the problem with media blasting is that the media gets embeded into the metal casting. Then it gets powdercoated.... baked, then installed. Then comes running on engine... with more heat cycles and vibration..... then the powdercoating delaminates with the media and some of the metal of the intake.... ingestion is the next step causing the real damage.....

 

Pressure wash it in a car wash. Tape the edges so that the paint wont cheap off. Put a towel on the car wash floor, so your intake wont get scratched.

I figured if they used pressure to bead blast the intake, a lot of the media will get imbedded in the casting, the only way to get them out is to use a lot of force (pressure) and pressure washer will provide that. I have seen intakes that were supposedly washed with a water hose or dipped in to bath tub or whatever after bead blasting (they used sand), but they all had some media left in there, you could easily tell by the shiny specs in the plenum walls, whipping with finger would not get rid of the shiny stuff, they were stuck in there, so I washed in car wash several times, no more shiny specs inside the plenum.

 

Sterling beat me to it. ...

 

nah.... that never happens....

 

I understand that the intake pieces need to be baked to remove residue oil as part of prepping the exterior, priming, etc. But is painting a viable alternative to powdercoating and what are the downsides? If any?

Thanks,

Joel

 

Painting offers some interesting prep and "repair" options that sometimes seem beyond the capabilities of the bulk powder painters. You will need to chem strip the old paint. Then the metal prep starts with chems if you don't abrasive blast and coat quickly. The oxide layer grows quickly on the mag parts, making regular paint less likely to last.

Rob Edwards and I put a powdercoated intake on my car, and even with two of us working carefully, there was still enough movement and shifting that I'm pretty sure that most "regular" paint finishes would have been damaged.

That said, painting gives you the option to exactly duplicate the original Zermatt Silver color, the one with the very fine metalflake in it, where we haven't yet discovered the right powder color. And we had more than a handful of test blends as we tried to match it. The colors we found are very close, and would survive all but the most knowledgeable inspectors.

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Bill Swift painted the intake and cam covers on his black S4 with the parts still mounted on the car. They look amazingly good, such that you wouldn't know they were not original. If the original paint is just yellowing but still completely intact, and nothing else under the intake needed attention (like knock sensors or ISV), this might be a stopgap option to consider.

 

Thanks! Since I have the 86.5 organ pipe intake its kind of a waste to paint the covers since you cant even see 'em once the intake is reinstalled. I'll start another thread and let ya'all have your original thread back... Thanks again!

Joel

 

I'm really glad I caught that thread about contamination after blasting. Should be included!!

After blasting with compressed air, hitting it with a pretty powerful steam cleaner and washing in a dishwasher, I thought I had them pretty well cleaned. I was wrong! I got an old toilet brush, the kind with a wire circle with bristles all around an cut one end of the wire. Straightened it out and it fit perfectly down the tubes.

Some tubes, I could push the whole thing, handle and all, all the way through, the short tightly curved ones I could do half from either side. There was a bunch of crap in there! Besides some gritty sandy residue, and some paint flakes, there was still some grease.

Tomorrow, even though it will be about 30 degrees I'm heading to the car wash!

jc