So I believe my alternator is to blame for the weird smell I got and then my battery being dead.  I charged the battery up and checked with multimeter and found the amps were not increasing when car was started and revs high. The smell, I can only think that the alternator blew - weird but sort of elec burning smell.  The belts are fine. Soooo my questions:
 

• I haven't done it in a long time, can a Gen 3 turbo alternator be removed from the bottom, without removing the crossmember? How many hours am I looking at?
• Has anyone got there alternator reconditioned lately? How much? I know I could prob find a second hand of the forum - last time I looked about 5 years ago, they were around $150. But i know these are now 20 years old... so reconditioning one is a good idea.

Cheers guys

Short answer - NO.  The alternator needs to be unbolted (good luck there) then you slide it across the engine bay, rotate it and lift it up from the passenger side.
 
It's a 6 of one/half a dozen of the other job, and sometimes it's less frustrating to remove the cross member.  Gives you a chance to clean it, and check the state of the mounting bolts at the same time. Speaking of mounts, it's a good time to examine your suspension bushes (including the sway bar mounts that live on top of the cross member.
 
Best of luck!

I may be stubborn but alternator is loose, just trying to squeeze it through the crossmember and axle. Before i can do this, my Berk B Pipe needs to be removed. Ive unbolted but I just cant squeeze it through. I dont remember having to remove crossmember when installing it. So might just have drop the crossmember and accept I wasted time removing bpipe.

Those X-member bolts have a lot of extra thread.
It may be possible to create enough clearance by just loosening them, and not totally removing them.
There may be perhaps 20 mm or so before they come right out.
Normally the exhaust pipe will tend to hold the X-member up but you may be lucky.
 
 
 

Is it just the three central bolts you need to undo?

Errrr....Are you serious?
Those 3 bolts in the center only hold the rear engine mount.
 
The X-member is held by 4 bolts up into the chassis (2 on each side)
Jack the car safely with jack stands etc, and undo them just enough to create clearance to remove the alternator.
The X-member wouldn't need to come out completely for that job, but you would need to support it with something like a trolly jack if the 4 holding bolts were actually taken right out, because if the exhaust pipe were removed as well as the 3 rear engine mount bolts the X-member would fall right down if not supported.
 
 
 
 

ahh yess... its all coming back now...
 
Thanks

I assume you know you'll need to remove the rear wheels to get at the X-member support bolts.
When you replace them later make sure they are really tight, (83 ft/lbs)
Once again, make sure the car is supported safely for the job!!
 
Good luck with the simple job of replacing the alternator lol.

I do now.. I have the right wheel off already... yeh on jack stands and have done the earthquake test.

So recommendations... Any one know how much it will cost to recondition an alternator? Awhile back 2nd hand alternators range are around $150, is that still the case?