i just got done replacing my water pump, and i re-installed the belt. Everything was ruuning fine but then i touched my altenator and it was really hot. Do they normally get hot and i have never noticed or is there something wrong?

 

they are hot when your motor is at operating temp ...

 

well my car had been running for about 1 min when i touched it

 

I just went through this too.
I thought I had a bad ground so I checked every single wire to make sure there was no shorts, then got a new alternator, and my fan killed the batt, I got another alt and the same.
I thought I was never going to get it on the road, but I just upgraded to an alt from a 95 gt and it still gets so hot I cant touch it, so just to be safe, I routed a battery cable from the alternator mounting bolt to the neg side of the battery.
the stock alternator is crap.
when you stop at a light your lights dim, and if you run the stereo, lights/fog lights, and heater/AC it will kill the battery in 1/2- 1 hour.