Whatever you do to get them clean, you will still have to treat them with something afterwards or they will deteriorate very quickly as bare aluminium. Whether its paint, lacquer or powdercoat, you will not be able to leave them as bare alloy as they will powder up and scab within weeks if you do not keep continuously cleaning them.
Is that a British thing? I had mine blasted over 2 years ago and they still look the same. Takes nothing more than the occasional rinse with water, but as for any scrubbing or polishing - just doesn't need it.
Now, if you have highly polished intakes, that is a whole different story.
'93 850Ci - Mineralweiß Metallic
2001 740iL - Titansilber
ALPINA B7 -Alpinweiß III
...the price of cool ain't cheap!
Harry, I totally agree with you; I believe that they just didn't do a good job blasting them, and that is why I will not be taking them back to the same company. I have found another company here in Austin that will blast them with walnut shells. I'm waiting on a final quote from them but they initially told me that it would cost $240 to blast both intakes with the walnut shells.
Mano Nešioti Rankos
'93 850Ci - Mineralweiß Metallic
2001 740iL - Titansilber
ALPINA B7 -Alpinweiß III
...the price of cool ain't cheap!
Mano Nešioti Rankos
Dunno what all the fuss is about. I get mine done in less than an hour in my garage with no blasting at all and for a total cost of around $25 for the pair.
Raw manifold
Tools of the trade
Generous Tal-Strip Application - let sit for 10-15 minutes - avoid skin contact - this stuff is caustic - I wear rubber gloves
After using a toothbrush to free up all the crap, including grease and oil, followed by a generous hosing down with the cold yard hose - warm might work better
After drying thoroughly (I use air and a towel), spray with ALB-1
Masked off and ready to paint the contrasting highlights
Highlighted area painted with Schwartz 3
Tape and paper removed, ready for palm sander on the raised areas
Finished product...
Both products used were sourced at my local Auto Parts Shop. The ALB-1 is very hardy and withstands grease and oil and handling.
Before and after side by side comparison...
I did my intakes this way almost 5 years ago and clean/wipe down my engine bay regularly. The ALB shows no signs of wear or chipping and is basically maintenance free.
Cheers!
Last edited by Wuffer; 01-09-2011 at 04:13 PM.
91 850 (Panzer), 2012 Mini Cooper Countryman (WifeMobile) www.wuffer.ca
I love your engine bay so much
Last edited by Ziminskas; 01-09-2011 at 05:56 PM. Reason: Corrected Punctuation
Mano Nešioti Rankos
No real problems with the ALB-1 and if it does get chipped or marked, just touch it up with a brush. The Schwartz paint I used was colour matched rattlecan from Paul at Strong-Strut where I get all my colour match paint. That being said, any name brand automotive paint will work just fine as the contrast colour on the intakes. I used Tamiya model car paint on my intakes when I did them as I did not have any other Red available at the time. Brushed it on by hand. In spite of popular theory, the intakes do not get hot enuff to melt or burn the paint. Havent touched mine up since I installed them.
Likewise, the paint on my M73 engine cover is also Strong-Strut supplied colour match paint - no problems there with heat either.
Cheers!
91 850 (Panzer), 2012 Mini Cooper Countryman (WifeMobile) www.wuffer.ca
Should I look to use the ALB-1 or the ALB-1HT? Did you also spray your DK's with it?
Last edited by Ziminskas; 01-09-2011 at 06:47 PM.
Mano Nešioti Rankos
I just use the ALB-1 as seen in the pictures I posted. So far no issues. Yes, I did my DK's as well. I may try the ALB-1HT for my exhaust manifolds at some point.
91 850 (Panzer), 2012 Mini Cooper Countryman (WifeMobile) www.wuffer.ca
Did a good cleaning same product Tom used and a sovent and Mothers aluminium polish mixed together then a polish by hand. Taped off all areas to be painted first. very easy to keep clean just a quick wipe down.
Painted to match the car with PPG automotive paint.
Well, both your your bays look incredible. As soon as i get mine done, I'll post up some pics and see how I match up
Mano Nešioti Rankos
Would you say that this is a good idea to get it blasted with sand or soda?
I used metal stripper, don't have to worry about getting anything inside.
1983 Monte Carlo SS
1984 Pontiac fiero SE
1993 BMW 850CI
1994 BMW 525I
Just got my car back from some paint work last weekend. One of the things I had done was the acoustic cover. Still needs a bath under there but thought I would go ahead and post it.
Just reviewing some threads in regards to finishing intake manifolds. Aren't parts usually sand-blasted or blasted with some kind of media before shops powdercoat the pieces? I wonder how they get parts cleaned of media before they are painted? Seems like there would be media inside manifolds unless open ends are taped off.
Help please! Sorry if this seems like a thread hijack but I have not been able to solve the Photobucket problem. Lawlshane, I assume you can see Wuffer's pictures, did you do anything special with photobucket? For me all Wuffer's pics are Photobucket 3rd Party warnings. I did a search and saw shoguns replies in another post but I didn't see any solution. I have a free 2gb Photobucket account. Any tips?
Last edited by pollack138; 10-25-2017 at 05:03 AM.
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