Well, I've been to the Powdercoaters and I've been informed that I've to strip it back, he told me to remove all plastic and piping but I could leave all the brackets and metal pipework?? At present I'm in the middle of removing the throttle bodies, is there anything I should watch out for??

Should I remove or leave these pipes??

Remove those pipes and do a throttle body bypass, when you put it back in the car, remove the PCV valves and i would remove all brackets, if getting powder coated or not, you want a completely bare plenum to get the best results.

Thanks Graham, i'll o a search on throttle body bypass

What other bits can be deleted from the plenum when its off??

EGR valve, and blank plates where the pipes enter the plenum, but you will also need to plug the egr hole in the manifold, so up to you really if you are keeping the EGR valve.

In all your threaded holes, nip up some bolts in them, 10mm length ones will do the job.

 

Personally it's a lot of work but when I did mine I flattened it right back and as a consequence this removed the casting marks.

 

You don't need to be totally anal about it either, the throttle cable cover hides the fiddly bits.

Remove those pipes and do a throttle body bypass, when you put it back in the car, remove the PCV valves and i would remove all brackets, if getting powder coated or not, you want a completely bare plenum to get the best results.

Plus you want to sand it down a bit smoother before it goes to be done. It will make for an easier and better job for the powdercoat.

IMO of course

The powder coaters said that they'll do the prep work to include smoothing the castings, they've been told that I want a smooth shiny finish, which they promised to do, so it's down to them, I told them I had a couple of guys in work that would prep them and they said they'd rather do it themselves. Can I get the throttle bodies powder coated also?? I've removed everything off them also but there is a little plastic ring that kind of protects the bar to stop metal hitting metal, does that matter??

I had a go at them with the Dremel this evening..

Not too bad for a first time effort :thumbup1:

Undo the two screws on the butterfly in the throttle body and the bar will slide out :thumbup1:

Cheers Graham!

If you read through this bit of my build thread it might give you some ideas

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?143092-update-on-my-swb-restoration/page12

done a few plenums for powdercoating i smoothed eveything down cleaned all casts marks off and made up a kit to blank off all holes on plenum and put bolts in all the threads coz the powdercoat gets in everywhere and its a pain to clean off surfaces for gaskets and you dont want to be cleaning out all the threads on a plenum!

 

dan :)

If you read through this bit of my build thread it might give you some ideas

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?143092-update-on-my-swb-restoration/page12

 

Cheers for that Dougal:thumbup1:

done a few plenums for powdercoating i smoothed eveything down cleaned all casts marks off and made up a kit to blank off all holes on plenum and put bolts in all the threads coz the powdercoat gets in everywhere and its a pain to clean off surfaces for gaskets and you dont want to be cleaning out all the threads on a plenum!

 

dan :)

 

What size/type of bolts fit all the plenum holes?? My mechanic only gave me the bare plenum with the exception of the fitted pipes, i've put those bolts into the threads.

You need the cheapest run of the mill bolts, local hardware store or if you can wait a few days buy bags of say 25 on ebay, certainly you need M6, not sure exactly on other sizes so have a quick look and count up yourself, maybe get some M5's and some M8's as well, probably cost you less than a tenner for the lot as they don't need to be long bolts.

You need the cheapest run of the mill bolts, local hardware store or if you can wait a few days buy bags of say 25 on ebay, certainly you need M6, not sure exactly on other sizes so have a quick look and count up yourself, maybe get some M5's and some M8's as well, probably cost you less than a tenner for the lot as they don't need to be long bolts.

 

Cheers mate:thumbup1: I've decided I'm not going to rush things, I'll take my time and spend the next two weeks getting organised, I've a couple of guys in work with nothing to do so they've been given the job of prepping for powdercoating, I've ordered a metal polishing kit off ebay for the anglegrinder and i'll get the above bolts also.

Thanks for the help

This is mine I didn't smooth mine and it has covered all the marks it's smooth like car paint, but 1st powder coater was crap think it depends who is doing it, mine was done twice 2nd time it's on a lot thicker and covered everything mine is candy blue it has a chrome layer then blue by the looks of it,

Put an old set of pcv valves in the holes,

Some m6 and sure it was m8 in the other bigger holes,

I didnt mask the gasket faces and I used a da sander keeping it flat and removed powder coat on faces and mine has been fine no boost leaks etc...

I also made some egr blanks from a piece of stainless sheet.

 

here's a couple of pics of mine

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Thanks for the pics Terry, that looks really well!:thumbup: did you powdercoat your throttle bodies and water pipes in silver or have them polished??

I just quickly polished them on a desk type polishing thing my boss had at work,

again there not polished like a mirror but are shiny and probably how they were when new

Had 2 plenums in garden and they were really crap looking the throttle bodies were rough like this but came up well, also they blast the plenum before coating which probably evens out a lot before coats go on,

Sorry water pipes were powder coat chrome and again I have 1st set in garage they came out horrible but the 2nd lot are very nearly chrome but easy to clean,

If the powder coater is good he can hide all the slight marks,

Cool! Thanks for that. Do you think I should powdercoat the throttles or leave well enough alone??

I'd polish them just saves the hassle of completely stripping them they have seals on the sides and quite a lot of springs etc...

and the polished bit usally brakes it up a bit,

Think you could be right on that one!! Too many bits and pieces to lose!!