cobalt

No need to sand just go directly from grit blast (mentioned above) to acid etch preferably within one hour after blasting to prevent the onset of corrosion. A smooth surface will be harder for the paint or powder coat to adhere and if you use a good self leveling paint or powder coat the surface will not affect the smooth finish you are trying to achieve. I recommend a fine grit to prevent damaging the surface.

If you decide not to go through the process you should be fine for 10 years possibly less before the same problem of flaking will occur all over again. That is a long time but it is also a PITA to do so you decide how long you plan on keeping the car.

WallyP

My intake was at the same point (off and flaking), and I wanted to get it back together.

An hour with scrapers (yes, scrapers - both steel and plastic) and ALL of the silver was off, and all of the gray undercoat was still intact.

A thorough cleaning with thinner, and two cans of silver wheel paint, and the manifold looks like new. You do not need to use high-temp paint.

Richter12x2

I used the high heat duplicolor cast coat iron and cast coat aluminum. It's been about a year and it's still holding up well - the only issue is that the '85 style intakes have a lot of contact points (at least mine does!) and wherever there is rubbing, there's some scuffing of the finish. Still looks a million times better than it did when I got it. I spent about two weeks worth of free time taking the old paint off, but someone had spray-bombed it before (as opposed to spray painting, where one has some care for where and how it's applied).

Calgary Ole

I carefully sanded and sprayed with great success. I have pictures but am on holidays in PHX and need some time to retrieve pics from my home PC. Lovin the Arizona weather!

Calgary Ole

pic

Calgary Ole

more

GlennD

Richter12x2 - I really like the two tone paint job you did on the '85 air boxes.
I did mine in just silver powder coat and the tubes in black powder coat (recommendation from a friend). Now, looking at yours, I see a missed opportunity.

Looks great

Richter12x2

Thank ya! The previous owner of my car abused and neglected it pretty severely, so I'm doing my best to make up for the hard life it's had. I never saw so many $5 Pepboys blue led strings in my life, the whole engine bay was just sprayed down with as much paint as he could find without removing, cleaning or masking anything "Well, the red, the blue, and the silver looked terrible, I'll just spray until everything is black". It'll be years before it's right again. The red hose cover in the picture was not actually my choice, but when I went to take it off, there was silver paint caked all over the hose underneath it so for the meantime it was better left on. When I changed the leaking radiator out, I went ahead and scraped and cleaned the hose with paint remover, and ditched the cheap cover.

jeff spahn

I'm having my intake looked at for soda blasting and then chrome pickling today. I think I'll just rattle can the outside with the aluminum colored paint from above and clear coat the inside. The chrome acid pickle should make the paint stick really, really well.

the flyin' scotsman

I should have followed up with this before.

I discussed the intake with a supplier we do business with at work. He's into all sorts of metal manufacturing (cutting, bending, shaping, chemicals and powder coating).

His recommendation was to have the intake chemicaly stripped in a bath then powder coated. We never got there as the car's owner wanted completion asap so the intake was rebuilt and bolted on as per the pics

auzivision

I used aircraft stripper, followed by a bead blast, then rattle can... I'm so kicking myself for not using Powder Coating.

https://rennlist.com/forums/7520549-post46.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/7527349-post64.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/7527349-post64.html

If you have the thing out already, take to a PC shop and do it right. That's my two cents

jeff spahn

I was leary of stripping it for fear of causing damage to the metal. I think AO had a problem with his cam gears with a chemical strip or something. Soda blasting seems pretty darn safe as the grit is water soluble so if anything is missed I can rinse the thing out before painting after the chrome acid pickle. No chance of getting any stuck on the inside and ruining my engine.
With good surface prep like the pickle, there should be no issue with the paint.

the flyin' scotsman

I'm not sure what chemical bath my contact had in mind and wouldn't hazard a guess. I also remember those pics Andrew posted of the 'melted' cam gears.......scary.

Many other have had good success............good luck and keep us posted

dcrasta

I love how your intake looks and the Hose coverings also. Where did you get the sleeves?

Thanks in advance:

William A

I am very happy with the extra time and effort, the result of PC is great. I will say my experience is that PC requires much more effort to duplicate an original look. The color choices to match the original are much easier using paint.

If you prep properly and PC with someone who really knows the material and can yield good results, it will be much more expensive than a paint approach.

with my .02, now you have chump change.