what color powdercoat for the intake manifold?

j24sailorboy · Post by **j24sailorboy** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:33 pm

One thing leads to another. 85 635 US manual trans
Took fuel injectors out for a proper cleaning/testing. (after 30 years!! seems appropriate) but 2 of them lost their tips in the process. Ok, time to remove the intake manifold. OMG those back 2 nuts under the IM are entertaining! Had every imaginable swivel, flex, adapter, wobble extension known to mankind, to no avail. finally a sawed off 12 mm box wrench taped to the tip of my finger. only thing to do was see the humor in it.
of course, this also leads to replacement of the 30 year old starter while its wide open, cleaning of the engine compartment from past PS leaks and overfills, waterpump, tstat, hoses, plugs, cap, rotor. all good fun.
Was tempted to continue and pull the motor, but with no real leak issues, solid compression, and a clutch that seems just fine, its hard to justify.... LOVE this motor!
So, the IM, valve cover and some brackets are off at the powdercoat shop. cheap! $90 for everything. Question is, should I do the intake black wrinkle like the valve cover, or silver/grey? I am trying to be somewhat faithful to originality, but not stupidly so. Is a black IM too much towards pimping the ride?

sansouci · Post by **sansouci** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 2:54 pm

I like the silver for original design but also for leak and dribble detection.

GripGreg · Post by **GripGreg** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:13 pm

I would suggest black semi-gloss smooth.
The wrinkle would look sorta odd to me.
Plus, the smooth texture will be easier to clean.

Greg

dwcains · Post by **dwcains** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 9:07 pm

I recently had my valve cover powdercoated wrinkle black, and think it looks great, and not at all out of place (think Alpina). I'd like to do the intake manifold the same way, but I'm not sure it's worth the horrible task of pulling the manifold off just for that purpose. My injectors are already new. Anyway, here's the valve cover:

dick635 · Post by **dick635** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 9:37 pm

I wonder how much heat would be absorbed in traffic with a black intake manifold. Probably not a lot but combined with the superior aesthetics of silver (or nicely polished aluminium?)
Dick

j24sailorboy · Post by **j24sailorboy** » Tue Mar 10, 2015 10:42 pm

That's a nice looking valve cover!
I doubt the logic that a black IM will absorb more heat, but even if it does, and that translates to warmer combustion air, I'm not at the track trying to shave a tenth off my 1/4 mile.

hornhospital · Post by **hornhospital** » Wed Mar 11, 2015 1:36 am

The cover will radiate more heat than it absorbs, no matter what color it is. Unless you're sitting still ambient temperature around the engine is going to be lower than the internal temperature 90% of the time.