Is the 603 engine's intake manifold painted? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Jeremy5848 · #1 07-13-2008, 12:57 AM

I've been continuing to clean up my poor abused '87 a little bit at a time. The valve cover is starting to respond to #0000 steel wool and Mother's Aluminum and Mag Wheel polish and will eventually look pretty good. However, the crossover pipe and intake manifold look crummy, as you can see, and I think that they must have been painted at the factory. Can anyone confirm that, have pictures of what it is supposed to look like, knows what paint to use?

Jeremy

compu_85 · #2 07-13-2008, 01:08 AM

My crossover is painted.

-J

Wodnek · #3 07-13-2008, 08:22 AM

Mine is not painted.

Hatterasguy · #4 07-13-2008, 10:14 AM

Nah they were never painted, but its a good idea. I have been thinking about spraying mine for awhile.

I'd get a better valve cover that wasn't pitted and put it on a wheel again so it was nice and shiney. Hit that with some clear, than maybe get the manifold powder coated. Jet hot coat the exhuast header white and all of a sudden it starts to look pretty good under the hood.

#5 07-13-2008, 10:17 AM

That is corrosion.

Jeremy5848 · #6 07-13-2008, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForcedInduction

That is corrosion.

Have the crossover and intake sandblasted?

sixto · #7 07-13-2008, 03:48 PM

Have them powder coated or anodized?

Sixto
87 300D

David Wilson · #8 07-14-2008, 04:42 PM

If you are going to get it powder coated, the shop that does it will blast it as part of their prep. They tape it first, then blast. Then apply the powder, then bake. My son did his BMW intake like that in a silver. Looks great. Less than $100 for the works. And a lot less work.

Jeremy5848 · #9 07-14-2008, 05:28 PM

Just checked with a powder coat place (what a coincidence!). They can do an anodized "silver" finish that looks very original, I have a sample that matches the clean spot on my crossover very closely. About $100, maybe a bit more, to bead blast and do the coating. Couple weeks' notice to get into their queue and they would need the parts for about a week. Sounds like an attractive option. If I'm gonna bother pulling off the parts and having them blasted clean, I suppose it's worth the extra $$$ to have them coated so they stay clean. The pictures show the sample they gave me, lying on the crossover. The color looks pretty close.

Jeremy

David Wilson · #10 07-14-2008, 09:13 PM

That looks like the same color. Check out this link. There's some pictures of the engine with the front covers coated.
m42club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3523&highlight=after+work

sixto · #11 07-14-2008, 09:39 PM

Then the manifold will have to be jet-hot coated.

Can they do the eposed surfaces of the head? And front cover? And IP case? And engine mount arms... And...

Sixto
87 300D

Jeremy5848 · #12 07-14-2008, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sixto

. . . Can they do the eposed surfaces of the head? And front cover? And IP case? And engine mount arms... And...

Sixto
87 300D

Yes, if you remove them from the car and carry them in!

My plan of the moment is to do a little more hand scrubbing and then to wait 6 months or so to see if the aluminum (or whatever alloy it is) re-oxidizes. The car is 21 years old; who knows how long it took for the intake and crossover to get as bad as mine are. Maybe if I have them bead blasted and then do nothing, they will only gradually deteriorate over a period of years. If the engine was originally base untreated metal, I'd rather keep it that way.

On the other hand, if they look like s*** after six months, I'll definitely schedule the shop to anodize after bead blasting the parts.

vstech · #13 07-14-2008, 11:25 PM

odds are pretty good that manifold had some salt contact on it.
if there is no more salt spray the manifold will stay pretty clean for years and years.
still, powdercoating sure does look nice...

Marty600 · #14 07-14-2008, 11:59 PM

Warning, do not sandblast or glass bead that part, you will hate yourself for the weekend it will take to get the INTERIOR of the component, and it's oily sooty deposits it contains, to be free of the abrasives, which will stick in there worse than a magnet.
I went thru this 20 years ago on a gas engine, my son would not listen and came to my shop and glass-beaded his taurus SHO intake runners, whoa, same story.
I used silver hightemp engine paint on my benz's intake and valve cover, it still looks great 10,000 miles later. I FARMED OUT THE CLEANING JOB, and you should do the same, they went into a tank that used steel balls and fluid, and some type of revovling/agitating action--I did not see it working--but it cleaned out the inside of the intake,
just wait till you see what it looks like on your car--frankly, the guys around here with 'hot tanks' would NOT place it in thier tank, it seems that diesel byproducts damage the water-based solvents in use today...BTW, I think it was painted, from the factory...at least my 300td '92 was...And 1 last note, many casting grades of aluminum do not polish out all that great..you will have to sand the intake to remove the porosity--it's gonna take many hours of work...and then the burden begins of maintaining that nice polish--show car, or driver? Powder is best, paint is pretty darn good.

Jeremy5848 · #15 07-15-2008, 02:01 AM

Thanks for the advice, Marty. I cleaned out the plumbing after the EGR valve accidentally fell off and I had to cover the holes with some metal plates (that Brian fortuitously had) to prevent leaks. When I checked last week, the insides were clean and dry. I do know that some kinds of sandblasting are not good for soft alloys like aluminum; the people I talked to today do seem to know what they're doing but I would have them try on a small part of the manifold that is out of sight, just in case. The silver paint is a possibility, let me see how the bare aluminum looks in a few months.

I do not see the intake as ever being "polished" like (for example) the valve cover. The intake and crossover are both rough-finished castings and I plan to keep them that way, just not so dirty looking.