Got the rebuilt alternator installed. Took me a couple of hours, spent mostly finagling the thing back in. I did remove the passenger seat rails from the floor... moving the seat forward. Did not disconnect the harness under the seat. That gave me some wiggle room. Others have said the German engineers could have given another 1/4"... even 1/8" for the short bolt.
The longer bolt (idler pulley) necessitated the use of the short crowbar and long screwdriver to line up the unit so the bushing (in the rear) received the pulley bolt. That took ~5 minutes.
It was an exercise in patience.
Tightened everything back up, and tomorrow I'll go back in to make certain everything is snugged up. The"new" unit sounds very quiet. It's clear, now, that the 2 years I've owned the car... the alternator was noisy.
I failed to take the ibuprofen 30 minutes beforehand, and I'm certain I'll be feeling the effects of that failure in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
Many thanks to all who have, over the years, shared their tips and tricks.
