Lizard928

85+ are metal for the outers

Wild Bill

Beware! Lawn furniture specialists don't know jack about coating parts! I got recommendations, shopped around and was assured the parts would be properly cleaned and baked three times before coating... and still, my intake has bubbles and my cam covers are peeling off. Going with paint next time.

heinrich

Ducman, I had a hard time finding good paint for the plastic centre cover. Can't PC those. Rob thank you I may take you up on your kind offer. Gentlemen thanks for your advice

Herman K

I guess if your going to paint the key is the converter to the Mg (meaning?) that allows the primer to bond?

What are the specs on the one you used?

BTW; Your job look great.

olmann

Thanks. My inspiration was from a pic of S4ordie's intake. I printed off the pic and matched it up to a factory Porsche color.

olmann

I will dig up all the info this next week and get it out. The converter is for the Magnesium/Aluminum alloy that the intake's are made out of. I spoke with the lead chemist of this place to get guidance on the best process. It is time dependent once the converter is used to get the primer on. After that it is normal paint process. Once all was complete I went back to level out the mating surface on the intakes for the gaskets and the paint/primer had to be aggressively sanded off. It was bonded very well and after a year I'm having no issues.

Thanks

Randy V

I used Light Almond Pearl - Duplicolor's Truck, Van & SUV paint. I also used a clearcoat of the same brand and type. The clearcoat really makes the base color shine. The primer is also Duplicolor, their Self-Etching Primer.

All available at PepBoys.

jbrob007

I took everything down to bare metal (everything we could possibly get to). Within minutes used Acetone to remove all excess dust & debris then sprayed multiple coats of 500 F Rustoleum primer. After a day of curing sprayed with 500 F Rustoleum silver & clearcoat. Didnt know anything about a "converter"... Figures - I'm already done. Anyway, the intake looks great! We'll see how well it holds up. I'm gonna try REALLY HARD to NOT do drop anything on my organ pipes or scratch em, etc...

Still cant upload pics... not sure whats up with that

Joel

GregBBRD

Every process has its downsides. There isn't a "free" lunch when doing this.

If your time is worth anything, it will always be cheaper to have it powder coated (unless they want $1000-$1500).

There are downsides to powder coating. Tough to add any "filler" to the valve covers to help get rid of the pits in the magnesium. I've also had the valve covers distort from the heat required to powder coat. Tough to get the "proper" color. Masking the edges so that the side covers bolt back on without either cracking the powder coating or having a un-coated edge is tough. Tough to get them to pay much attention to your $500.00 job. (That doesn't cover the cost of getting the oven hot, for the day.)

The best technique that I've found is to get a price from the guy at the counter, after telling him exactly what you want. Hand that guy a $200 tip....in cash, right up front....and ask him to "babysit" your pieces through the entire process and make sure they get done right. Tell him that the intake needs to be completely cleaned after bead blasting. Show him the little corners where the beads get stuck. Tell him how you want the "edges" handled. Tell him to "watch" the temperature...that this stuff warps when it gets too hot. Tell him everything. If he is like any of the my "local guys" that do this...$200 is more than he will make all day. It will be done correctly!

Painting sucks up serious time. Preping this stuff, priming with a "filler" style primer, sanding, reprimer, sanding, finish coats, and them coating with a clear coat sucks up some serious time. Bring a sack lunch...it is going to suck up a whole day.

Regardless if you powder coat or paint, the intake probably will need to be professionally stripped. They will have a tough time getting off all the paint with chemicals and thus they will almost always bead blast the intake. I spend a minimum of 3-4 hours cleaning out all the little corners on the inside of the manifolds...but I've never had an engine failure do to the beads getting down inside the engine. Once you've seen a $40,000 engine turned to scrap metal, from these beads, you quickly make sure that there isn't a single bead inside there. Note: The overspray from powder coating or painting will "glue" the tiny little beads into the intake system and blowing with compressed air will not "release" these beads. However, a few heat cycles will break these beads loose. I'm guessing that it takes only a very tiny amount of these beads to turn an engine into trash. I usually have my intakes stripped, bring them back to clean out the corners, and then either have them powder coated or paint them, in house. Make sure that they don't bead blast the intake again, at the powder coating facility (see the part about the $200.00 tip...worth every penny.)