JWise

Brian - I'll take you up on that when the time comes. Thanks!

Question for all: Must the underside of the cam covers and insides of the intake be painted? What harm, if any, could be done leaving them bare? Seems to me it would eliminate any potential for flakes getting into the combustion chamber or cam gears in the future. Opinions on this?

Ed Scherer

Mine are bare.

See the thread Powder coating intake/cam covers/etc. best practices (for the zillionth time!); your question is posed and answered by at least one person (Jim Mayzurk) in that thread.

Dan87951

looks good!

olmann

Not sure if I would but not a bad idea. The sanding didn't take too long and I like having some primer/paint up in the runners.

olmann

The castings weren't perfect but weren't too bad either. I chose not to fix any of the pock marks. The pictures do a good job of hiding imperfections. Here is a photo of the drivers side where you can see the imperfections above the "P", in the middle of the "C" and above the "H".

Bill Ball

OK, I see the flaws. They are pretty minor and it looks like the "primer" and final paint did a pretty nice job of making them less noticeable. They were much nicer than average to begin with and the end result is stunning.

chitown928s4

Seem that you painted this yourself am I correct. How did you paint and with what? Would a high temp engine paint rattle can work with the paint coverter. Would it last and how long. It seems to be the most important part of this process the converter.

Livio928

You don't need high temp paint since if it gets that hot in the intake and the valve covers, you have much bigger issues.

I painted mine as well using a two part automotive but I used a vinyl wash sealer as a first coat then a high build polyurethane primer. I sanded then prepped much like any other type of base clear system. I also left in the casting marks which blend quite well. Much of it gets covered over with wires, hoses, etc. so it wasn't such a big issue to me.

granprixweiss928

Do 16v engines have the same metallurgy make up in the intake parts? I didn't know they were magnesium mix

frankle951

Nice job !!!!!

BC

Is the OP here to tell us how this held up?

Shaun @ Tru6

Really nice work olmann, your finished bay looks great!

There are two more alternatives. If you want to use automotive paint to refinish, simply media blast the intake and then send it off of Dow 7 treatment. The resultant chromate coating is excellent for paint, just don't use an etching primer.

You can also media blast and then use Cerakote, which is a ceramic paint used for firearms, cured by heat like powder coat. It's been used for 911 fans and housings for years with no reports of peeling. It's also much more durable than powder coat and goes on very thin. Imperfections can be filled with JB Weld and then sanded for a perfect finish on smooth parts. The fans and housings I did here were heavily pitted.

I'll be Cerakoting my '91 S4 intake in late January and will post process and results in another thread.

olmann

Thanks for the info! I've heard of the cerakote but have never tried it. I have some spare parts that I might give it a go to see how I like it. I also have a couple of intakes I want to do sometime soon.

Well it has been a several years since I did this process and I can say that it has held up well. I haven't had any chipping or peeling. The only thing that I don't like is that I used a high temp clear instead of a high performance clear that I would usually use. Using the high temp clear caused all of the parts to yellow fairly quickly. They now have a gold hue but still look good overall. I did remove a valve cover and one of the sides of the intake recently to see how all of that has held up. Those surfaces all looked good also. I will go with the same process again but will probably take the time to fill any pock marks and use the high performance clear this time.

Chris Lockhart

Shaun, I've never even thought about using the Cerakote on the car, DUH!!! I've used it on firearm parts, but everything was small enough to fit in a toaster type oven. Need to search Craigslist for a full size oven. LOL.

gcthree

I used paint stripper on my covers/intake. I filled the pock marks with a spot putty filler, then an etching primer, followed by a lacquer color coat and finished with Eastwood's 2 part clear epoxy paint for durability.

Now, I was the 2nd owner in '95 thru '97 of this car...and now the 5th owner in 2013 after rediscovering the car when we relocated to Virginia from NY. When I sold the car in '97, the silver finish on the intake and cam covers had heat-turned to a light gold'ish hue, and when I refinished the pieces in 2013, I sought to return it to how I remember it 16 years earlier rather than a straight silver finish.