Cleaning up my intake

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f55079

f55079

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Have a aluminum intake for my car and it looks kind of ratty. I was thinking of bead blasting it. Should I bead blast it and clear powter coat it or buy a aluminum powter coat? Any suggestions?
 
just get you some 1/2 pipe about 2/3 ft. long and a blow novel cut a hole in the end of the pipe about 2/3 inches from the end put the end of the novel in to it about 1inch put the other end in a box of baking soda and clean the intake ..i did it to my intake a while back looks new again....and only cost about 8 dollars..get you a big box of the soda or a few small cause it takes about 2 box's on my big block intake also if it really dirty may take a little more.. mike
 
The way I went about it was to use A degreaser then brake cleaner then paint. IMO, skip the paint and give it a power coat. LeAnna " cudachick" does
This for a living and is a member here.
 
Right. Give Leanna a chance. We should support her as much as possible. However, if you're broke as me.....here is what I did. I blasted mine myself. I use aluminum oxide in mine. Gonna change it to black beauty when it needs it, but it does a good job. I sprayed it with VHT flat aluminum and then cleared it with automotive grade clear coat.
 
StrokerScamp said:
Right. Give Leanna a chance. We should support her as much as possible. However, if you're broke as me.....here is what I did. I blasted mine myself. I use aluminum oxide in mine. Gonna change it to black beauty when it needs it, but it does a good job. I sprayed it with VHT flat aluminum and then cleared it with automotive grade clear coat.
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Dont even need a clear coat just very thick coats of the VHT. My dad did it to his Big Block manifold 20 years ago no problems.
It would also cost alot to send to Leanna.
 
Thanks dude. I thought it turned out ok too. I did the valve covers the same way.

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74DartSwinger360 said:
Dont even need a clear coat just very thick coats of the VHT. My dad did it to his Big Block manifold 20 years ago no problems.
It would also cost alot to send to Leanna.
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I did the clear coat because I used flat paint. You NEED clear over flat, because flat will absorb stains. With the clear over the flat, you can wipe it right off.
 
... and without any kind of clear, all of that prep work you guys are going to be doing is going to be a waste of time. It'll look just the same as it does now in a few months.

Thanks for the mention to my Robs! For what it's worth, an aluminum intake costs about $20-25 to ship from anywhere in the continental US. Ya'll spend tons of money on your cars but can't justify a few bucks for shipping. It kinda cracks me up. Thankfully not everyone feels that way ... or I'd be back workin for lawyers again.
 
Cudachick, do you soda blast them then clear powder coat them? Also what dose something like that cost?
 
OldmanRick said:
Might be a cheaper alternative......
http://forum.eastwood.com/showthread.php?5224-Cast-aluminum-intake-manifold

Not recommending, just found this looking around.
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Done this before...also used etching mag wheel cleaner. And, yeah, it does work, but while you get the grungy crap off, it leaves streaks of residue after the water dries off, and the stripped oxides streamed off. It's cheap, and it does work, but media blasting leaves a much more uniform texture when you're done.

Just my .02
 
I have used the above method with great success, just scrub the cleaner with a small wire brush till it foams up good and then rinse with clean water and dry with a towel.
 
Media blasting can also leave a used intake looking splotchy with very uneven color texture. Who wants to clear and preserve that for the ages??? LOL
 
f55079 said:
Cudachick, do you soda blast them then clear powder coat them? Also what dose something like that cost?
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I hate usin soda. It produces more dust than cleanin anything.
 
CudaChick1968 said:
Media blasting can also leave a used intake looking splotchy with very uneven color texture. Who wants to clear and preserve that for the ages??? LOL
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How do you think mine looks? I thought it came out good for an amature. lol
 
f55079 said:
Cudachick, do you soda blast them then clear powder coat them? Also what dose something like that cost?
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I don't use soda blasting for anything I'm going to powder coat since it doesn't give the metal enough "tooth" for the powder to adhere to. I use Black Beauty slag media for almost everything.

My shop has literally thousands of powder colors available -- over 6,500 of them -- so just blasting and clearing an intake isn't something I do often. Most customers with aluminum intake manifolds choose a color called "Alien Silver," a bright finish with lots of fine metallic flake in it. It sparkles like diamonds in the sun and looks very close to brand new out-of-the-box aluminum. Once the clear coat is on that Alien Silver, it lasts for many, many years with just quick wash rag cleanings. No more scrubbing old fuel and grime out of the pits with a wire brush!

I quote every job individually to be fair to everyone and currently bill at $25 an hour. As a FABO member you're entitled to a 5% labor discount, or 10% off the labor if you're a Gold Member. If you can email me a few pictures of your intake, including close ups of any dings / dents / damage I'll need to address (even helicoils can be installed here), I'll get back to you with a quote. The email address is [email protected].

Keep in mind most every aluminum intake needs at least some deburring to clean up the sand casting and make it look as good as it can, and I take care of all that here too. Basically, I do whatever needs to be done to make your metal as close to perfect as I can before putting any powder on it at all.

If you can at least clean the grunge and old gaskets off before shipping it, that's appreciated on this end and saves you money on your bill too.

Feel free to give me a call or shoot me a PM if you want to go over more details or have other questions. Thanks for asking!! :D


StrokerScamp said:
How do you think mine looks? I thought it came out good for an amature. lol
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You did fine Rob. You know me well enough by now to realize if it looked like azz ... I'd have told you. :D
 
Here's a couple in-shop pictures of a job done awhile back for our valued service member, dusted72. I'm sure he would be happy to share his thoughts about the work if you ask. Aside from dozens of others on FABO, off the top of my head I also did an intake for RumbleFish360 (previously commented in this thread) but a hard drive crash took his "after" pictures with it. Rob, you have any still?

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Here is what that stuff looked like when it got here.

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Here's some of that splotchiness -- and needed deburring -- I mentioned earlier ...

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I have to say that the coated intake looks great, but for me I don't like the shine. don't know if you offer a flat clear that would make it look more natural as that is what I prefer JMO.
 
I think it's badass. Reminds me of the enamel on a new frigerator.
 
.has anybody tried walnut shells?
..i have heard this produces the original raw cast aluminum finish but have never seen it done.
 
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