Not exactly maintenance, more of a beautification...(powdercoating)

[Cebby]

That's right Smitherz - I'm calling you out!   

I plan to do some powdercoating after seeing how great your engine looks.  I was initially inspired by Twisty and his color matched cam covers, but I like the durability of powdercoating vs auto paint

I'm going to get some finish samples from Tigerdrylac.  I want to come reasonably close to the body color on my 4Runner (dark blue).  My powdercoating will be handled by Loudin's Powder Coating

The question is, what parts make the most sense to powdercoat?  Cam covers is an easy one, but what else?  Upper intake - maybe lower too...

[Smitherz]

Well lets get this show started  !!
What color are you going with?

I'm taking in the tubing that surround the intake manifolds next week. The local guys give me a hell of a deal since I've been supporting them for years. You can even have them do the bolts if you wanted... I just paint mine with Hammerite paint. I'll post some pics a little later on. I have some good ones.

Of course here is my thread with info on all the powdercoating I've done.
http://www.fourwheelforum.com/index.php?showtopic=59
I elected not to do my lower intake since it's not clearly visible and is very clean in the first place. I'll have pictures when I get done prepping the injectors. It's a nice contrast between the shiny lower and red upper manifold. If I did the lower red like the top it would be like putting black rims on a black car... just too much in my eyes. When you do your cam covers make sure the color goes well with the grey plastic that goes over the spark plugs wires. The red I chose goes well. People coat the plastic with special vinyl plastic cote but thats too much work I think.

Here is a pic of my throttle linkage on the TB. Before the coating it was too horrible and corroded to look at 

[Cebby]

I want to do dark blue to match the 4Runner.  I've used yellow accents on stuff in the past, but don't want to go there this time.  I also want some black the same sheen as your parts above and possibly some silver for uncoated parts.

I see you left that little 90 deg fitting in that one cam cover.  I couldn't figure out how to get that thing out, so I guess it can stand the heat of powdercoating...

How did you get your PCV valve out of the other cover?  Mine just won't come out...

You engine is "cleaner" on the outside than mine - although mine isn't all that bad.  I see you did that coolant passage piece at the front of the motor.  I was wavering on doing that piece or not since it is covered by a small plastic shroud.  I'm going to have my guy make up a nice large metal sample so I can easily get a computer color match for some liquid paint to it to do some of the plastic parts - mainly the silver on the plug covers.

For the intakes, I hear ya on the black on black analogy.  I think I may do the top in Blue and the bottom in silver. 

What are you using to clean your parts that aren't getting PC'd?  I haven't gotten to the beautification stage yet for the other stuff, but need to get rolling on this.

[Smitherz]

I've been waiting to reply to this one 
I have spent quite a few hours detailing my machine and I have some good tips. It all comes down to the ol' elbow grease though but I can show you the tools and chemicals I have been using. I have an AWESOME degreaser that I buy in 5gallon buckets for $25 at the Smart and Final discount supplystore. When you think about the cost per bottle I hardly pay anything for how much I get. They sell this bucket of industrial concentrate cleaner/degreaser which is used to strip/clean floors. I dilute it 2:1 with water in a spray bottle and it cleans part in a sink with water better than in a solvent tank, no joke! Using is straight is just not necessary and you can use it 3:1 and it works just as well but is less slippery. It's blue like Windex and you can really clean your hands with it too. 

I took all my nasty accessories (PS pump, alternator) off the engine and threw them in a pan to degrease them with this cleaner and then hosed them off. The parts really strip clean with this stuff.  When I get another bucket of it I'll get a picture. I am on my last spray bottle. Besides this cleaner I have used almost one can of pressurized brake cleaner. There are a few types but the all clean the same and instantly evaporate so you have to clean fast with this stuff. I use that sparingly as it shoots out super fast and you MUST put on eye protection or you will get shot with it. I've seen people spray themselves so many times, hehe. I got some gas splashed in my eyes when I was 17 and that sure taught me a lifelong lesson. I wear eye protection if any type of air or power tool or chemical is being used, no matter what. I have 3 pairs floating around my shop and I don't work with this stuff without them on, no way.

I will never use gas to clean and I haven't in a couple years. It doesn't work as good as brake cleaner or that degreaser I mentioned. Hell, it's expensive now too! That does it for the liquid cleaners I use. Later I'll show the abrasives and brushes. Yeehaw.

[Cebby]

Here's my short list of stuff getting PC'd:

Cam Covers
Upper Intake
Lower Intake
The little cast housings up top
Fuel Rails (?)
Any misc little brackets that look bad.

And later...
My custom headers

The rest I will clean better and is mostly in the shadows anyway.

[Cebby]

OK - had a chance to look at some old pics...

There's really no reason to do too much PC'ing on the motor, since alot of it is covered by the various shrouds.  A good cleaning is really all it will need.  Smitherz - are you planning to do the TB?  I saw you did some brackets on it...

For reference - here's what it looks like assembled...

