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So obviously part of the top-end refresh includes deciding what to do with the spider on my ‘79. I want to maintain originality as best I can but the spider keeps screaming at me to do something to it. Please provide your input and any pics. I searched around and couldn’t find any good threads on the subject…especially for the spider. I have the capability to polish everything but I’m hesitant to do it. Powder coat or cerakote in silver but what kind? Just clean and clear? Give thoughts and share your pics.
clean is al I would do. I have seen them polished, and they do look good, but clear coat it afterwards to hold the polished look. I would not paint any color. Just my preferences/ $.02.
So obviously part of the top-end refresh includes deciding what to do with the spider on my ‘79. I want to maintain originality as best I can but the spider keeps screaming at me to do something to it. Please provide your input and any pics. I searched around and couldn’t find any good threads on the subject…especially for the spider. I have the capability to polish everything but I’m hesitant to do it. Powder coat or cerakote in silver but what kind? Just clean and clear? Give thoughts and share your pics.
Pictures of yours in its current state would be helpful. I'm not a fan of polishing to the point of chrome-look. If yours doesn't clean up well, then maybe a coating (powder or cerakote) to mimic the original color might be nice.
Here is mine (84 Euro). It was thoroughly cleaned about 10 years/20k miles ago. No polishing, no coating, just au-natural. It did not have any corrosion, just usual engine grime - cleaned up with rags, nylon brushes, and citrus-based cleaner. Granted, my car has and does live a pampered life, never seen road salt and is stored in a climate controlled warehouse over the Winter.
Pictures of yours in its current state would be helpful. I'm not a fan of polishing to the point of chrome-look. If yours doesn't clean up well, then maybe a coating (powder or cerakote) to mimic the original color might be nice.
Here is mine (84 Euro). It was thoroughly cleaned about 10 years/20k miles ago. No polishing, no coating, just au-natural. It did not have any corrosion, just usual engine grime - cleaned up with rags, nylon brushes, and citrus-based cleaner. Granted, my car has and does live a pampered life, never seen road salt and is stored in a climate controlled warehouse over the Winter.
here is a pic of mine. Haven’t been touch…just removed.
I think that will clean up nicely with a little elbow grease, and nothing caustic - looks to be in excellent condition. Also, the Norma clamps for the runner sleeves look to still have the original plating, they may clean up too with a toothbrush and WD-40.
My vote is to keep it as original looking as possible.
I would mask off that really nice Porsche crest, get them degreased and soda blasted, then a coat of matte clear Cerakote, which you can shoot yourself with a Harbor Freight baby HVLP gun, if you have compressed air.
I would mask off that really nice Porsche crest, get them degreased and soda blasted, then a coat of matte clear Cerakote, which you can shoot yourself with a Harbor Freight baby HVLP gun, if you have compressed air.
Rob, why cerakote? Just curious. I know that the plenum and runners would need "gassed off" but would appreciate your thoughts on powder vs. cerakote.
If you clean the aluminum castings and leave them raw, they will be dusty/dirty again within 100 miles of driving the car. The point of coating them is to make them resistant to staining/easier to keep clean. If you can find a good matte clear powdercoat, that's a reasonable option, but the benefit of matte clear cerakote is that you can shoot it yourself, it's water based, and a pint of MC-161 matte clear is enough to do a whole car's worth of aluminum castings for $70. It's just the easiest overall DIY if you don't want to farm it out.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ And that looks amazing, just not a raw-casting look. It's all a matter of what you want the finish to look like. Here's a couple of matte cerakoted pieces, for comparison:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ And that looks amazing, just not a raw-casting look. It's all a matter of what you want the finish to look like. Here's a couple of matte cerakoted pieces, for comparison:
Nice. Are all those parts done with the same color?
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.
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.
I found out that I’m going to be able to borrow a soda gun from a friend. I didn’t realize they had smaller ones. I watched a couple videos on it and got me thinking…could this be used to clean the engine compartment, not just the metal pieces but the whole thing. I was planning on dry ice at some point but maybe this could be a happy medium? I would imagine it all depends on the pressure utilized?
Your parts look great. I like the look of the Porsche silver but for originality, this seems like the way to go.
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
08-03-2022, 04:00 PM
Spider Refresh Thoughts/Pics
