I haven't taken an alternator apart in years. Can the outside case be removed without everything else falling apart? I want to powdercoat the case if possible. I forget if the brushes are bolted to the iside or not and how complicate it is to reassemble.

Let me know please.

 

I dont think youd be able to powder coat it without completly disasebling it. And even then i dont think it would be a good idea because it may cause problems with heat disipation. Its really easy to take apart and assemble. Especially considering youve done them in the past. The only part i find a little tricky is getting the brushs to stay in place but usually a paperclip in the the vents does the trick.

 

I thought maybe powdercoat would hurt heat dissipation as well, but they I thought about it on the flip side as well and said maybe it would act like ceramic coating does on headers and help keep it cooler? Maybe I'll just polish it up and shoot it with clearcoat paint.

 

Ceramic coating makes the outside of the headers cooler by trapping all the heat inside, not what you want for an alternator.

 

The ceramic coating on headers is there to keep the heat in the exaust. The headers are actually hotter on the inside when coated.

 

There is a guy who powder coats them around here and thats the first I have heard of a cooling issue. I don't know his company name but I see him every year at the Barrie Automotive flea market because you can't miss all the fluorescent colored alternators he displays

 

Oops, I didn't mean to suggest that powdercoating the alternator is bad, just that that's not the effect you want.

 

To expand on what i ment and what i think Apeiron ment. For a street car i wouldnt recommend it due to the possiblility of premature alternator failure. But for a show car where appearance is everything you will probably be alright.

 

Yeah I think I'm going to just repaint the black center section and polish the outside covers. Then I'm going to clear them with some leftover clear from when I painted my truck. I did powdercoat all my pulleys and brackets this weekend and they came out awesome! I would highly suggest getting a kit if anyone is interested in powdercoating. It's such a simple process and the hardest part is cleaning the parts off first.

On a side note, is there any possibility of damaging my water pump if I powdercoat that? I have an aluminum Edelbrock unit and no matter how many times I clean it up the thing keeps corroding on the surface. I'm just afraid the temperature of the baking process will warp something or kill the bearings?