[callmej75]

Ceb....I see alot of things on there that would really stand out and make your swap more unique than most. If you send me a clear picture I can draw up some ideas for you to consider.

[Cebby]

Let me take a couple of good overhead pics of it today.  I planned to get down there and tear a few pieces off and get it sent out today - might not happen until sometime over the weekend though.  All the samples I ordered didn't look right, but I got complete color cards too and found a couple other possibilities.  (going for dark blue to match the body on at least the upper intake and cam covers - probally some silver and black too).

Smitherz - I just discovered that the "TOYOTA" symbol and that square piece on the intake are plastic.  I went back to look at your pics and saw you pulled yours off - what are you putting there?  I figured I could get a badge from a trunk or something - thought I might make an aluminum plate for it so it looks like the original and it would give me an opportunity to have some contrast (maybe a sliver plate with a black emblem...

[callmej75]

I was thinking...since you wanted the upper intake done in the blue to match your truck, then more than likely its the same dark blue as my old 91 4Runner with a hint of metallic underneath. I just shot this sample of candy blue over silver sparkle. What I'm trying to achieve is the whole upper intake dark blue, and the runners going down, faded with the silver sparkle to simulate a nice fade, and give it that effect that the air is atomizing going down the runners. My opinion it would look pretty sweet Ceb. As far as the valve pan covers go, I can trim out the letters on it and do them in a candy blue also. I found this candy blue is about as dark as the blue on the 4runner is.

[Cebby]

That's cool looking, but it looks like the same thing I ran into with the samples I got - all too light.  I don't want to get too flashy - really want to go understated.  That's part of the reason I'm doing stock alloys with beadlocks, etc.  Understated, but those in the know will see the mods.

The letters on the valve covers are actually plastic inserts.  Here's a pic without them:

[callmej75]

Thats what I was afraid of. Did you look at color samples on www.caswellplating.com? They have alot of guys post their work up there so its real finishes instead of a color card.  I just don't like caswells transparents because its too unstable and clouds up alot, whereas the Tiger Drylac is uniform. Also check out www.columbiacoatings.com for more color samples. They also offer great powder coat that I've never had a problem with. did you ever think of going all black? You gotta add some uniqueness under there because this is an unusual swap and having stuff powder coated will actually be a cinch to cleanup and will not corrode over time. Take your time though....once its done...its done! If you want, order the powder you prefer, ship it to me, and I'll do everything for ya. I can understand the mild look...but ya know....the silver sparkle over cast aluminum doesn't appear speakly, instead it shows alot of the casting underneath. Alot of the color cards you get will be semi good representations of the actual thing.

[Cebby]

I'm ordering more samples today.  The bigger samples really do help give a good idea on the color.  I'll have to check out those other companies too - although I've been throught he Caswell photo gallery already - nice stuff!!

[Smitherz]

I don't think I'm going to mess with my throttle body. There are some electronics in there that I don't want to touch at all. I just cleaned it  and that's good enough for now. I'm not sure what I want to put back on the intake... I'll probably just put a Lexus emblem on there eventually. Or if I get crazy I might mill an aluminum one someday. I'm not too worried with it right now. I took my fuel/banjo lines to have them coated the other day. It would drive me nuts not to have them looking brand new since they are seen all around the top of the engine.

[Cebby]

Finally started yanking some stuff back off of the motor.

Cam covers are off and ready to ship...  (I actually thought I was going to reuse the seals around the spark plugs - not after I had to beat them out of there!)

(pics to follow)

Got the upper intake ready as well.  There's a bolt on the back of it that I couldn't get off easily (was worried about boogering something up) can it come out?  Still gotta pull the Toyota badge - need my heat gun...

Here's the bolt:


The new list of stuff coming off and getting PC'd is:

Fuel rails and all banjos
Upper and Lower intake
Cam covers
Front coolant housing
Rear coolant housing

maybe the throttle body - I have similar concerns about the electronics in there.  I'd like to remove he TRAC butterfly if possible though...

[Smitherz]

Yeah I don't know what to do about the throttle body. I'm just leaving mine for now. It's extremely easy to take off and do later if I decide on how to do it. Hey if you do take the parts off to have PC'd make sure and take some detailed pictures! The thing is an absolute puzzle to put back together. I took pictures and it still took me a couple minutes to put back together correctly, lots of shims in there.

Leave the bolt in the intake and have it coated over. On your Jap spec motor it's a plug for a casting hole. On the US model its a vacuum fitting hole for the EGR or something I forget exactly which. I left mine on there and taped off the nipple that the vacuum hose connects to. It looks great.

I'm not messing with the TRAC butterfly. It won't give me an ounce of power removing it. One day when I do some TIG work I'm going to pop it out and take care of the holes it will leave.



Here are my fuel lines that I just picked up last week. I used the hardware to cover the surfaces that need to be protected from the sandblasting. You don't want any fuel leaks! They came out perfect and the glossy makes them look wet. The bracket things are the supports for the wiring harness that go right along the fuel rails. I'm 50/50 on taking the lower manifold in for a matching coat of red...