Did all Fiero's come with alternator heat shields? Whuffo showed me the one he has on his 86SE notchie and we got to talking about them. I havent seen many Fiero's with them. Mine certainly never had it. We both have a theory that when the previous
owner(s) replaced the alternator, they left off the heat shield due to the difficulty of getting the alternator back in with it attached.

Your input please.......

Thanks, Kit (86 GT Auto)

My 87 GT has the alt. heat shield, and yes I did change out an alternator and did put the shield back on.
Other than being a MAJOR pain to reinstall, I'm not quite sure what real good the darn thing does, as it appears to effectively block air flow through the unit.
Even the silly air cooling tube from the blower in the trunk blows cooling air not into the alternator, but onto the *outside* of the heat shield!
The proximity of the back side of the alternator to the rear exhaust manifold made me decide to reinstall the heat shield, but now I'm wondering whether it was really necessary.

Randy

I looked into them and decided they were over-engineered. What they really do is to protect the alternator from the radiant heat from the exhaust manifold. The way I did the same thing was to use some RTV sealant and some header wrap. I cut the header wrap to size and glued it on the casing of the alternator leaving the vent holes open. I only did the areas that are adjacent to the exhaust manifold and left the other areas open to the air. On the surface closest to the manifold I doubled the layer.

It seems to work pretty well.

Arn

I didn't reinstall the heat shield after installing the heatcoated Fiero Store Sprint headers. No problems so far.

All Fieros with V6 engines (except the '88 models) came with an alternator heat shield. Many "got lost" when an alternator was replaced.

Are they necessary? I think so - it's not very far at all from the exhaust manifold to the alternator; anything that cuts the heat down a little is a good thing. Fiero alternators need all the help they can get.

The cooling tube is aimed to shoot air behind the heat shield...

just wondering if anybody with a v6 has replaced an alternator and had to turn it 180 deg. i just replaced mine and the one i got is suppoesed to be for a v6 but i think it was for a 4 cyl......anyway now my wires are even closer to the exhaust, i made up a heat shield for it, anybody else have to do this??

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Factory '87 GT 5-speed

quote Originally posted by noodle: just wondering if anybody with a v6 has replaced an alternator and had to turn it 180 deg. i just replaced mine and the one i got is suppoesed to be for a v6 but i think it was for a 4 cyl......anyway now my wires are even closer to the exhaust, i made up a heat shield for it, anybody else have to do this??

These alternators can be assembled in 4 different positions; your's is "clocked" wrong. It's a simple thing to fix; remove the 4 bolts holding the two halves together and without pulling them apart, turn them into the proper orientation and put the bolts back in.

quote Originally posted by Whuffo: All Fieros with V6 engines (except the '88 models) came with an alternator heat shield.

The 88s have one also - its attached to the exhaust manifold stud closest to the alternator. Its a much better design in my opinion; it lets airflow get to the alternator while theoretically keeping all the heat from the exhaust manifold away.

quote Originally posted by Whuffo: These alternators can be assembled in 4 different positions; your's is "clocked" wrong. It's a simple thing to fix; remove the 4 bolts holding the two halves together and without pulling them apart, turn them into the proper orientation and put the bolts back in.

but it really makes no difference which way it is on right?

My 86SE V6 has one.

quote Originally posted by Kitskaboodle: We both have a theory that when the previous owner(s) replaced the alternator, they left off the heat shield due to the difficulty of getting the alternator back in with it attached. Your input please....... Thanks, Kit (86 GT Auto)

The 4 cyls I have/had never had a sheild, but all the 6 cyls did. I always put the sheild back on the alt after it was back in near the mounts, but before it was bolted up.

Dave

quote Originally posted by noodle: but it really makes no difference which way it is on right?

It works the same no matter which of the 4 possible positions it's assembled in.

Just remember you may have to use a paper clip to hold the brushed back whne you reassemble it . Once it is back to gether you pull the clip and the brushed fall back into place.

Sometimes you can turn them and not pop them out of place but many always pull them too far apppart and pop the brushes out.

Clocking is a normal thing you need to do in many replacements of the alt.

quote Originally posted by Whuffo: It works the same no matter which of the 4 possible positions it's assembled in.

but the wires won't melt will they? i think they are like 3 inches from my exhaust and i have a heat shield made up that covers them

While were on the topic of heat shielding, it's not a bad idea to put some of that self-stick aluminiumized heat shielding on your starter case. Summit and Jegs carry the stuff. Cost like $9 bucks and worth it. Our starters get too darn hot where they are. It will take you about as long it does to jack your car up to do it.

Best bang for the buck upgrade for my 87 GT I even did was upgrading from the CS to the SI alternator. The SI has a build in fan to keep temps down. Yu can't clock the SI's like the CS's but they last for forever and can slide in the engine compt with out removing anything but the dogbone