Valve Cover & Plenum Restoration

[North-South]

Any suggestions on restoring (to the original look & finish) to the stock valve covers and plenum? 37 years later they're beginning to look sad, need to freshen them up!

 

[psycho6cyl]

I took a wire wheel to the plenum wiped it down and sprayed with vht cast aluminum. Looks nice I don't know how close to factory color it is. I painted tensioner samecolor but shot it w clear let me see if I have a pic..

 

[North-South]

Thanks! Just wondering if there was a best practice or vendor out there specializing.

 

[ZNix]

I had mine professionally powder coated. It's an aluminum gray with a slight speckle in it. It looks pretty nice I think. That's what I would do. I think it cost me 80 bucks?

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[North-South]

Who did the powder coating?

 

[ZNix]

A local guy to me. Rmar on this board I believe is a powder coater. After 4 years it still looks new. Few scratches from myself though. It happens haha.

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[turbofrank]

Powdercoat best way to go

 

[psycho6cyl]

 

[psycho6cyl]

I don't know if that's clear enough

 

[Nick Micale]

Any suggestions on restoring (to the original look & finish) to the stock valve covers and plenum? 37 years later they're beginning to look sad, need to freshen them up!

Unless you have a "rare" 1977 GN, they probably do look sad?

However if you have a newer GN, it should look like crap as all of them did.

One of my 1987 turbo cars with only 9500 miles has dull VC's and plenum, and looked used when the dealer delivered the car to me.

If you do clean or polish your valve covers or plenum, it will detract from the original look as anything you do to freshen them will make them look better!

 

[North-South]

Ha, yah, typo ... only 27 years, sorry, but hey that makes me 10 years younger!

Thanks all for the input.

 

[Raeban]

I did mine a little over a year ago with Eastwoods powdercoating setup in aluminum. Glass bead blasted them for prep. Once you get past the initial investment for the powdercoating gun it's actually cheaper than the good spray bombs and the durability is no comparison.

 

[jlat]

hello people; IMO powder is not the way to go on an intake. It'll look good but a for a better way talk to a pro and they usually have a recipe to not hold in heat. I havn't done my intake but I did clean it up the best I could off the car. Dremel tool, sand paper what ever I could use to get all the casting flows out of it. Same for the VC and there not done yet. I bought some dual fans and there not in yet along with more add ons I have. It's not top prriority write now.
that is all
IBBY

 

[Raeban]

Yeah I read about some people thinking that powdercoat on an intake or intercooler pipes just helps keep heat in so I did a before an after test once the car was warmed up with a IR gun and couldn't find anything different in the readings. FWIW, I also used an IR lamp to heat the intake to prewarm it before powdercoating it and I can tell you that our intakes have enough mass and surface area that radiation does a real poor job warming these things up so the heat they are getting is more through conduction. I suppose the argument of the powder coat is that it adds a thin layer of film that adds a small amount of insulation, thereby hampering convection and reducing the ability of the intake to cool down. If there is any truth to "holding" heat in it is insignificant IMO and doesn't out weigh the ease of clean up for what I use my car for. When I took the intake off to rebuild the engine I literally cleaned it in 5 mins with a garden hose. Like anyhting else it is our personal preferences that keep our cars different and we are all entitled to our theories

 

[jlat]

hello and what's happining; If I remember correctly the coating I'm talking about cleans like PC but to tell the truth I forget what the real deal was. Give em a call and tell what they say. I've delt with Central Conn. Coatings 1-860-528-0281. They can handle big stuff also.
IBBY

 

[turbo nasty]

Powder coat is awesome. Only downside I know of if it gets chipped there is no touching it up. And I would not do the inside of the manifold in case it every started to fail and chip away/release then you have all that loveliness going through your engine.