I polished my alternator
 

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...7_120_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...7_121_full.jpg

Bling Bling

Very schway!

Jon

Impressive free mod, I love those

Looks real nice. I would guess you had to take it all apart first?

You should take it all apart but i dont think he did. But, it still looks good. I was planning on doing mine up, but just painting it red like my oil cooler and intake.

Very nice Ray! Isn't it fun to take something dirty and dingy and make it look new? Here are before and after pictures of an alternator I restored.

Rich

You are right Rich, I was having so much fun I got two more alternators and a distributor out of my parts shed:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...7_122_full.jpg

Then I did my air pump:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...7_123_full.jpg

And no, I didn't do it the right way, I just held the part up to the brush and took off the scuz. It took about 10 minutes for each part.

Now, for us folks over 30, what's:

1. Bling Bling

2. schway

Ray

bling bling = something snazzy that you own, like a silver necklace, chrome trim, etc. it tends to me made of "rare" metal (i use the term rare very loosely, more like something other than the equivalent of particle board metal) like silver/gold/platinum and shiney in appearance.

dont know what schway means. I usually say schweet. self explainatory.

oh and what did you use to clean it?

One word Ray...suweet! Nice job. Show these younguns the right way to do things!

Rich

Dress it up
 

If you want to dress up the engine compartment, consider this:

If you are staying with the light blue air cleaner, find some paint to match that color, either a rattle can or "real paint".

Paint the oil filler cap, the steel armature housing in the center of the alternator, and even a few oil filters. These are very conspicuous parts.

Find some blue plug wires. Using red wires with a blue air cleaner looks too much like an Easter egg.

Color on the engine itself is not very effective if you are going to have the rats nest and all the stock plumbing in place.

I am building a 3 wheeler with a Kawasaki motor, and have used red, which will be the body color, to dress it up under the hood .

Whats that old saying???


If it doesnt go fast, chrome it???

stilettoman - what is your profession?

Do you guys wire brush there first and then sand and maybe go with a polishing ball like mothers with a compound?

I did mine by completely disassembling the alternator and sandblasting the case. That leaves it with a dull finish. To brighten it up, I use a wire wheel chucked into the drill press for most of it, and a wire brush attachment in the Dremel for the smaller corners and crevices. This results in a very nice looking piece, although it's not really polished. It won't be a smooth, polished finish, just a nice, clean, bright finish. Then, if you want to you can spray it with some Eastwood bare metal clear to keep it nice looking.

Rich

I did my entire spare tranny like that using a 4 1/2" angle grinder with a wire wheel. I also plan on doing the spare engine when I'm ready to rebuild it and port it.

the entire tranny??? damn....


that alternator looks nice :D

Professional Tinkerer????
 

dj55b - I worked for Boeing for 36 years, retired 5 months ago. I finally realized I would never finish all those projects in my shop unless I did them full time. Couple degrees in Aero, but did a lot of Maintainability work, looking over the designer's shoulder with my coffee cup in hand, "Are you sure I will be able to get a wrench on that???", really high tech stuff. There are several features on the 777 that I dreamed up to make the mechanic's job easier. My value to the company was mostly based on designing and building things in my shop, including three airplanes I restored. Those custom cars I built were minor diversions compared to restoring the T-6. Yes that is I flying the T-6, but that is NOT Tom Cruise flying the Tomcat.

Polishing things like the front cover and even the alternator are difficult and tedious if you really want it to have a polished gloss on every surface. As someone said, those nooks and crannys will drive you crazy. There are now some powder coat and ceramic coatings that have gotten pretty close to a polished metal appearance, but they are not cheap. However, when compared to paying shop wages for actual polishing they are not so expensive. The advantage of these coatings is they do not dull so easily as polished aluminum. I have polished valve covers on my Ford 302, and when I blew a radiator hose, the coolant really dulled the finish.

The four different finishes offered by Edelbrock on their intake manifolds are described on this page:

http://www.edelbrock.com/automotive_...lds_main.shtml

Stelettoman, the polishing is much easier if you use a wire wheel mounted on a stable grinder (you kind of force the wires down into the crevices, but not so much to damage something!). And it's really shiny.

Here is my set up:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...7_121_full.jpg

The finish comes out as brightly polished aluminum that does not really need anything else, even my wife is impressed:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...7_120_full.jpg

It's quick and easy (and cheap), only about ten minutes for even a really grungy alternator and works on all kinds of things. I think I'll do my AC next!

Ray

looking good Ray.