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For years my silver alternator has bothered me. I have been meaning to remove it and powder coat it texture black for the last 3 winters and I finally got around to it last week. I took a few pics and thought I would post them there. Removal is super easy, disassembly is a bit complicated, but by no means super difficult, and reinstall is of course super easy. I took the alternator off and completely disassembled it ti allow the cast aluminum halves to be cleaned and then powder coated. Since the castings will get a touch over 400 deg F during the process everything needs to be removed from the front and back half of the cases. It is pretty straight forward aside from desoldering the 3 phase leads from the voltage regulator board. These are soldered with some crazy solder that even at 900 deg will only reluctantly melt. They are also crimped in place complicating matters just a bit more. The internet tells me you want a 250 W minimum iron to do this and I agree after suffering thru it with only a 200 w soldering gun which got the job done but was not the right tool for the job. After things were all apart I spent a bit of time sanding down and removing burrs, flash and ugly seams from the alternator case halves. If you look at the alternator it really is an ugly beast that has no place under the pretty hood. I then masked the surfaces that I wanted to remain bare metal such as the heat sink interface for the voltage regulator/ rectifier circuit and the mounting bosses where it attaches to the bracket on the car. A quick preheat after cleaning and they were ready to coat. I used a texture black that has some shine to it but not too much, I am pretty fond of it even if it is a bit too understated for most chrome loving Vette owners. After the parts cooled reassembly was simple aside from the fact that I broke both of the brushes off when I dropped the VR assembly.....dont do that. It turns out that the brushes are non replaceable and you need to replace the entire Voltage regulator. I was having none of that so I acquired a set of brushes that was just slightly too large and milled them down to exactly the right size in the milling machine. I then de soldered the factory brushes and fished in and soldered in place the new brushes. I would strongly suggest you skip this step as it was a 4 hour diversion that I could have done without! The rest of assembly was a snap and before long it was mounted back on the car. I will include some pics below. To say that I am pleased with it is an understatement! Next up a black cover for the alternator mounting bracket ( removal is a huge PITA so not an option for me ) and then my throttle body is going under the knife next to get the same blackout procedure. Pics to follow below.
Sorry, but not my cup of tea. I realize it was a lot of work and you did a quality conversion, but, to me it looks like a aftermarket alternator that is spray painted to hide tarnished metal.
I know many like the change, but not me. Different strokes for different folks!
Sorry, but not my cup of tea. I realize it was a lot of work and you did a quality conversion, but, to me it looks like a aftermarket alternator that is spray painted to hide tarnished metal.
I know many like the change, but not me. Different strokes for different folks!
Hell of a lot better than that polished stainless steel crap some guys stick on everything under the hood and make it look like there's a kitchen appliance in there.
[QUOTE=Shark 82' CE;1596396876]That looks absolutely fabulous! I'm in a neck brace right now from a C-Spine fusion, otherwise I would start that project for my C5 today!
-It'll make a great early spring project!
Great Job
01-17-2018, 11:07 AM
How I powder coated my C5 Alternator
After the parts cooled reassembly was simple aside from the fact that I broke both of the brushes off when I dropped the VR assembly.....dont do that. It turns out that the brushes are non replaceable and you need to replace the entire Voltage regulator. I was having none of that so I acquired a set of brushes that was just slightly too large and milled them down to exactly the right size in the milling machine. I then de soldered the factory brushes and fished in and soldered in place the new brushes. I would strongly suggest you skip this step as it was a 4 hour diversion that I could have done without! The rest of assembly was a snap and before long it was mounted back on the car. I will include some pics below. To say that I am pleased with it is an understatement! Next up a black cover for the alternator mounting bracket ( removal is a huge PITA so not an option for me ) and then my throttle body is going under the knife next to get the same blackout procedure. Pics to follow below.
