Ok, with my engine kit together and on its way here, and some other parts on the way i'm getting excited about the motor, so i started on to some accessories , one of them being an alternator rebuild kit, which brings about a few questions...

The pulley, how the hell do i get it off,
as of now i am without air tool because for whatever reason my dad took mine to work... yeah well, i'm here with a great big 15/16 box end wrench and an allen wrench, which is rigged to a steel pipe for torque...
i am cranking as hard as i can on the center allen bolt , is this even the right thing to be turning? its not budging, .... even with heat o.o, which i probably should have never applied...

next, its aluminum
and it looks bad...

as of now i don't have the means for a new alternator so this one needs cleaned up and painted, whats a good way to clean it, without ruining it, and how does paint stick to aluminum?

 

You really can't afford $50 for a new alternator? No offense, but you're not going to keep the car on the road if you can't fork out for the parts that it really needs.

As far as getting the pulley off, take the thing into a shop. Hell, take it into a parts store. Many parts stores have electric impacts that they use to swap pulleys. I do it for free for customers.

 

When I got a new alternator he just used a drill with the correct socket and it came right off.

 

A drill usually won't work. Normal drills don't have nearly enough instant torque. You usually need an impact wrench to knock the nut off without spinning the fan.

 

its not that i don't have $50, in fact i have enough money to keep it on the road

i just have this sum of money for time like this i can spend 15 for a rebuild kit, LEARN (main reason for the project), have not Chinese crap parts, and still be 35 dollars ahead of the game.

 

You'll take that $35 dollars that you didn't spend and use at least a couple bucks in gas to run around and get parts, split up your time spent on doing it yourself and running around and you'll be worth about $8 an hour! Then again, if it was something I was interested in doing myself I would tear into it as well! That's always the priceless part!

 

yeah well, i found one at a local place for $31 with my shop discount, so with that taiwan bull snot, ill make it through cam break in... THEN i can buy the 50 or 70 dollar one.....

 

Napa's NAE (not the Rayloc brand) remanufactured alternators are some of the best out there. Usually reman'd in the US or Mexico to much higher standards than something you'd get at Autozone or Kragen. Welded circuitry rather than soldered by some chinese kid, completely new internals rather than reusing old bearings, bushings, windings, etc. Basically it's a new unit in an old case.

If you want to replace the brushes in yours, go ahead, but I still think you'd be much better off simply trading it for a good reman unit.

 

There was a 2 - part series on rebuilding a GM alternator in recent AutoRestorer issues. You may wish to check it out for some helpful hints!