I put the alternator back together after some parts cleaning. I soaked the case in the Purplestuff for a couple days and scrubbed it with a brass wire scrub brush (something softer than the cast metal case). I then used some 0000 steel wool and Orangestuff hand cleaner and gently scrubbed the outside of the case under really hot water. It turned out great, it has that just tumbled look out of the casting mold.
As for the pulley and fan blade, they turned out to be just dirty. The original silver cad plating on the pully cleaned up nicely. The finish on the back half of the pulley was perfect, the front half, not as nice due to being out in the elements all these years. The fan blade still retained its original grey phosphate finish and just needed some soaking in the Purplestuff degreaser and scrubbing with a plastic scrub brush. After seeing the original finish on the pulley and fan blade, and all the cobwebs inside, it looks like this alternator had never been apart in 42 years, so it retained all its factory hardware after all this time. The only repair needed was a new front bearing and to heli-coil the upper mounting bolt hole which is always stripped out on these cases.
And you can even see the part number and date code on it now! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]
