SURVIVOR vs. GROUND-UP RESTORATION!

[Cuda Cody]

Dave, I love looking at your photos.  You have the knowledge, care and ability to do some incredible work.   

[resq302]

Nice article.  I know I have had excellent results with RPM!

[hemi68charger]

Wow Dave,,,
Just got to this thread ( maybe for the 1st time )........ Good stuff there.............

Troy

[resq302]

Wow Dave,,,
Just got to this thread ( maybe for the 1st time )........ Good stuff there.............

Troy

Late to the party again, huh Troy?   

[resq302]

Dave,

I can't remember the specifics of your alternator, but I seem to recall it being different than the standard resto or the standad alternator.  Something about the inspection mark being painted on vs. brushed on.  There was recent post on Moparts.com about a "PERFECT" restoration.  What were the differences between this perfect restoration and the alt. on the Valiant?

[anlauto]

The Valiant had yellow inspection paint sprayed on while the other one had orange paint brushed on. Both are proven to be correct. 

[resq302]

Ok, thanks Anlauto.  I remembered it had yellow but that there was something special about it since it was not the norm.  Now that you mention it, the spray would have been different from what the norm was.

[anlauto]

Yes it's not the norm, but ECS was able to present excellent "before" photos

[resq302]

Thanks Dave.  I remembered that they were out there somewhere but I couldn't find the thread where the pics were.

[resq302]

   never realized that there was a difference between the casting and the insert finish.  To think how many of the original finishes have been ruined due to lightly sand blasting or media tumbling the housings.    Like you said though, it all comes down to time vs. money option and the majority of the people would probably opt for the rougher finish vs. the extra cost and time it would take to restore it to factory new with the smooth finish.

Thanks for sharing and letting me learn something new.

[anlauto]

Unfortunately a lot of cores don't start out as nice and clean as the Valiant's did, at least not in my neck of the woods...

[anlauto]

I agree that starting with a good core is important. This is a picture of typically what I start with....Little too corroded for a polish job.....
Thankfully I never restore a car to OE level so most times a trip to NAPA gets me what I need.

[anlauto]

Honestly I can't say what happened to that actual alternator. I did get a date coded "172" alternator for the car at some point.
I can say that Jerry Luck did a fantastic job bringing those carbs back to life.
That was long before SSH started restoring carburators.

In your travels since, have you ever found or documented other alternators with a similar spray painted inspection mark ?

[resq302]

The methods used to restore the aluminum finish is what makes the difference in obtaining a correct appearing Alternator.  Some think that a clean, bright surface constitutes a Factory-Assembly Line finish.  Not true!  Alternators incorporated two types of aluminum castings.  The front & back halves were Green Sand cast and the positive diode insert had a rough cast finish.  When you bead blast the surface of the alternator housing, it ruins the smooth original finish.  It takes many hours to preserve the original patina.  To the defense of the restoration shops, it would be extremely cost prohibitive for them to provide this type of service and most Customers are not willing to spend what it takes to achieve true OE "perfection".  Here are a few Before & After Alternator photos from the Valiant.


Before - Alternator installed on Valiant


Before - Alternator


Before - Alternator Half


Yellow over-spray INSIDE housing from blowing through aluminum openings


After - Assembled - Back Side


After - Assembled - Front Side


After - Notice different Aluminum casting texture between the the Housing Body and the Positive Diode Insert


After - Installed



After - Installed

Dave,

Would you be able to explain the differences between the inspection marks?  like the orange that is commonly seen and the yellow on yours. (personally that was the first one I have ever seen yellow)  Was there a reason for that such as different inspector having a different color?   Is that what the OE judges look for?  Again, I have never entered OE judging as my car needs way too much to make it back to standards like that but I would imagine that they critique every little thing since it takes them HOURS to judge the cars?

[anlauto]

I had similar thoughts...Do inspection marks even come under the judging critria ?
How can a judge know what is correct or in-correct when it comes to inspection marks ?
I'm sure your photo proof was great for your car, but a lot of other cars didn't start out as clean.

How about if I restore a 1970 Dodge Dart and copy every inspection mark from your Valiant, would that make my car correct too ?