Dan87951

I'm in the middle of a intake/refresh on my 87 S4 and I want to get my intake and valve covers powder coated. Do I have to remove the throttle body in order to get a nice finish below but how do i remove it? I got the two little screws out and removed the top E-clip but it will not slide out. Is there something I missing?

Thanks

aggravation

The throttle body bolts to the intake with 4 bolts, 13mm heads, 2 on each side, inboard of and near the center 2 of the 4 intake runners on each side.
Maybe you mean the "flappy" valve that is actuated by the vacuum pod under the intake..it has a shaft that runs up and down through the center of the intake with a bearing visible under the rubber cap on the top of the intake, the shaft barely stubbed up into the bearing on top and down to the linkage for the vacuum actuator pod underneath through another bearing down there where the shaft comes out a bit for the linkage to engage.....?

Dan87951

Yea that its. I need to remove the flappy valve in the center. How does that come out?

aggravation

Open one or both of the side covers on the intake, you will see the flappy plate inside... remove the two screws and the plate of the flappy will slide out of a slot in the shaft. you might need to rotate it to slide it out.
Then from underneath with the throttle body out of the way the linkage and shaft slide out as one after the circlip is removed from the top end.

Leave the old bearings in place to protect the surfaces from the sand blast/glass bead and powdercoating process. Then replace them after the freshly coated intake is ready to be reassembled.

mcholdfast

John Pirtle's site gives pretty detailed instructions. I refer to it often.

Dwayne

Hello DAN87951,
I'm also doing the intake on our '87 (Virginia) and having them powder coated. I took a few pics of the flappy removal - hope this helps...

First, remove the intake side covers using an allen wrench


Carefully, pry the cover off if it does not come off by hand.


Inside, you will see the flappy plate.


Remove the vacuum diaphram using the allen wrench



Remove the circlip that secures the flappy plate spindle in place at the top. I just used a screwdriver being careful not to "shoot" the clip off into parts unknown


Remove the washer under the circlip and keep with the circlip and vacuum diaphram and other flappy parts in a plastic baggie.


Use a screwdriver to remove the two screws that hold the plate to the spindle


Then rotate the plate 90 degrees by twisting the spring underneath the plenum and firmly grasp the plate and pull out. Notice the edges on the plate are beveled so the plate has a specific orientation that it must be re-installed. You can mark the orientation with a marker for ease of re-installation.


Once the plate is removed, the spring assembly at the bottom of the plenum can be pulled out from the bottom. Here's a pic of the bearings at the top of the plenum. I left my bearings in for the powder coating.


Let me know if you have any problems/questions. BTW, what color are you powder coating??

Dan87951

Thanks guys tremendous help! Dwayne appreciate the pictures man!

ROG100

Judging by all the problems associated with/by powder coating I would not recomend it at all.
Painting using high temp paint gives a much better and more resiliant finish.
Plus you do not get all the damage from the trip to the PCer's.
They screw up the mating surfaces. You get media in all the wrong orifices.
They do not deguass the metal properly.
Seen a few were the PC came off in a few months or discolored badly.
Painting is far easier, cheaper and less of a problem.
Just my .5c worth.