I'm replacing my alternator and plan on painting the brackets that hold it together. I'm curious if anyone has painted their alternator, if it's a bad idea, or just a silly one? You won't hurt my feelings... well, maybe just a little if you're really mean about it...

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I've seen them powder coated and think they look pretty cool. (Obviously you have to bake it while it's taken apart).

I think they look pretty interesting painted. Just my .02

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There's a shop nearby sells chromed alternators, so painting them couldn't be all that bad. As long as its done well I imagine it could look good as well.

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I'm beginning to reconsider painting the alternator bracket after cleaning it up a bit...




I'll have to stop by Home Depot tomorrow to pick up wire brush for my Dremel to get into the nooks and crannies. At least for this part I'm thinking a high temp clear coat. While I'm going this far, I might as well look into getting a polishing wheel for the grinder to get an even high polish on the bracket. The other brackets that were originally black, I think I'll repaint them high gloss black. Regarding the chrome alternator, I'd hate to worry about pitting- seems my luck with chrome isn't all that great. Why do engines have to get dirty?

Chrome would be nice though...


Before I can even consider something like that, I have a lot of work to do in that engine bay to justify putting it in there...

Well, if you give up on polishing all thos nooks and crannies, the rustoleum high temp silver BBQ paint makes a nice powdered aluminum finish. works well on the alt case also. Paint is made for direct application to aluminum.

Spray painting the alternator probably wouldn't be a good idea because if you got any paint in the vents I'm sure it would wreck havoc with the brushes/motor, etc. What you can do is what I did in my previous Fiero. I painted it by hand with a small brush and high heat stove paint. Looked nice and maybe even kept some of the heat off it.

[This message has been edited by Gokart (edited 03-25-2007).]

Im not sure but I think if you paint the or coat the alternator case it may not
shed heat as well as just being bare aluminum.
From what Ive seen.. cool alternators generate closer to their rated amps
than hot ones

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ive done it twice on my rx7 and had no problems, i also taped it off and mainted it while it was together. there are plates on springs in the rx7 alternator that are a pain to fix if taken apart, id assume the fiero would be the same. but yes it can be done

I stopped at the local Advanced Auto and picked up a gasket kit for the intake so I guess this is going to turn into a larger project! As long as I'm fooling around, I might as well get some of that high temp silver paint and clean up the water pump1 I'm not crazy about taking it off, not that it looks to be too hard to do, but if I'm going this far I might as well go to town... Off to Lowes for some paint!

if youre going that far, id highly recommend replacing it, rather than paint the old one.

I was told that the one on there was new, but I could look into finding a chrome one... Hmmmmmmmmm...

If you paint your alternator or brackets, just recognize that the alternator gets its ground through the bracket and block.
Anywhere that the parts touch, or wherever a bolt head contacts, should not be painted.