Soon I will be removing the intake manifold to fix the oil leak in the back of the intake. Since I’ll be removing the runners, and the plenum, I would like to have them polished. Has anyone done this? Any shop recommendations in California? Appreciate the feedback, thanks.

 

Powder coat everything, and never do more than wipe down with a wet cloth................

 

i took some steel wool and some rubbing compound to my aluminum engine parts. By no means does it reflect, but its clean and looks nice.

 

Polishing looks great but is a chore to maintain especially for a daily driver. Powdercoating leaves a beautiful finish is so easy to maintain and it comes in all types of colors, textures etc. I think that have a coating that's called chrome. Obviously a coating won't rival chrome but I'm sure it looks great.

Art

 

Or you can have it polished by a shop and then powdercoat it clear.

 

For more pictures and trade in your original one(s) for polished ones like those check out Here

 

Always go with a Chrome Poly Coat - No polishing, easy to clean & great shine:

 

You can do it yourself but it takes a ton of time and effort.
Here's how:

http://www.gmtips.com/3rd-degree/dox...m/pol-plen.htm

And you probably won't get it as shiny as a pro who does this for a living. I outsourced the job out of state.

The upkeep is not that bad, as long as you not neglect it. Keep on top of it and it's easy.

 

Thank guys for the input and advice. Powder Coating looks like it would be durable, and easy to maintain. I haven’t found a shop yet that does powder coating in the local area. I do like the Chrome or Polished look on these pieces, I would like to see a chrome powder coat color to see the difference. I found a shop in Belmont, CA called Ron’s Accessories Plus. Ron quoted $375 to polish, apply a 1200 Degree heat resistant clear coat on the Runners and the Plenum. This sounds reasonable to me, not sure how much it would cost to have these items powder coated with the same type of luster. Once I get it done, I’ll share some pic’s. I will ask if Powder Coat Clear is an option the shop may have available, and I need to find out more about Chrome Poly Coat that was suggested as well. The pieces done by Fastcoolcars are really nice, I will check them out as well.

Thanks again.

 

Looking forward to some followup on this thread

 

I could probably help you out...

 

Hello everyone, finally I was able to fix the intake manifold leak on my 90 Vette. I am very grateful to everyone in this forum for sharing your knowledge, if it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t have been able to even get started, so thanks again. Two years ago when a so call mechanic worked on the intake manifold leak which he couldn’t fix on two occasions, I was so disappointed that I wanted to sell the car because of the oil leaks. I am glad now that I didn’t sell it because I really enjoy the car, and it’s a cool racing machine.

The car is like new now, it runs a lot better than before, I took a trip from Fremont to Redding, California logging about 550 miles and glad to say there isn’t a single leak. I averaged between 70 & 75 MPH, and had a good MPG in return of 23.5, not bad.
I applied the Right Stuff RTV seal on the back and front of the block before installing the intake manifold. I also purchased an Intake Manifold Kit Gasket Seal from the Chevy dealer which included the seals for the plenum, runners, thermostat, distributor, intake, and the throttle body seal as well.

I also decided to have the Plenum, Runners, Valve Covers, Intake Manifold, and the Thermostat Housing Powdercoated Chrome which all came out really cool.

I also installed a Hi-Flow 180 degree Robertshaw Thermostat from Ecklers, which keep a cool water temp between 160 to 180 on the highway, at an ambient temp between 80 to 85 degrees F.

Below are the before and after pictures, hope you enjoyed them, and the last one is from Lake Shasta, located by Redding California.

Take care,
Jim


http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...dercoat001.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...dercoat002.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...dercoat003.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...dercoat002.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...dercoat003.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...dercoat004.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...dercoat005.jpg

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s...asta030707.jpg

 

Turned out great.