brackets mount the compressor way high to be universal
i wanted my compressor low and out of view when looking at the motor
