Painting a "fast intake"
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 3,570
Likes: 3
From: Austin, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Houston, Dallas, Hong Kong, Elgin, etc.. Texas
Depends on what you want it to look like.
You can use a spray can, have it done professional with automotive base coat/clear coat paint, or Powder coating. Some guys don't want the "FAST" logo and grind it off. Some guys want a smooth customer finish so they spend a lot of time sanding.
I took the easy route. I scuffed it up with a Scotch Bright pad, washed it real good with a commercial cleaner & water, wiped it with denatured alcohol, and finally sprayed it with Krylon Fusion Satin black for plastic paint from Home Depot. It dried a couple of days under a heat lamp set up about 3 ft away to accelerate curing because my garage was a little chilly.
Is this paint the best? No. But after 5 months, its looks the same as when I sprayed it and has the same satin black finish as factory manifold. Time will tell how it holds up in a year or two.
Last edited by Mez; Apr 9, 2010 at 01:25 PM.
Former Vendor
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,897
Likes: 412
From: Lewisville TX
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
Depends on what you want for a look like Mez said above.
For a bright and shiny look you are going to have to sand it smooth, use fillers to make the lines as straight as you can. Once that is done then lay down a primer coat, then the base, then clear.
I was going for an OE look to mine when I did it.
While I didn't take the time to remove the FAST lettering on it I did clean the intake and wipe it down with paint prep before I started on it. Then I used a Semi Gloss plastic enamel paint and went over it 5-6 times using light coats until it was completely covered and one final cover over that.
Still looks the same after 3 years.
For a bright and shiny look you are going to have to sand it smooth, use fillers to make the lines as straight as you can. Once that is done then lay down a primer coat, then the base, then clear.
I was going for an OE look to mine when I did it.
While I didn't take the time to remove the FAST lettering on it I did clean the intake and wipe it down with paint prep before I started on it. Then I used a Semi Gloss plastic enamel paint and went over it 5-6 times using light coats until it was completely covered and one final cover over that.
Still looks the same after 3 years.
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 185
Likes: 1
From: Denton Texas
St. Jude Donor '09-'10
An old picture - but you get the idea.
This is a ported SpinFast - so it had one coat of black from Spin on it already, but I modified it further:
1. some initial sanding on the plastic to smooth it out somewhat (very hard plastic for hand sanding tho)
2. a couple coats of "adhesion primer" from autozone
3. several coats of hi-fill primer (also autozone? a lot easier to sand smooth than the plastic itself)
4. more sanding
5. repeat steps 3 and 4 above until sufficiently smooth
6. 3 coats of Lemans Blue spray paint (rattle can from non-forum vendor - PM me for details, but there are several avail on the internet)
7. 3 coats of clear coat.
8. hand painted the "FAST" lettering back in with black paint.
Very easy, simple, and probably about $50 in materials. Time consuming however...
This has lasted well over a year now - and still wins at car shows (best in show a couple weeks ago).
Last edited by BluV; Apr 9, 2010 at 11:16 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 2,345
Likes: 2
From: Houston 06 C6 Ysi SC 402 fgd TX
One more
First one i did a lot of sanding. didnt bother with that for the second one
just a little 400 grit to rough it up,,then about 5 coats of primer high temp, then my special black pearl metallic gloss, several coats followed with several coats clear...about six months and the engine bay gets hot...
First one i did a lot of sanding. didnt bother with that for the second one
just a little 400 grit to rough it up,,then about 5 coats of primer high temp, then my special black pearl metallic gloss, several coats followed with several coats clear...about six months and the engine bay gets hot...
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