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TPI throttle body plate painting

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Old 04-15-2012, 08:55 PM
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Car: 1988 Camaro IROC-Z
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: 2.77
TPI throttle body plate painting

I was looking at the Callaway C4 Corvette, it has the same engine as most of our third gens, L98 TPI, only the Callaway has twin turbo added. The intake/throttle body looked pretty cool so I figured I'd give it a shot to see what I could do.

Only did the throttle body plate right now, it actually turned out pretty good. Let me know what you guys think.

Here is a link to the Callaway intake
http://redwood.smugmug.com/Cars/Car-...57_pLrbp-L.jpg
Attached Thumbnails TPI throttle body plate painting-img_0214.jpg   TPI throttle body plate painting-img_0218.jpg   TPI throttle body plate painting-img_0219.jpg  
Old 04-15-2012, 09:11 PM
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Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

looks pretty good, howd you do it?
Old 04-15-2012, 09:21 PM
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Car: 1988 Camaro IROC-Z
Engine: 350 TPI
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Axle/Gears: 2.77
Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

Got a can of silver spray paint and a matte black can.
Took the plate off and sprayed it all silver, about 4 coats. Let it sit overnight and then taped the "TUNED PORT INJECTION" off the masking tape and used a razor blade to cut off the access tape so only the letters were covered. Sprayed the plate with about 5-6 coats of the black matte. After 3 hours I peeled the tape off and that was the result.
Old 04-15-2012, 09:43 PM
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Car: 1988 IROC Camaro (RHD)
Engine: 350 ci L98 SBC
Transmission: T700
Axle/Gears: 9 bolt BW, Disk, Posi-traction
Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

Looks good, thinking about doing something similar.

I'll probably just paint the whole thing and then just sand back the raised letter surface.
Old 04-16-2012, 08:39 PM
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Car: 91 Trans Am Convertible
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Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

Nice touch. I think the sanding technique would be much easier though. There are too many cuts with the razor blade and the original finish could be brought to a smooth finish.
Old 04-17-2012, 06:08 AM
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Car: 89 Trans Am GTA
Engine: 5.7 350 TPI L98
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Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

Not trying to sound like a jerk but you do know you can buy ones of the plates in many different colors & styles from ebay and other sites. I have a black one that has GTA on it.
Old 04-17-2012, 07:34 PM
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Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

^true. I have a polished one that says "WS6 performance package". However, painting is cheaper and he succeded in his goal of matching the look of the Callaway plate.
Old 04-17-2012, 08:38 PM
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Car: 1990 Formula
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Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

I Painted the Plate on a TPI Unit I put on an Iroc I built for a guy. Just painted the plate, then sanded the letters.

Old 04-17-2012, 10:05 PM
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Car: 1988 Camaro IROC-Z
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Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

MNformula350 - that intake looks awesome! I've got a few ideas floating around right now for mine. Hopefully I can get some time this weekend and do a little more work on mine.
Old 04-17-2012, 10:33 PM
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Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

Originally Posted by Transmetal
Not trying to sound like a jerk but you do know you can buy ones of the plates in many different colors & styles from ebay and other sites. I have a black one that has GTA on it.
Or buy a blank cover & design your own instead of buying one anybody else can buy.
Old 04-17-2012, 11:31 PM
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Car: 1988 IROC Camaro (RHD)
Engine: 350 ci L98 SBC
Transmission: T700
Axle/Gears: 9 bolt BW, Disk, Posi-traction
Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

What's the best method for polishing the TPI parts?
Old 04-20-2012, 08:38 PM
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Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

i did my plate the same way when the car was TPI back in 05

Old 09-16-2023, 07:24 PM
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Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

Was toying around with painting the TB plates just for fun. I think it came out pretty nice. Was flip flopping on which one looked better, but I think I'm going to go with the green lettering. Going to repaint the screws green to match the letters.



I also painted the valve covers and fuel rails to match the plenum.

The following 2 users liked this post by blacksunshine'91:
91banditt2 (09-21-2023), Buddy (09-16-2023)
Old 09-21-2023, 11:20 AM
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Re: TPI throttle body plate painting

Here's mine, aluminum plate painted flat black with stainless overlay, don't mind the dust

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