EMan 928

Just received a call from the powder coater regarding my intake. Seems the out gassing process caused the coating on the inside of the intake to rise up.

Power coater recommends that he remove all of the inner material and not re powder coat the inside. Is that the correct way to do it? What happens if you don't have a covering on the inside of the intake?

ROG100

I am pretty sure that Ben at Legends Garage removes all the interior coating as well during his processing.

BPG_Austin

Hey Roger.
Aside from you and Chuck who had already removed all exterior coating prior to sending to me, I've decided not to refinish the GTS intakes. Or, more appropriately, take them on as a case by case basis.
Client would have to remove all exterior coating as you did, and have the understanding that I cannot remove ALL of the interior coating. In fact, its such a pain to do that unless a client feels very strongly about having their intake done and understands the risks, I will pass on it. Or suggest purchasing an S4 intake for refinish instead.
Eric, I am curious as to why the shop off-gassed prior to stripping the exterior coating? My experience has been that the oils do stay trapped underneath even under heat. However, maybe your shop knows something I do not. For your situation, I'd say go ahead and strip it best you can on the inside. Its just floating in there at this point. Also, have the shop sign a waiver saying they'll reimburse you for the cost of an intake if they damage it while media blasting. I had one destroyed earlier this year and would hate to see it happen to anyone else.
Best,
Ben

ROG100

Apart from the coating (seems to be harder) is there any other known difference between a GTS intake and an S4/GT intake?

BPG_Austin

I think? Sean may have said GTS uses a paper gasket vs rubber for S4/GT. for whatever that may be worth. And there is potentially some factory porting on the GTS intake? I'd be interested in some definitive info here as well. I've had both S4 and GTS intakes upside down on my workbench (side by side) and found no detectable differences. No porting that I could tell, no casting differences etc.

EMan 928

So, should I not have them blast it inside and just remove the coating myself as best I can?

ROG100

Ben same gaskets so no difference there.

ROG100

Eric - see how much you can remove yourself. It may be more than you think

SeanR

This took me 7 hours of chipping, grinding, scraping and washing to get it out of a recently powder coated GTS intake. You want to take your time after the outside has been blasted because the media will hide in every spot it can. What's in the picture is only 1/2 the material that came out.

With the intake the OP posted, the only way I'd use it is to do exactly what I did this weekend on this one. I went out and bought two brake cylinder hones and wore those out getting the runners all cleaned out, washed it a dozen times, went back in and chipped every spot I could see and not see.

A GTS engine is not worth taking a chance with.

BPG_Austin

Sean, if that's Chucks (Rogers core), I pulled out about the same with round 1. (2x pic shown). 7 hrs is a long time to spend finish prepping on an intake, and a lot of billable hours. IF the intakes are the same, I think over the long run its more economical to use a an S4 core. Especially from a liability standpoint.
Eric, I honestly don't have any fantastic advice here. I personally don't care to refinish them, but bow out to Sean's advice who's actually doing the installs.

SeanR

I don't see any advantage on doing the GTS intake over the S4 intake. The runners are a tad bit wider to accommodate the slight widening on the heads of the GTS but (my opinion) that "gain" is gone when you squish that rubber gasket down when mounting the intake.

This was Chucks intake and I'm being nice to him and not billing for all time spent, it's my OCD to make things as close to perfect as I can get it. It would have been fine with less work.

I think when doing the harder enameled GTS ones that baking them initially weakens the bond and makes for removing the material easier. Then blasting, cleaning then PCing them followed by a load of cleaning. I also think getting one of those flexible powder coating tips would help because you can actually coat the inside of the runners. Essentially covering anything left in there in a way that it will never come loose.

I'm going to agree with you though, it's not really worth the time and effort on the person doing the powder coating. You won't get that time back getting it perfect.

EMan 928

Thanks, Sean.

Ok, to confirm, I am going to tell the powder coating guy to not do any media blasting of the inside and I will bring it home and remove what I can myself?, correct?

Thanks, everyone
.

EMan 928

Or, does a S4 intake they want to sell?

BPG_Austin

You are the man Sean! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product. I have a LOT of respect for the finish work required to get the gts intake squeaky clean. I stopped offering them for the very reason you described above. While it certainly was a billable hours issue, I also wasn't confident in my ability to fully remove the coating around the horns etc. There's a lot of liability there with such an expensive engine.

marks gt

East wood power coat stripper works really well. Makes powder coat almost fall off.

I had my 89gt intake next to a not sure what year r2 intake, and the GT was more opened up in the gasket area. Other than that I could not find any difference.