Hi all:

This is kind of weird.

A couple of years ago I rebuilt and installed an engine in my '82 Westy.
Intallation went fine, no problems that I can remember, engine ran strong.

About a year ago I decided to remove the transmission from the Westy without
removing the engine (something I'd never done before, and wouldn't do again)
and, in doing so, slightly tore the rubber boot that goes between the fan on
the alternator and the body.  I removed the torn boot and ran without it for
several months.

Yesterday I decided to install a good boot in the vehicle, and damned if I
didn't have a hell of a time installing it.  Not that I don't know all the
tricks, it's just that the alternator seems to be sitting too low in
relation to the boot's attaching point to the body.  I finally got it
installed, but the boot's distorted by its "reach" up to the body.  (If you
hold one of these boots in your hand - I've got 3 different ones - and tilt
it so the front mounting point is vertical as if it's attached to the
alternator you can see that the top of the rear mounting point is just about
level with the top of the front mounting point.)  It's as if the entire rear
of the engine is sitting too low, buy a couple of inches.  Naturally, I
can't find anything to account for this.

The engine carrier is tight up against the frame.  The rubber mounting
points are still there and look to be intact.  The front of the engine can't
be "too high" because there's only the one mounting point.  The only
explaination I can even dream up is that I somehow damaged the rear engine
mounts, but that typically results in one part of the mount seperating from
the other part and can't result in a "settling" of the engine unless a piece
entirely disappears.

What the heck is going on here?  Can somebody stick their head in the engine
compartment and confirm to me that the boot in question does, in fact, sit
fairly "naturally" between the alternator and the body.  (I'd check my other
Vanagon, but I've got the engine and trans out right now.)

TIA.
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Tom Young
Lafayette, CA 94549
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