1984 12SI Alternator Restoration

Why? Because I can.

I have leftover pieces parts from the 85 rebuild, so rather than let them go to waste, I figure I'll just go ahead and buy a few more sundry items and run the gambit on rebuilding a mid-year 1984 78A alternator as well. This is the alternator which was on my 84 H/O when I got it. It wasn't even made until after the H/Os were built that year, so I know it isn't the original. I won't be replacing the rotor and stator with new, however, as I cannot find any NOS ones. But the rotor/stator checked out fine electrically on the 85 original pieces with 60K miles, so I'm rolling with those. It won't be quite as detailed as the other thread, but again, there will be comparison pics done. I've got almost $300 in the restoration of the other one, but that was including the big bracket and prepping/refinishing the fasteners too. So far, I'll have MAYBE $110 bucks or so give or take on this one. We'll see which one turned out better looking.


I tore down the 84 unit to parade rest:



And these will be sent out for cleaning/blasting. Now, before you get your panties in a wad about blasting aluminum, the main point of this exercise was that I let someone else do all the refurb on the case last time. For what he charged, plus getting his stodgy attitude for free, I suppose, I figured I'd try this out myself for a LOT LOT less. Granted, I had some fasteners cleaned and plated as well at the time, but I'm still saving a ton. Plus, I have the "AR" stamp already...

The casing is being sent to a guy that does "vapor honing" or basically, water blasting with fine media. The process "seals" the metal so you don't necessarily have to hit it with clear or anything, and no residual media is left over, nothing to clean up really, and it's really a great way to go with aluminum because it's super-gentle on the soft metals. And, for about $65 (includes shipping both ways) for getting this alternator case done...well worth it IMO. It's going out in today's mail.

Examples:
Corvette aluminum valve cover started with the process:


Top cover vapor honed, the bottom two are NOS right out of the box:


Looks pretty good.


And the Corvette alternator case...I was sold.




We'll see where this ends up.

Holy Jesus! USPS must've heard me talking about them. Ok, probably not. But check this. On Tuesday morning, 2/18, I mailed off my alternator casing halves to the vapor blaster. There's nobody near here except in Florida or North Carolina. So I was shipping it either way. There's supposed to be a guy in Atlanta but I couldn't get hold of him.

Anyway, for whatever reason, it made it to the shop I shipped it to late on THURSDAY afternoon, 1/20. I got an invoice today, paid it, and it's back in USPS's hands of of today 2/21 at 10:51 am ET. My head is spinning. I know an alternator case shouldn't take long to blast, but friggin' wow! That's ultra-fast service. I'm stoked to see what it looks like. The one piece I didn't have and is on order as of Tuesday won't even be here until early next week, but dayum. That was fast turnaround. Communications with the owner was great and emails must go straight to his mobile because he usually answers any question within minutes.

Anyway, if it turns out good, I'll disclose the name and contact info. Well, if it sucks I'll do that too, just so people can avoid it. Either way, I'm still floored that it's already on its way back to me.