Anyone ever had their carberator(s) powder coated? Through the years, I've tried keeping the carburetors on my engines clean, but no matter what I do they eventually get stained, oxidized, etc. Carburetor cleaner just doesn't get them back to "as cast", paint looks like crap and comes off...glass beading eventually winds up in the same condition. I figure that powder coating the bodies will seal the pores up in the aluminum, and allow them to be cleaned up when needed. I'm not talking about some gaudy color, either. I was thinking aluminum color or clear. Any thoughts on this?...
I don't see why it wouldn't work, but you want to be 110% sure to properly mask and plug all of your surfaces - I don't imagine carb bodies would take too well to having boo-boos ground off or baked off.
Try this link, they will do it any way you want. http://www.holley.com/CustomSpeedShop/CoatingAndPlating.asp
i had my 94's done couple of years ago, they had a hell of a time doing it becuse of the gas "inbedded" in the carb bodies. Did them 4 times and still didn't come out very good.
The carb needs to be completely disassembled, and obviously there is some careful masking needed. Masking for powder coating is more difficult than for paint, and you definitely don't want it where it shouldn't be. And, depending on the alloy the carb is made of, "regular" powder coating temps may be high enough to affect the part. For those reasons I have never powder coated a carb, but I have successfully painted carbs with single stage Imron as follows: - Clean-up casting lines, burrs, and sharp edges. - Clean to remove grease/oil. - Mask as needed, including all open holes. If the paint is going to lift it will be from the edges, so consider that when prepping, masking for blasting, and masking for primer/paint. While threaded holes can be plugged with scrap screws and needle valves(you don't want to blast or paint the threads of good pieces), small corks or tapered plugs made from masking tape will help avoid having a ridge of paint around each hole, which not only looks better, it reduced the chances of the paint lifting. - Lightly blast with glass beads or other gentle media. - Un-mask and remove ALL blasting media. Be especially careful to there is none left in passages, in threads, or in the bottom of blind holes. - Thoroughly clean with lacquer thinner or other non-residue solvent, then blow solvent from all areas and passages. - Mask again. - Prime with zinc chromate epoxy primer. An etching primer is worthwhile in this situation but not essential. - Within the time stated by the primer's instructions(normally max 12 to 24 hours), paint with polyurethane. - Carefully unmask after the paint has cured. Be careful pull the tape away from edges to avoid lifting the still tender paint. The materials aren't cheap, the job is somewhat tedious, and for best results it must be done as well as possible. I have painted carbs that get regular use and still look good with no signs of paint failure after years of use. To compliment the new paint finish you will probably want to do something with the hardware and brackets. Depending on the look you want, there are a variety of plating, coating, or finishing processes that can be used. If any metal finishing is to be done, make sure that critical dimensions and sealing surfaces are preserved. And if plating is done, threads and some other surfaces will need to be masked off.
If you bead blast them and clean them well, single stage PPG DCC sticks to them well. I used to paint Hot Rod Carb's in Holden MO and did my own also mine still look great.
The risk of having to do over is a bigger deal with powder coating that paint. With some patience, and multiple applications of aircraft paint stripper, Imron can be removed. Imron is more resistant to some chemicals than the powder coating normally used, but powder coating is even harder to strip than Imron/polyurethane paint.
I've powder coated several carbs. clean them do some clean up of the castings ect. some may need blasting. i use masking tape, and plugs. pre bake the castings at 400 deg. cool and wipe down with accetone. powder and bake! my 3 deuces are red, and still look great. big wally's carbs are black with silver hylites. to cool!!
I have done alot of diffrent alum cast powder coat and not really that hard just time consumig. Like chubbie said you have to out-gas them( get all the gas pockets out by preheating) Also after wipe down before coating them pre-heat the part again and coat while the part is still warm. coating while warm is also good to doi when laying down more than one color. Just remember the part needs to be out-gased. If not sure leave the part longer in oven or heat it up several times.
I have been messing with some chemicals to get the correct color I like, I had sent carbs bodies out in the past to get coated and they seem to be way too gold compared to the way they use to be. The originals seem to be more green looking and not so much gold. The valve covers are another chemical I have been messing with to get a more mag look.
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