I did a little painting today.
The plastic grills were looking very weathered so I decided to give'm a fresh look. In the process, I decided to rid off the "aluminum" look on the circles and the main grill's edge.
Hopefully I didn't turn myself into a "ricer"
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As said before, I will paint the Intake manifold rather than going through the hassle of polishing it.
I purchased the above High Heat enamel and the instructions mention "baking" after the application for increased durability.
Is it safe to bake the manifold opening flaps at 600°F?

 

More painting:
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First Coat:
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After last coat:
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Next is baking in the oven, as per instructions...LOL

 

hey put up some pics of the painted parts on the car =]

 

It would be wonderful if the cars would run only on pics
Thanks to Internet everyone would have a car in no time.

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Baking - so far so good; nothing is peeling off :
(I'll be starting on the second temperature - 400°F)
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Man that looks great. I just wanted to let you know that, because you wife is going to kick your *** for what you are doing to her oven.

 

I just got done about 30 minutes ago and let me tell you that there's still smog in the house ...

My wife looks at me like "Don't you dare asking me for anything for a month"....arrrrrrrrrgh ...while voicing "I'm gonna kill you"
I sort of took the short cut from polishing the intake....if I would have known that baking this "high heat" paint releases so much smoke, probably I would have moved the oven on the porch before starting....ROFL
There's no way I will bake the exhaust heads....just paint'em and that's it... if they peel, so be it

 

Might need to steal your grill idea, those look great and can't wait to see them on the car. What about rock chips on the lower grill? Think it will be ok?

 

that superbond plastic paint suppose to be chip resistant.
at least that's the claim on the can, but of course nothing is bulletproof. if it happens, i can surely repaint it or touch it up.
anyway, i'm pretty sure the front will look much better than it was with the dulled out and weathered plastic.

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That's how it will look (I know the surroundings don't give a very balanced background, but....)
- the edge and the circles are mounted back on:
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As far as the "heat" goods, that's how they turned out after the last bake at 600°F
(I pulled the grill out on the porch to rid off the smoke inside the house):
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While the manifold was more of a "raw" surface - so not real problems there, I was a bit concerned about the valve covers since they still had the old paint underneath - I didn't scrape it, I didn't remove it; I didn't even prep the covers beyond the cleaning they had previously!
No flaking and no peeling off after the baking. Is a good sign that the enamel is there to stay for a long time.
I was thinking "black" for the covers (initially), but they may look better in unison with the intake manifold once are all in the engine bay.

Plus: you can spot better oil leaks on "silver", rather than on black

 

And this is how the painted grill "blends" with the car:
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