Hey! I was finally able to paint my charge piping, here is how I did it!
It is actually very simple, I have been thinking about painting my piping ever since I got my car out of the paint shop. The people who painted my car didn't do a very good job masking off parts, and my charge piping along with everything else got major overspray all over it, and made it look very nasty!
Here's my piping before this:
Another thing that made me do this was because I had a minor boost leak and I wanted to test all the pipes... Look what I found!!It was actually a disaster waiting to happen!
Anyways, here are the steps.
Make sure you have these materials before starting your project, it will save you a lot of time!
Sand Paper,(I used 220 grit because my piping was previously powder coated)
Cleaning solvent
Paint, (I used DE 1615 Aluminum and DE 1636 Clear Coat. I chose Duplicolor Engine Enamel, It is Gas and Oil Resistant and also has a ceramic base which is great for dispersing heat and is great for the engine bay)
Microfiber cloth, or some tack cloth
Some empty boxes to paint on
1. Clean the piping with any kind of solvent, I used simple green
2. Next, sand each piece of piping down, just enough to clean the surface up and make it pourus so that the paint will adhere to it correctly.
2. Wipe each piece off with a CLEAN DRY Microfiber cloth, or tack cloth, I used Microfiber, since I already had it, but DO NOT USE ANY SOLVENT NOW! Unless you have denatured alcohol, but it is best to just wipe all the dust off w/ a dry microfiber cloth.
3. Follow the directions on the paint can. I just sprayed an even coat, and every 10 minutes I sprayed again, then one last "Wet" coat. After that dried, I sprayed it with the clear, I also put on about 2 coats of clear,for protection.
After they dry, wipe it off with a nice clean microfiber cloth, if you want, you can buff the clear out a bit to make it more shiny, but I didn't do it because I didn't think it was necessary.
Here is the finised product!!! The finish should last a long time, unless you drop or totally scratch off the paint... but other than that, it is gas and oil resistant! GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY YOUR NICE PIPING!! TIME TO GO BLING THE REST OF THE PARTS IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT!!!
TIPS:
Before you do this, run boost leak test, or induvidually check out each pipe, 2 of my pipes leaked at the welded joints.. Small pin hole leaks, but I got those parts welded and the other parts that they missed, I JB welded!
Also, since you'll have easy access to the shifter cables, NOW IS THE BEST TIME TO BUY 4 skate board bearing!! Pop out those gross mushy rubber bushings and sand the inside of the hole where the bushings used to be just enough so that the bearing go in there with little pressure, you can reuse the washers and the clip that were originally on there too!
Here's a picture! THIS MOD REALLY MADE A DIFFERENCE! It makes shifts so precise, it feels like I am driving a brand new Manual transmision car!!!
