58mark

iTrader: (3)

anybody ever tried polishing or plating their V6 plenum? I've got an extra one here (acutally I have an entire extra engine)

I'm trying to think of way to dress up the engine compartment, but without spending stupid money.

I live right next to a great powercoating place... they could do some amazing stuff with the parts I have. The question is, what color would I use?

phate

iTrader: (1)

i have always liked when the powder coated things in an engine bay complements the color of the car.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

normally, I agree with you, but my car is charcoal grey, and I'm not sure a grey engine compartment would have much POP, visually

Maybe a glossy black, maybe shiny silver...I guess you can never go wrong with a chrome look

this is place down the street from me, they do amazing work, so i'm only limitedto my imagination

http://www.endurocoatings.com/

phate

iTrader: (1)

hmm charcoal gray i would say a darker high gloss red would pop like crazy.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

I thought about some kind of red because my car has a red stripe I'm fond of.



Maybe a combination of red and chrome? I hate to use much black... too "factory"

K-slice

iTrader: (2)

I feel stupid for not having a pic of when I put it back on the car, but here's my plenum and TB after I paited them with Duplicolor engine enamil. Very cheap and I was very happy with the results

Project 3.4 Camaro

I painted my plenum semi-gloss black, and painted my valve covers purple, also I have a chrome oil cap, going to put a chrome radiator cover in way down the road, and probably some other stuff. Headers always look good, I'm also going to paint the cylinder heads once I clean them up good, haven't decided if I'll use the black or purple on them though, but probably the purple(esp since I don't have much black paint left, might run out...), heres what it looks like so far, also bear in mind I'm building a hybrid...
Oh, and the purple is fairly darker than it looks in the pictures.

H8TRAFIC

I powdercoated my plenum bright silver & it looks just as good as K-Slices. I'm having problems uploading the picture, but you can see it on my cardomain page.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

that's a really cool plenum... where did you get it?

Project 3.4 Camaro

That would be the plenum off of a 3400 :P
3100s also have them, albeit the pre 2000(year) ones are a little bit smaller internally.
And some of them have lines going across like this:

58mark

iTrader: (3)

and they fit a 2.8? or do you not have a 2.8 anymore?

Project 3.4 Camaro

Hehe, I'm in the realm of the hybrid, they do not fit on a stock top end, you have to swap over the whole shebang, 3x00 heads, and LIM to be able to put that plenum on. And yes I'm retaining the 2.8 block, putting 3x00 top end on it is the equivalent of getting the best porting possible on your stock heads and manifolds. Or compareable to what aftermarket would be like, and of course if you port the 3x00 top end its going to blow away the stock iron heads.
The heads and manifolds themselves are direct bolt ons, but everything else gets complicated, especially if you're unlucky enough to have a distributor ignition =/

K-slice

iTrader: (2)

They don't fit without a head swap, the 3X00 swap as it's known around here.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

ok, thanks...

still trying to brainstorm ways to dress up the factory plenum. I'm going to take it of my extra engine this week and start to mess around with it. Not sure if I'm going to polish it, paint it, or just clean it

Project 3.4 Camaro

Honestly I think it would look really cool if you anodized it red, blue, or purple.
But idk if thats something you can really do with a plenum or not.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

I'm wondering if it's possible to shave down the rough exterior and make it REALLY shiny..

I know, that would be a ton of work

Project 3.4 Camaro

Yeah, it should be possible though.
You wouldn't believe how much time I've spent on little things like that. Like my chrome oil fill cap, guess what, no one makes those for our engines...I bought the oil cap I wanted on there, spent 2 hours removing the rubber from it that was cast into it(the part that holds it to the valve cover), and then took off the fitting from the oil fill cap on my DD(same engine platform) which was actually super easy because it was two pieces that just pulled apart, and then JB welded that piece into the chrome cap....Also spent like 8 hours modifiying my throttle body which isn't quite done yet...(needs sanded and polished)

58mark

iTrader: (3)

that's a great idea! I just want to take of a little rubber off mine so I can REMOVE it without breaking my fingers... are they all so dang blasted hard to take off?

Project 3.4 Camaro

Just remembered that I had to do that cause I'm using 3400 valve covers, there may or may not be a chrome one that would work the stock valve covers, and I never had trouble removing the old one from the old covers..and it has to be on there good...you don't want that thing falling off of there...my new one is a screw on type, vs. the old one just pops on and off.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

maybe I need one with fresh rubber. Every one I have had had been rock hard, and really difficult to remove

I think I'm going to bring the extra plenum inside and try filing a inconspicuous spot on it, see if I can get one section to shine, and then I'll take it from there.

Project 3.4 Camaro

Ah, mine is somewhat plyable, and purple...
Also use a Dremel, it will go alot faster...use a grinding stone bit, or sanding bit, just be careful if you use the grinding one, it will gouge metal if you're not careful, also youll have to really sand the hell out of it if you do, found this out the hard way with my throttle plate...And once the powdercoating is off I'd use a wirebrush attacment, then sand it by hand.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

I don't remember who it was, but there is a picture around here where someone not only smoothed out their plenum, but they removed the 2.8 MFI emblem from the middle and put a stylized Bird in the middle. If I wasn't going with the hybrid swap, I would definitely polish my plenum. A sandblaster works wonders on all of our stock cast aluminum garbage parts (my alternator bracket was hit with one before it was sent to me when my stock one broke at the alt mount).

