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

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

My crossover is painted.

-J

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

Mine is not painted.

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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12
1982 380SL
1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing
1987 300 D
2005 CDI European Delivery
2006 CDI Handed down to daughter
2007 GL CDI. Wifes

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.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

That is corrosion.

Have the crossover and intake sandblasted?

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Have them powder coated or anodized?

Sixto
87 300D

If you do that your going to have to coat it with something or its going to quickly corrode again.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Contestant #5, ForcedInduction!!! who said the problem was "corrosion." Yes, ladies and germs, it comes off with just a little (well, a lot of) elbow grease and some Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish.

Next question, do I want to spend the next few weekends scrubbing or is there some kind of metal-dipping process that I could do myself or find a shop that would do it for me?

Jeremy

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

I think i would sandblast it..

__________________
Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

As long as they would add one additional commandment for you to keep thy religion to thyself.
George Carlin (Wonder where he is now..)

1981 240d (engine donor 1983 240d) recently rebuilt engine hurray! - No more.. fought a tree and the tree won.

pearl black 1983 240d 4speed (Converted!@$$%) atleast the tranny was rebuilt.

I think you are right. Walnut shells might be a better abrasive than silica sand and either one a lot less effort than hand scrubbing. I think I can buy a small DIY sandblaster from Harbor Freight. Might be faster than waiting for a shop to work my parts into its queue.

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

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.

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

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

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

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