Starter restoration : weird colored solenoid

[resq302]

Has anyone else come across this? I started taking apart this 1968 dated starter to restore it and thought the plastic / bakalite housing was a repro or after market but once I got it opened up, the Mopar logo was there as well as the part number. I have always known these to be white and never black in all the starters i have worked on over the years or seen at shows.

Do I have something unique?

Anyway, this is pretty much the other side of the restoration business I recently started. Since I did not have any before pictures of what a starter would have looked like, I just got this correct dated one for dads 69 GTX vert that I am restoring this for. Any questions, feel free to comment, PM me, or even send me an email at resq302 at aol.com









Armature I cleaned up and then took the pic







More pics to come as I make progress......

 

[Basketcase]

Has anyone else come across this? I started taking apart this 1968 dated alternator
Do I have something unique?


yes you do...that is what we in Ohio call a starter......:acme::jester:
if that turns out half as good as the altornater did, it'll be beautiful!

 

[Big John]

I've seen them in both white and black. Probably depends on which vendor they came from.

 

[resq302]

Thank you basketcase! I can't believe I typed that! Argh! :cower: Guess I have nothing but alternators on the mind! lol Anyway, yes, the plan is to get it in similar condition (starter wise) lol to what the alternator turned out like. (you know only being in the starter form) lol

 

[resq302]

Starter Restion : Its finished!

got around to finishing up the Starter Restoration project so I now have some pics for reference for those who might be interested in getting their starter or alternator rebuilt / restored.

internal parts all cleaned up



access cover seemed to have a black oxide finish to it once it got degreased



aluminum starter nose all cleaned up (notice it is not bead blasted and still has the original green sand cast finish!)







finished product with correct black over spray as the factory would have done!

 

[Roadcuda]

Nice work!!!

 

[resq302]

Thanks! I still have to remove the rubber covers I put on over the electrical connections just like the factory did and finish waiting for the paint to dry. Once that is done, it is totally finished with the exception of putting the Inspector decal on it.

One thing I should mention that I could not believe I have missed all these years. I was fortunate enough to locate an alternator housing and starter that had the nose unmolested. The aluminum pieces on the alternator were originally cast in what was called "green sand" and gave them a fairly smooth finish to it. (thanks to Dave Walden for pointing that out to me). A majority of the casings out in the market today have been completely ruined of this original finish due to rebuilders sand blasting the housings to "clean" it up and give it that fresh looking aluminum. Once this original finish is gone, there is no way to ever get it back. Luckily, there is a chemical process that can be done to remove the corrosion without having to go the sand blasting route as you can see from the example I posted. Granted, it is not for the faint of heart, however, no one ever said doing a correct restoration was easy.