New tranny option: Case painting wiht rebuild, Any interest? Options

[Dr Evil]

Well, the ever clever Scotty B thought that he would be a nice guy and offer his services to my customer base regarding transmission rebuilds. He is offering to paint anyones case that wants it done while I am working on the guts. I have a few questions:

1) Would anyone pay a little more to have there entire tranny case dipped, baked to get rid of oil residue, and powder coated?

2) Would around $100 be a good price for this service?

3) Recommendations for colors?

Scotty will chime in here soon enough to answer questions as well.

[Andyrew]

would powder coating possibly warp the case?

It might make the metal weaker.. right?

100 sounds right for nice powder coating..

Super gloss black
White
Orange
Silver
Grey
Red
Super gloss CLEAR
And gold for bling bling.

If the trani can hold up to it.. I'd have mine powdered..

[shaggy]

you should offer flat black too.

if i were gonna do mine it would be flat black.

-jim

[Dr Evil]

400 degrees should do nothing to the case. Why do you think the metal would be weakened?

[Dr Evil]

Colors that Scott is thinking we will go with are black and a clear coated silver that looks like brushed metal.

[bottomend]

Sounds good but I'd check into how much sustained heat a Magnesium case can withstand before getting weird.

[Andyrew]

Mike... I'll be throwing as much tq and abuse (400lbs of tq +10.5in slicks...) to the trani as I can... I dont want to weaken it in any way....

lol

[John]

Why would you want to powder coat a trans? Why trap that heat inside? I suppose you could run an external cooler or something to combat the heat.

[dmenche914]

The mag case is prone to corrosion. i have painted mine. i have run across several bare cases with white fuzzy corrosion on the outside.
i don't know if the factory did any coating or not, maybe an anodizing process?

mag. is pretty reactive. Road salts and powerful cleaners can hurt them. \

A thin coating would be best for heat rejection. A high gloss is worst for heat. don't know how much it matter, but I'd keep it thin as possible unless you know otherwise.

Mine is painted light grey, looks good, no corrosion after ten years. i used rustoleum spray can paint.

Cleaning is a bitch, as the case is somewhat porsis, so it traps oil easy.

early VW engine cases are mag, there might be experience with powder coating on them. it may or maynot be the same alloy. not all mag is the same, but it might be close.

it is common VW knowledge to only paint the engine cases with a thin flat black for best heat rejection. Gene Berg wrote some stuff up on this. See if VW guys have good luck with powder coating engine cases, just be advised that thin, flat black paint is the recommend choice. Of course, engine have bigger heat issues than trannies.

[mrhurtalot]

hmm id like to see what this looks like. any pictures.?

[bondo]

I powdercoated my case. The case did change shape a little, but I doubt it is enough to matter. The bearing races in the case went from "snug" to "mega tight" (this is a good thing) and the material where the studs are mounted for the side cover bulged out at each stud just enough for the side cover to not fit without some filing. The intermediate plate also required some extra tapping to get it on that it didn't require before. This was with my old oven control that turned out to fluctuate between 425 and 500 degrees instead of holding at 450 like I thought it would. The above might not happen with a proper oven controller (like I have now).

[So.Cal.914]

They powder coat alloy rims which stay true. Make a jig plate for both ends

( cheep alum plate with a few holes) to keep its shape if there is a concern.

Saw one painted close to the cars color(might have been the same) with

the fins sanded to metal, looked great.

[dmenche914]

From Bondos reply, i'd be very worried about the heat process ont eh tranny case. beraing races tightening up, and bulging are not good on a tranny. if the wrong diminsins change, you can be in real trouble with the gears (ring and pinion set up come to mind0 you may end up having to reset up the R and P gears for propper running. This is probably a bad omen for powder coating. evidently diminsions did change.

heating and cooling would have to be very carefully controls, and probably done very very slowley to prevent warping. inclusions int eh casting may burt open.

ii owuld go with paint. Mine still looks good after a decad of use. i degreased it, then used solvent as a final clean, dried it with flood lights for a couple days (not all that hot) then rattle canned rustoleum primer and top coat, keeping it thin.
this is less expensive ($10 in paint) and I have no worries with heat warping. i did not even need to dissasemble the tranny when i did this. this gave me the corrosion protection i wanted, and looks good.

poweder coating i think is too expensive,a dn the above posted problems with warping and bulging are not worth it. if you do it, you might end up buying the customer a new tranny. i'd definatly experiment on several cases of different conditions (some are more pittied from corrosion to start with,a dn may not survive as well as a better case. I have seen cases with corrosion spalling all over them. run some tests and take before/after measurements on several location, check flatness of surfaces, etc... also refer to the Mag cengine case VW guys as there experience check with the experts, as there are many you might have done it, and don't understand the pitfall they have run into.

proceed with caution before you market them is my adivce, run test shots, and do the homework. My opinio of powder coating of cases is it is a nice show car trailer queen idea, but in actual use it may not be that good an idea, until proven otherwise. good paint is a my choice.

poweder coating wheels may not be as much an issue, they don't have the tolerance concerns of the tranny case. I rather have painted wheels, easier to repair with touch up paint for minor curb rash.

[mrdezyne]

basic black....

[bondo]

basic black....

I looked all over my computer for that pic yesterday... couldn't find it! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[scotty b]

O.K. guys here I be. As for the csae being damaged, powder coating is done at a sustained 400-425 degrees. 500 is to high and I'm not surprised your case moved, between the heat and most likely a cramped oven with poor air circulation.I do have a VW case I will be experimenting with in the next 2 weeks and as the Doc and I discussed I am concerned about getting all of the contaminants OUT of the case and as part of the process would actually bake the case uncoated to coax any remaining oils out. We always bake cast materials whether they be aluminum or steel prior to coating for that very reason. Another concern of mine is the condition of the cases I would be receiving. I expect them all to need a cleaning but how much of a cleaning will it be????Time will tell if this happens. As for the colors, the sky is the limit. There will be a set price for standard single coating colors but things like Chrome, the silver Doc spoke of and candies have to have a coat of clear which means more materials and more baking time so there would obviously be a bit more added to the price of those. I personally think black (in any gloss) and the silver will be the best looking but I will also try cleraing over the clean case with no color added to see how that looks. If any of you nut jobs wanted to polish the ribs and color the recesses..........we MIGHT could talk about that to $$$$$$$ (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)

[scotty b]

I'm a little confused also as to what kind of temps you guys think your case produces under normal conditions. Has anyone even taken a long trip and used an IR thermometer right on the case and away from the exhaust to have any idea of how hot a tranny gets (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) Please don't misconstrue me as being a Krusty a-hole I ask this seriously. I have no idea what normal operating temp is but can't believe it is very high and would be harmed by a thin coat of powder . I have also seen many trannies CAKED in oil, one of which was actually over the tops of the ribs, ther's no way powder could hold in near that much heat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Doc and I are trying to get a feel for interest right now and as I stated before I will be trying this out on an old swing axle bug tranny before I attempt an expensive, specialized, highly desireable, gold plated ( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif) gold plated huh?) Porsche trans

[biosurfer1]

well if i'm gunna drop >$1000 on a rebuild, whats another $100 to make it look good, very clean and add some protection against the elements...its just money right?(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Pat Garvey]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

WHY?

[BarberDave]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif)
I think anything that is going to make our cars look better is O.K.
Powder coating is the cats Ass ,I have done 4 wheel cyls. all my engine tin and 4 Mahlie rims. Literally spray with water to clean,nothin sticks to it .
Lets see i wonder how much to powder coat the whole car??????????? HUMMMMM Dave (IMG:style_emoticons/default/slap.gif)