As a relative newbie to this project, I need to understand the benefits of powder coating motor tin, cases, maifolds, struts, etc... versus just plain old, well applied, paint.

The cost is more but the finish doesn't seem to be that much better.

Is the Powder Coating harder, more durable, stand up better under heat ...Where should the benefits be ?????????

I had my intake pipes coated but the guy tells me not to get them above about 400 degress or it will flake off.

2-OH!

Under normal circumstances, powder coat is MUCH more durable than paint. Over 400 degrees, I dunno as I haven't done any parts that are exposed to that much heat. I powder coated a set of 2.0 intake runners and never had a problem, but they don't get that hot.

The factory did it this way.

You answered your own question:



Paint comes off with a lot of cleaners... powder coating wont.

Its cool your learning and asking questions. Keep them coming.

Paint on tin will look like crap and when you try and clean the engine... it will come off.


B

400 degress is the magic number because thats the temp that the ovens heat the metal to, so that coating materials will stick. 'Powder' coatings' are plastic beads that are literally melted onto the metal. I had a job onetime where I wanted to powdercoat some 1/2 inch thick steel plate...and the ovens could nopt seem to heat the metal that thick, to 400F, so we ultimately switched to a conventional spray-on coating.

Has anyone ever looked at the original finish on the intake pipes? Its a matte finish gray...I have a hunch its the same high-temp grey used on the OEM heat exchangers and mufflers. Can anyone confirm?

Yes. That is why it comes off with relative ease. Luckily.. the intake runners dont see the same heat/oil/salt/water/conditions that the OE HE's where exposed too.


b

I did the intake runners in clear. They turned out a slightly bronzey pewter-ish color. Pretty cool actually. Clear ends up looking different depending on the metal type that you're coating.

I have all my engines powdercoated.......(just the tin of course) It makes things cleaner and easier to work with and looks more detailed. I have also seen some cooling differences (better) with shrouds that we powdercoat inside and out.

I must say for those of us Cheap assholes here...

(Someone has to stand up and be proud)

Paint on engine Tin, properly done LOOKS GREAT!!!
Holds up fine (Four years and running and still looks fine.

I guess I really have no need to clean my engine with any solvents except the orangey stuff from under the kitchen sink...
I do not get oil on it, It does not leak (I made sure before going through the process of re-finishing the tin)

Now, I also must say...if powder coating were the cats ass and all...how come cars are not powder coated??
How about a show car....Im not talking about specific parts, I am talking about the entire car...

Paint hold up fine, just use the right two part epoxy based paints and everything is fine....

Spray paint sold at the hardware store is enamel paint....it will wipe off with lacquer because it is never cured....two part epoxy enamel work fine...

I Paint, I am proud of the paint work...AND This does not lower the bar or raise the bar ....Just as long as how you do it is detailed and you use good materials, Powdercoating versus paint is a personal preference thing....powder coating is still paint applied to metal, it will still scratch off, it will still rust etc....

One reason whole cars are not powder coated is that it would make collision repair a living hell.

Be advised there are two types of powder coating....thermoset and thermosplast.....one will run when subjected to 400F while the other won't....the reason is lost in time....it's been 18 years since I dealt with this stuff.....

It generally looks like pure orange peel to me... and if you tap something..

Shadoobee.... Shat-terd.


M

I second that because of all the pounding and peening I have to do to get the dang Mallory to fit. If I'da powder coated I'd be doing it all over on that side.

If your powder coating looks like crap. It's the guy doing it and not the powder coat. I recently got some of the worst powder coating back I ever seen, form a well respected shop that did my engine. This guy powder coated over dirt, gasket cement, miss spots, didn't plug screw holes and thin in other spots. The old black coating was never even removed. I don't blame the powder coat. I've also had some powder coating done on the tin and hammered for a mallory and it didn't even chip the powder coating, a little buffing and it looked as good as the rest. Find another shop. There are people out there that know how to do it and the others just live off the reputation of others.
I can't prepare, acid etch, acid prime, epoxy prime and paint for what I get my powdering done for at the shop I use. So just fine a good shop, the guy I use does alot of aero stuff and is always interested in my projects, and treats me right. I'm sure you could find a good shop also.

Powder coating is a finish process. You do it once you've fit your Mallory and made everything work. You don't paint your car and then start doing the body work. Nothing is supposed to stay pretty with you beating on it.

Uh...yeah. But in my haste to finish, I would have coated everything then mocked it up, likely to find it didn't fit. With all the FI junk, you don't see the tin anyways.

In the air-cooled club I'm in, my friend powder coated two VW Type III pans -- stunningly gorgeous, to say the least! And we know they will stand up to road abuse far longer than any paint could

I get a publication called "Powdercoating", it's aimed at the professional powdercoaters, the cover story a few months ago was about doing just this...it'll be more common within a few years on some makes and models.
I'm curious how the car insurance companies treat these cars since repairs are not going to be easy depending on the damage.

They also have low temp powders so that you can powdercoat plastic or wood (IR heaters), wood is preheated before so that the powder adheres to it before the melt.

Powder coating is a good idea for a structural part, or all the metal on a race car.

Does anyone remember when new cars had a nice shine? What, like 72 was the last year.. I like laquers, I like the car to shine if I am going to the trouble.


M

One of the cars on my website was completely assembled..then taken apart and 100% powder coated. The paint was matched to powder for the fiberglass panels. Looks awesome and doesnt chip.

Powdercoat is totally flexible.

I agree paint can look good... but why ? It runs me 125$-150$ to have ALL the tin pieces done and I get them back in 2-3 days. We spend 1-2 hours making sure all the pieces are straight and off they go.

B

I love powder coat. And it's really handy if you can do a part quickly right in your own garage. Although the cost of professional coating isn't bad either.

OK,
Convince me...

I am about to do all the tin on a VW bug.
Just got the engine back and I will post another thread on it....lots of questions on this one...

Anyways....
I would like to have the color exactly match the paint on the car...
We will be re-painting the original 72 Orange color....

Can I get someone to powdercoat all the tin the EXACT color??? Or is there a compromise that I will have to live with here???

BTW. I have the spare oven and all in the barn, might get into it, but it look like alot of money to powdercoat suspension parts etc considering I will never see them...

I would like to powdercoat the bottom of a 914...
After Chris is done with it,,,,if powder coating is really more durable to road debris, rocks and sand etc...

This is where I would see value...if its more durable, I would powdercoat the underside of a restored car....

Please convince me that its worth it..and how would you go about doing it...lets just figure its on its roof, bottom side up.....to big for my oven though, but certainly easy enough to paint....

Rich

Go to the powder coating shop and look at their samples! The place we go to has a Safety Orange that looks like the exact color for '72 Bright Orange (our car color ).

You can mix different color powders just like you can mix paint, but given that it's dry and not liquid, I don't know if would work as well. I'll bet you can get real close.

If I build a rotisserie, I could easily powdercoat a 914 floor pan. Hmmmm...