As some of you know my alternator called it quits on me and so i was on the look for a new one and decided to do the work myself, id just thought id share my experience for you guys so you dont make the same mistakes i did. This may also be informative because after i blew my original motor(before my import enthusiast days) it was replaced with the d16a zc sohc, yes thats right, sohc, so there may be some differences with the US d16. Anyways i finally was able to score an alternator off a friend who had a spare b16a alternator, just a little tip, if you have an si, make sure your alternator has 4pins where the harness plugs in, if it doesnt have 4 then it wont work, lots of local people try and rip you off by sellin you other model alternators. ok on to what happened, first i took off the stock alternator(easy enough, just 2 bolts) then i came across the problem of the alternator not being able to drop out, now you can do a couple of things here but i already knew it would not drop out ( thanks raeneshadow! ) so i was prepared, what i chose to do was remove the brake master cylinder, its held on to the firewall by 2 bolts, (WARNING! brake fluid is very very corrosive to paint and will strip it down to the bare metal, good to know, too bad i had forgot this and so i got to look at the bare metal of a small piece of my engine bay under the cylinder) once that was aside i took out the old alternator and then i put my new one in, one thing that i noticed when both alternators were out of the car is that the alternator that i had on the car had 2 grooves the b16a alternator had 3 on the pulley. I then put in my new alternator and put the bottom bolt on and tried to slip on the belt, uh oh, belt wouldnt come over into the pulley, doh! b16a alternator pulleys are a tiny bit bigger( hence the 3 grooves) so it doesnt exactly fit . What i had to do was take the alternator out, put the belt onto it and then have someone underneath the car guide the alternator into place, it took a little foce but it fit. (warning, if you choose to get another belt be sure to measure it since the pulleys a little bigger, it may hit the firewall, hence when you do a b16a swap you have to bash in the firewall.) i then proceeded to fit the top bolt on, i had to pry it a little with a screwdriver to move it enough for it to lign up to the alternator guide so i could put on the bolt. here i came across the next problem, the same bolt for the alternator did not fit!!! it was waaaay tooo small and so it could just slide in and out of the hole, so what i did was get a longer bolt and just put a washer on the end and tightened it, since the belt was smaller i didnt have to adjust it to tighten it because at its minimum adjustment it was as tight as tight could be! i thought it was gonna be a problem but it actually was just perfect. i jumped my car and it hasnt given me a problem.

here are my words of wisdom:
make sure your old bolts will fit on your new alternator
be sure the pulleys are the same or youll have to take a trip to the parts store for a longer or shorter belt.
plan on the worst thing happening and be prepared for it, or itll take you 4 hours to do a 30 min job.

 

Congrats man . I hope you re-bled your brake system after installing the brake cylinder thingie... heheheh... and I, too, have a large bare-metal area underneath the cylinder . Wear it as a badge of honour!

 

Congrats on the successful job. I finished my first oil change of the 'rex this afternoon and caught a glimpse of the alternator/etc. while I was under the car. Looks like a real PITA - from underneath, anyway.