It was a sad story. During my phase of accumulating parts for various builds and to satisfy my packratting nature I had acquired a few UIM's. Too many in fact...all are gone but two now, thank goodness. In this clutter of UIM's I had a real basket case that I was literally ready to throw away. It was rattle can painted black - no primer, no prep, and all the fittings just sprayed over. What a mess. And the paint as a result was chipped to hell and flaking all over. Why was it painted? Oh, well, that would be to cover up the half assed attempt at polishing it. It appears an angle grinder was taken to to in a lame attempt to take the sandcast surface off. Wrong answer. There were flat spots, gouges, and in some places mounting tabs had been half ground off.... by mistake. It was a mess. Who would even consider buying this piece of crap? What to do?





Well....I had seen an image of a red UIM. I thought it looked really pretty sharp. This one was too far gone to try and polish...maybe I could paint too? Hmmm...inspired byt that forum membermaybe a wrinkle finish - IN RED! Ferrari has it on their valve covers...so does Honda...even Subaru's. So why not an FD UIM? So I got to work cleaning up the UIM...cleaning up the grinding mess left behind by Mr. Hamfisted Powertool (emphsasis on "tool"). And while I was at it I removed all the excess casting flash, some of the unsightly support ribs, and even took out the webbing between the center runners.





With it all prepped I shot it with VHT wrinkle finish red (I had to order the damn stuff on-line - NO ONE sells it off-the-shelf!) and then to let it dry....for days and days and days. But I did cure it for 20
minutes at 200deg in the oven... as directed. (I did this when no-one was home so I wouldn't have to listen to all the comments on the smell - which really wasn't that bad)

The result is pretty damn good. Not perfect (I learned a few lessons on how to apply the paint...which is tricky) but a far cry from what I started with. And I really want to see it on an engine. I think looks REALLY good espcially with the stock chrome acorn nuts. You be the judge. Oh, and it will be FS if anyone is interested in making me an offer.

Just felt like sharing this trash to treasure story.
Regards,
Crispy

 

Looks great! Most of the AL in my engine bay is polished, looks great but take a lot of effort to keep it up. I'm considering doing this in either black or red.

 

Looks like a big hand made out of Cherry Twizzlers!
Yummy!

 

Have you seen my engine bay? I'd submit that keeping a polished engine bay shiney is just as difficult.




LOL!



Regards,
Crispy

 

That looks really good. I may consider doing this to my UIM but I think it'll be too much red for a red car.

 

Ummm....Ferrari?



Dare to be bold!

Crispy

 

It would either be this or keeping stock aluminum. I personally don't want to spend time polishing pipes and keeping them clean. Not building a show car here.

 

Reminds me of the valve cover finish on J-spec Honda B-series engines.

I think it looks great! Definitely effective for upkeep if done right.

Another good example...

 

Looks good Mr. Crispy! IMO it looks better than ceramic coating; too bad it doesn't share the same benefits or I would start doing it!

 

Pics of this mounted?

 

Looks good Crispy. Reminds me of afgmoto1978's car:

 

Wow this turned out really great! I bet this would look good in a black engine bay...May have to steal this as well.

 

I'll see what I can do.

Indeed!

My thoughts exactly. Mounted in an all polished engine bay or with appropriate all black accents I think it woudl look really good.

And thanks for the comments...it was somewhat of an experiment and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Nice to see some folks find it appealing.

Regards,
Crispy

 

How many can and coats was the manifold take

 

just wondering how it holds up on aluminum, does it feel like it would peel off easily? i love the all black look thinking about painting my uim and intercooler pipes

 

I used half a can. And 3 decent coats during the paint process according to the instructions. Pic attached during the painting process. As you can see no wrinkles at that time.

From what I can gather it holds up very well...better than regular paint. No indication it will chip or peel very easily at all. I was worried about the fact that no primer was necessary. The durability is likely a function of the curing process. Like I said this paint needs a curing step that involves baking it in an oven for 20 minutes. Of course if you whack it with a wrnch it's gonna chip.

Regards,
Crispy

 

Looks amazing, man! I really like it.

 

It looks like a pink nightmare before curing! Were you shitting at this point...?

 

YES! I was wondering how in the hell that gloppy mess is ever going to "wrinkle." But sure enough it did.

Thanks Gordon. I donno I might throw it on Princess just to see how it looks
Regards,
Crispy

 

Thats interesting. never knew it cures like that. Bet you were like Wow it looks really bad.

 

Looks like someone threw a lobster in the engine bay. Not sure why anyone likes it?? Maybe black would be better. I like the finish, but hate the red. Just my opinion

 

Opinions are like a$$holes...everyones got one.

Lobster...LOL

Crispy

 

Looks a lot better than I was thinking it would when I first started reading it.

I wonder what its like to clean once it gets a few greasy fingers on it.

 

I did the same wrinkle type finish to my UIM, LIM, TB, elbow, charge pipe, and alternator, except in black. I really like it, gives a much more "professional" appearance to the engine bay for sure, plus, it seems very durable and has held up. I used a satin clear coat as well:



Close up:

 

Cleaning? No worse that the stock sand cast finish on the UIM that I've found easy to clean with simple green and a small brush, like a toothbrush, and a dry rag.
Regards,
Crispy