58mark

iTrader: (3)

here's the start of the smoothing.. this is going to take a LONG time


this is just with a file and sandpaper. I haven't used the buffing wheel yet. It will look a lot better when I do

micktroup2

My spare polished plenum is in storage with my polished Fiero valve covers. As soon as I pay the damn arrears I will pull it and take some photos. I polished both by hand after filing off all the casting flash. I used 80/120/250/450/650 grit then said SCREW IT and took them to the polishers. I don't regret all the work I did, since it took all the sandcasting grain off it so the polishing looks AMAZING.

I was going to have the intake extrude honed, but I need the lower third of the intake(I will pick up one from the junkyard so this will be a direct swap onto the engine rather than waiting while the original is done). BUUUT, I haven't done it because I thought 'should I have the heads done too, after port matching', then 'and then do I risk finding problems that mean an engine teardown' so 'should I just build up a 3.4 and use these pieces on THAT'...AAGH!! These things are NEVER done!!

AM91Camaro_RS

I should have more pics somewhere but I polished mine a few years ago.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

I'd love to see a larger picture of that.. it looks great!

Project 3.4 Camaro

It does indeed, would look even better with some chrome under that hood

58mark

iTrader: (3)

I worked on the thing for a couple hours or more last night, only with a file and sandpaper, and I got a lot done

My question is, what should do with it when I'm done? the way I see it, I've got a few options

1. polished aluminum
2. polished aluminum, and then high temp clear coat
3. powdercoat a color or chrome look
4. paint



Im leaning toward 1 or 2, but I'm not sure how hard it would be to maintain the polished look

thoughts?

Project 3.4 Camaro

IMO 3 or 4 would completely negate what you just did, so 1 or 2 And personally I wouldn't clearcoat, its easier to maintain without it...kind of like our IROC-Z rims.

jensen73110

iTrader: (4)

Option 5: a "jet-hot" type coating. Pretty, long lasting, and heat resistant.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

I wasn't familiar with that process until I looked it up just now. Looks interesting. I'm wondering about cost... There's a dealer not far away from where I work, I'll drop by and get a quote and more information

thanks

AM91Camaro_RS

polish it then put clear powder coat on it. you won't have to polish it ever again. I should've done that with mine since it needs to be re-polished now. I don't know where more pics are. You can go to my cardomain page http://www.cardomain.com/id/am91camaro_rs and get a little better look at it.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

that is a good idea....

I'm wondering about the valve covers. I'd likethem to match the plenum, (as if they all are chrome) but There's no way the valve covers will shine the same as polished aluminum. I guess I'll just have to talk to the powdercoaters about options

AM91Camaro_RS

you could get the edelbrock valve covers that are chrome. (like mine)

58mark

iTrader: (3)

thought about it... but I already own TWO sets of valve covers... I guess it would be silly to buy another set

If I found a cheap set, my mind could be changed

GTA50

But, how do you keep the centre "button"? I want to keep or restore that - just for giggles - even though I have a heavily modifed 2.8.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

I'm jsut sanding around it... today I hit it with a buffer for a few seconds and it took off some of the finish in there, but the plan is the respray it with glossy caliper black, hit the high parts with more sandpaper, and that will leave the recessed areas.

I'm almost done with the sanding, it's taken three nights and my wife is sick of me working on it, but I'll be done soon. I'll sand it with 80, 220, 400, 1000 and 2000, and then put it on the buffing wheel

should look amazing by the time I'm done

58mark

iTrader: (3)

i read that buffing wheels work best of you don't prep with anything with a higher grit than 400, so here's the plenum,ready to hit the buffing wheel, all sanded down with 400

Might get to the buffing tomorrow, or it might be friday

AM91Camaro_RS

I'm no expert at polishing stuff but I have always heard the more sanding (and finer) the better it'll polish out.

DeathStarr89

iTrader: (1)

I prefer the plenumless design...

Project 3.4 Camaro

o.O How does that thing work exactly??

58mark

iTrader: (3)

i read lots of posts about polishing aluminum this morning, and they all said if you use tripoli and rougue, finer sanding will do more harm than good. If you are not using a buffing wheel, then yes, step up the paper as far as you can go

AM91Camaro_RS

ok, cool.

That pic is individual throttle bodies. One for each cylinder. Must be a racing app...built for high rpms.

DeathStarr89

iTrader: (1)

6 45mm throttle bodies all linked together and bolted to the top of the runner. I've seen a lot of Honda guys do the same thing with motorcycle carbs but this one is a 1-off fully CNC'd piece owned by Marc from TCE.

Some day i'd like to run a similar one on my 3.5 but for now i'm using the stock one..


Here is mine when it was in the Cavalier, it's a high flake Gunmetal color.

Project 3.4 Camaro

What kind of a difference would that make in power/response? And what about air filters?

DeathStarr89

iTrader: (1)

throttle response would probably be very touchy, and from what i understand they are not fun to tune..


like AM91Camaro_RS said, only extreme builds would go that route.


as for air filters, it would be a custom deal. 6 mini K&N's would be one way but one large filter in a fiberglassed air box would be the way i'd do it.

58mark

iTrader: (3)

sanded and polished the throttle body, and painted the throttle lever with black caliper paint. It should look pretty good with the plenum

89rser

cant wait to see the finished work man, im gonna do that to my intake to make it look a lil better.......right now its a flaky white oxidized look

Project 3.4 Camaro

I keep wanting to suggest throttle body modifications and then remembering that Camaro's have better designed ones, although it wouldnt hurt to give them a little bit of attention, the screws could be grinded down a bit as could the shaft and fine sanding and polishing wouldn't hurt either :P

58mark

iTrader: (3)

It's not perfect, but this job was a LOT harder than I thought it would be. If I ever do it again, I'm sure it would take half the time and be twice as good. Isn't that always the case?

i'll take care of that center emblem later

before


after