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I have one that's essentially original and another that's powdercoated and "blingy"
84 Euro S 4.7L that's essentially original
Spider was simply painted with Auto Zone high-temp silver paint that has the Ceramic in it.
My '79 got a lot more attention with custom powdercoating, including the valve covers, strut brace, supercharger bracketry, etc. The grey is a kind of hammered gray and black look finish, whereas the red is smooth.
This was prior to replacing the simple breather setup with the dual chamber AOS that's shown in the previous photo
Exhaust manifolds were done with Cerakote in a smooth finish for high temp sustainability
Let’s take a vote. Clean with brakleen and bristle brush then matte clear coat or soda blast then matte clear coat? I hate making decisions like this. I’d rather leave it to the folks that have been around the block a few times.
Be careful with clear coats in the engine bay. Even the high temp ones turn kind of a beize color over time when exposed to the heat.
This intake I did was bright silver high temp paint with a high temp clear over it,and over a few years became this color. It looked kind of cool, but is not the color it started out as because of the clear.
Be careful with clear coats in the engine bay. Even the high temp ones turn kind of a beize color over time when exposed to the heat.
This intake I did was bright silver high temp paint with a high temp clear over it,and over a few years became this color. It looked kind of cool, but is not the color it started out as because of the clear.
This was the color when initially painted
This is what it aged to over time
This is what it aged to over time
Good advice. Thanks. I was planning on either cerakote or powder coating with the matte clear. Similar to Rob’s in one of the above posts.
I used a brass brush wheel on a hand grinder when I did the top end/head gaskets on my 84. I.e., I put each piece of the spider in a vice and polished them. I finished with a very light coat of high temp clear coat. If you're going for originality, I'm sure it didn't look this shiny when it left the factory.
I, too, am a fan of the wire brushed look. I have been surprised at how look it retains a good look, and it is easy to re-do or touch-up if you feel the need for that at any point.
Powder coat works and looks good, but Cerakote has been great for me. It is not going to give you any trouble in the heat - it is designed for guns and can get pretty hot without a problem. The Aluminum Clear is rated to 300F and the Glacier series which has a couple of nice silver metallics is rated at 1800F. It is very durable and resistant to chemicals also, much more so than regular engine paint. My avatar shows my freshly sprayed intake and cam covers in Cerakote Glacier Titanium 4 years ago. No fading or flaking in spite of dubious prep and the rookie DIY job. Highly recommended.
Yes, it's the Cerakote matte clear, which gives everything a slighly bluish-gray tinge, but it still looks like a raw aluminum casting. I used it on every bare aluminum casting on the car. Which is probably not concours-correct, but the ease of cleaning is worth the originality hit.
So I’ve started the soda blasting. Here is a sample. What do you think?
mine back in 2006 (top old injectors) and nowadays (bottom, new brace nutz and gearz). The crappy unfinished look of the factory appearance was just LAZY by Porsche, extra money on something they thought most people wouldn't give a toot about. BUT then they put a poorly done badge on as "we got to do something".
This was a 3M wheel finish not any application. Now it looks finished and like what it is, a machine.
If the soda blasting isn't aggressive enough, the next step up would be either to step up to walnut shells or 80 grit glass bead (with a metric ton of washing afterwards). or to find a place that does vapor honing.
If the soda blasting isn't aggressive enough, the next step up would be either to step up to walnut shells or 80 grit glass bead (with a metric ton of washing afterwards). or to find a place that does vapor honing.
Thanks Rob. Can the walnut shells be used with the soda blasting system? Happen to know?
Not sure, without knowing more about the system you're using. I have a small Skat-Blast cabinet that I bought a soda attachment for- it's a separate hopper for the soda that you attach to the side of the cabinet. In soda mode the pickup tube from the gun goes to the soda hopper, in glass/walnut shell/garnet mode I swap the pickup tube to the funnel tube in the main cabinet. I don't see why it wouldn't work, the only difference is the optimal ID of the nozzle in the gun- smaller for soda, larger for walnut shells (so it doesn't plug up...). I buy all my blasting stuff from TPtools, I use the 3/16" for soda, 1/4" carbide nozzle for glass/garnet, and 5/16" for walnut shells.
08-04-2022, 10:32 AM
