Benton

Stormtrooper pistons (wrinkle black and gloss white)



Since I started selling 928 parts, I have been keeping a bin of various "cool" parts that would otherwise be scrap. S4 piston is black with the deeper dish and larger valve reliefs, '85 S3 in white with higher compression and smaller valve reliefs, and sinter (sintered?) forged rods from an '85 thru early '87.

Both engines these came from had timing belts snap with multiple part failures related to these parts. I choose not to sell parts that fit this description. But man, they were just too cool for the scrap heap...

Jadz928

High Art.

Diggin' your blog, Mark!

EspritS4s

Very cool!

Are you planning to offer PC services?

Benton

Cheers Jim, much appreciated! I have been hard at work with too many projects, but there is a semblance of cohesion, finally. Let me know if I can help you out with any more of those early parts; I'm trying to thin the herd and will be disassembling the other '78 Euro sometime relatively soon... so some of the parts will be more accessible.

Thanks Gary, I may... It really is more of a hobby/art thing more than a functional thing.

Being that I work alone 95% of the time, I've missed the creative side of life with all of the labor involved with offering good used parts (lots of labor; I'm sure others would attest). So I'm trying to evolve the business to fit my creative side and my hobbies and meld them all together. Hopefully I strike a chord with some folks... the real gauge will be when I have the ***** (and enough inventory) to finally launch the website!

Jadz928

Always have a need. Look me up when you get into it.

Let us know when you go live!

Benton

"Will do" on both of those

EspritS4s

Not to sidetrack your thread, but what are you using for your blast cabinet and PC oven? I recently picked up a TP tools cabinet (I haven't set it up yet though), but I'm curious as to what others are using. I'll probably leave powder coating to others, but I wouldn't turn down an oven if I found a good deal on a used one.

hacker-pschorr

I dunno.......black, red, and gold would have been more appropriate

BPG_Austin

Benton, parts look great! Enjoying your blog as well. I too have a stash of 'too cool to discard' items that have been PC'd. Sort of a shrine going up in my garage.. slowly. Very cool. Its fun to see things in a new light. In this instance a color that you would NEVER see a piston or rod in.
-Gary, I have a TP tools blast cabinet. (967 XH). I'm very happy with it. Great for many things, but I'm finding it far easier to drop off larger items at a blasting facility.

Mike Frye

That's really cool, I like!

I think the look of functional, well designed mechanical parts are already art. Very cool idea.

testarossa_td

Anytime I see a piece of a 928 it is art!
And because you could not throw it away-you rock

Benton

Thanks guys! I have plenty more colors, but wanted to go crisp and simple on the first set. Still getting through minor teething issues with the powdercoat.

Gary, I'm on the poor man's setup. The good thing about powdercoat is the equipment doesn't really matter (as long as the parts will fit in); what is key is meticulous prep work. HFT blast cabinet with walnut shells, HFT parts washer with purple power (have to degrease well), and a $30 craigslist purchase of a cast-off home oven.

My steps with the pistons were to disassemble, degrease in the parts washer, rinse, blow dry with air compressor, blast with walnut shells, wash, pre-bake for ~30 minutes or more at ~50 degrees higher than bake temperature to outgas any remaining oils, only handle with unpowdered latex gloves after this, coat with powder, bake.

My gun is an adjustable-voltage version of the inexpensive harbor freight gun, purchased from CaswellPlating.com. The adjustable voltage, I have found, is key to having a quality result from the low-end guns. Getting the powder evenly distributed in the nooks and crannies can be quite difficult. Additionally, I found the white needed two coats to get edges to not show through. This is where the adjustable voltage really comes in.

Bertrand Daoust

Hi Mark,
Do you plan on selling those?

Benton

Yes sir! I'll have them in the store, but if you are interested in one (piston alone, piston + rod, etc) in a specific color combo, shoot me an email and I can work on something for you before the site launches. I have many more to work on prior to finishing the site, along with some other "part art," so I have a good bit left to do before it goes live.

Jim Devine

If you can find clocks that will fit the rod, doing
something like this would be interesting.

http://www.johnforceracestation.com/...stonrod-clock/