Painting intake collector cover?

  • wbnethery3
    wbnethery3
    Senior Member
    • 437
    #1

    Painting intake collector cover?

    I've been working on getting my engine back together, but decided to try to address a purely cosmetic issue just for a change of pace.

    This intake collector cover is heavily oxidized and the paint has been (mostly) stripped away. I have read the FAQ on polishing aluminum wheels, and have worked through three steps of sanding on this as a way of getting it looking good again.

    Before any sanding:



    After 320 grit:



    After 600 grit:



    After 1200 grit:



    My intention is to get the parts that are supposed to be bright back to their original look (not mirror finish but definitely cleaner than this). What I'm trying to find is a good procedure for painting what was originally red. I assume I should probably paint before I go any further, but the prospect of polishing out the flat surfaces and not taking any paint with it has me a little unsure of myself. The only other option would seem to be polishing then masking off the surface I don't want painted.

    I've seen a lot of nice looking examples here, so please clue a newb in on the right steps. Thanks!
    '86 NA - original owner (1986-93) and final owner (2005-present)

    My build thread: http://z31performance.com/showthread…-Got-mine-back

  • Axel kain
    Axel kain
    Moderator
    • 1221
    #2
    I prefer to walnut shell blast them, then powder coat and polish the raised surfaces.

    let me know if you need a hand…
    Damn dirty angels....these cars!

    Current Daily Driver - 86 Turbo.
    Under the cover - THE BANANA… that needs to be re-energized.
    sigpic
  • oemz
    oemz
    Senior Member
    • 198
    #3
    Take the cover to a head rebuild shop where the use a table to resurface heads. The table is basically a large sand paper conveyor belt. They place the cover on the table and press it down while the sand paper travels. It comes out very nice.
  • wbnethery3
    wbnethery3
    Senior Member
    • 437
    #4
    How it turned out

    Here's some shots of how mine came out…

    Got the metal all shiny then realized I needed to paint it and sand it off… used MHT high-temp spray paint from AZ.



    After sanding a bit, I accidentally touched the red paint with the sander and made a slight scratch, so I fixed that problem…



    This is the finished product. I put a coat of MHT high-temperature satin clear coat on to (hopefully) preserve the finish of the unpainted surfaces.

    '86 NA - original owner (1986-93) and final owner (2005-present)

    My build thread: http://z31performance.com/showthread…-Got-mine-back