Yeah, small case would have definitely not been an issue. The reman alt went in super easy yesterday.
The problem with the large case is that it hits the bolt heads on that bottom bracket and so even 1" spacers between the block and bracket probably wouldn't have worked. I would have needed to extend the pivot points on the bottom bracket out another inch or two. I think the key here is going to be a longer upper bracket off an FE engine. And, now that I think about it I know someone who has an old FE 360/390 rusting away in a field that might still have that upper alt bracket on it. Hmmmm. 8)
Anyway, got it fired up yesterday but got more issues that I'll deal with in another post/thread. (Doesn't want to idle, dies on tip in and has a misfire.)