Alternator bracket broken

[Brooksie]

When I bought my van, the bracket holding the alternator had sheared (2 bolts into the engine block). It had a secondary bracket bolted onto one of the small bolts on the face of the alternator and was also being held by the dip stick bracket and adjustor. Last week the dipstick bracket gave, ripping the stick out of the engine, snapping it in two and shearing the face bolt on the alternator, shooting it across the engine bay.
My mechanic feels that the drilling of the two bolts is the way ahead, but these are steel and could been an 'engine out' job as they are pretty inaccessible, plus at 135,000 is could / should be a new engine, but thats serious money and I can not entertain scapping a wonderful van for the sake of 2 bolts!
I'd love to hear your thoughts or even solutions.
Cheers

[Fritz]

I sympathise with your problem but at the end of the day there is little alternative to the correct mounting/ adjusting brackets as they are from the factory . You only really want to be doing this job once, and that means taking the motor out to do it,,,,,then so be it.......


Regards


Fritz,,,,,,,

[Brooksie]

So, £500 for an engine out and new bolts or £1200 plus vat for new engine and £500 for rebuild or a new tube and rejig - what a choice! It's amazing how much money you can throw at her- starting to think, well, if we are having a new engine, her upholstry could really do with a going over, and those wheel arches need attention....