Clear coat or not

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Brian Arcella

Brian Arcella

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Picked up this aluminum intake for my son't Dart paid $50 for it and a local auto body shop blasted it for $50 so not bad for $100 total investment. My question for you guys is does anyone clear coat their aluminum manifold or leave them bare. It seems the factory finish on a new out of the box intake may have some sort of coating but can't say for sure. I'll do a little detail work on it before installing but just wanted to get your feedback. All of my blower motors are black powder coat for easy of cleaning and protection from the fuel alcohol just loves to eat away at aluminum so I even contemplated a satin clean coating.

Your thoughts are always appreciated
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Now would be a great time to primer and paint to match the engine or powder coat. I would replace the gasket between the spacer and manifold just incase the sandblaster eat away at the gasket....
 
I would clean that a million times. Then once more. Definitely take the spacer off to make sure no media is hiding in the gap, just waiting to ruin your day. Power washer!! I very paranoid of blasting media. Replace thermostat.
 
Blasting only removes the gunk and grunge on the outside. Aluminum is a VERY porous metal that absorbs everything over the years. Before you make any plans to seal it up forever with a clear coat, I'd suggest you cook it in a dedicated shop oven at 500 degrees for a few hours and see how it looks then.

I can't find any post-outgassing photos on my computer of an intake right now but here's an aluminum valve cover afterwards that should illustrate my point pretty well.

Outgassing results.jpg


Outgassing results 2.jpg


Here's a Before and After of an intake I restored that now lives at the Richard Petty Museum on one of Bobby Allison's old rides.

Moonshine Speed Shop Eddy intake before.jpg


Moonshine Speed Shop Eddy intake after.jpg


Keep in mind too that any silver powder coat (as well as golds and even some reds) is not UV stable on its own since there's real metal in the powder. A clear coat is required to provide that stability as well as increasing durability and shine. Feel free to hit me up if I can help or if you have other questions.
 
Leanna's the BEST when it comes to powder coating!
Here's a pic of my intake that she custom PC'd...

airgap.jpg
 
Like mentioned, bake and I would suggest hot soapy water wash and lots of rinsing. If you do clear I would use powder coat or a 2K automotive. Most anything from a spray can will yellow in short time.
You will never get that as-cast finish back once its been blasted.
 
I would primer and paint it the engine color if it were mine. But I agree on the baking and cleaning posted above!
 
i've used wheel silver (rattle cans) on blasted intakes a few times, seems to keep it's brightness ok. i mean it's made for road wheels and look at the punishment they get from the elements and all the crap that's on the roads throughout the year.
neil.
 
I used an aluminum made by arvoe brand. Bought it on eBay. It is really close to the natural aluminum color of the intake.
 
Looks like the shop used course garnet or black oxide and pitted rather good. If ya have something like this done again, ask if they have glass bead or baking soda. These are way less agressive and don’t pit the surface. I’ll find a pic of an intake we glass bead cleaned...
 
Yes I could tell when I picked it up that they used a coarse media I was in touch with my powder coating guy today and unfortunately there is a 2 week turn around time but he will try and push it through. I know all about off gassing as I do a lot of tig welding and depending on the size of the part I have an oven I use just for that purpose and I clean all aluminum pieces with Acetone only. Thinking about just putting it on as is just for the summer and then when the engine and trans come out this winter send it and a boat load of other parts down to my guy.
Thanks for all the response
 
Mopar argent silver wheel paint looks good and it holds up well.
I use it on the old crusty SD on the low deck
 
Clear coat will likely turn yellow over time. I did that on a brand new Eddy intake once and a couple years later the high temp clear was already turning yellow. Paint it with aluminum paint or get it powder coated.
 
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VHT clear works great. I sprayed my intake 3 years ago and it still looks new.I have spilled gas on it a few times and it did not hurt it at all.
 
From my experience, clear coat on engine parts doesn't stay clear...probably the heat.
 
pishta said:
powder coating will fill those pits too, will smooth out the surface finish.
Click to expand...

Not to be argumentative pish, but when it's done right powder coating is only a few mils thick. It will smooth the surface and make it more uniform to some degree but pitting, divots and part numbers will all still show.

It's for that reason that I focus most of my labor on bodywork rather than excessive amounts of powder. Most shops merely blast and color what you present as is; in my opinion, there's no point in making it pretty if the metal substrate looks like *** to start with.

Speck helping me with bodywork.jpg


Offy deuce intake before.jpg


Offy deuce intake after.jpg


Rich just sent me this pic a few days ago. His intake was restored almost ten years ago.
"Hi there. Hey, remember my tri power you did? Everybody loves it on this Model A!"

Offy deuce intake installed.jpg


Magnesium parts are even worse when it comes to casting "quality," or lack of. Extreme cases need high temp filler in addition to lots of metal work if you want decent results.

Viper cover before.jpg


Viper covers during bodywork.jpg


Viper covers after.jpg
 
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Of course your right. A couple of mils on a porous intakebgoes miles. As little as the powder adds, it really flowed on the cast part i got done localy. But the old adage goes, a good paint job requires great bodywork. Same goes for surface finish of powder coating.
 
I've got an over the top powder coating guy finally after doing this way too many years, so the game plan is just leave it as is for the summer hopefully it will be derivable by the end of August just so he get a little enjoyment out of it before I do the major tear down and remove and reseal the engine at which point a lot of parts including the intake will go down to Mike's for the blasting and coating. We've done engine blocks and cylinderheads on show cars and rods with exposed engines the look is killer but I'm not going that crazy.
Thanks again for the input
 
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