Alternator on the exhaust side...

[jondee86]

I'm going to be running my alternator on the exhaust side of a 4AGE in my AE86.
And using the AW11 no-A/C bracket puts the alt in this position...



... which places the ass end of the alt just about 2-1/2" from the front tube on
the headers. I'm using an alt with the built-in regulator, and I'm wondering if there
will be any problem with cooking the regulator ?

My headers are ceramic coated which cuts down the heat a bit, but I would like to
hear from anyone who has run an internally regulated alt on the exhaust side. Did
you have any problems with heat or did it work just fine ?

Cheers... jondee86

[Rogue-AE95]

The 4A-FE bracketry places the alt in roughly the same place as that pic above, and they seem OK being there. But the FE exhaust manifold has heat shielding panels, and the FE alt sits a bit higher than it can with a GE (because of the GE dizzy being on the head like it is). Maybe you can make up a heat shield for the alt like the dizzy has?

[sirdeuce]

All sorts of insulating material out there. If you want to make your own, ceramic and basalt fabric are excellent insulators. Just don't wrap the alternator as it needs air to flow through to cool it.

[Rogue-AE95]

Not to thread-jack this. Sirdeuce, on that note, would it be OK to ceramic coat something like an alt or dizzy housing? That way it has a little more thermal protection than the plain aluminum, but can still have its vents & openings cleared.

[jondee86]

Hmmm... must of been having a bad hair day... the gap between the header and the
alt is only about 1-1/2"... maybe a bit less...



I guess I could to make some kind of shield from alloy and have it form a "fence"
in the gap between the two. There are a couple of bolts or threaded holes close by
so shouldn't be too hard. Or maybe rivet something lightweight onto the outside of the
alternator cowl. Worst case I could mount the alt down low, but then I am back to
levering on the alt to tension the belt and I'm trying to get away from that.

Cheers... jondee86

[davew7]

When you build your heat shield, I would extend the shield up and around the back side of the distributor. [even with a ceramic coated exhaust] You could attach the top of the shield to the rear distributor mounting bolt, and use one or both the engine block bosses near the oil pressure sensor. You may also want to consider riveting a rib to the shield to prevent it from vibrating. Dave W

[notnilc20]

Could you heat wrap your ex. Manifold?

[jondee86]

I've seen it done... just a few inches of wrapping on the nearest exhaust runner.
At the moment I'm still deciding... but I quite like the idea of adding a shield that
pop rivets to the alternator cover. Light alloy with a kind of angled plate that fixes
to the cover with three tabs. Gonna make a cardboard mockup to see how it would
look in place.

The ceramic coating on the headers actually cuts down the amount of heat that is
thrown off, so it's possible that I am making a mountain out of a molehill

Cheers... jondee86