SupraRon's Refreshment

[SupraRon]

Some more painted parts:

and to give everyone an idea of my workspace:

Pretty tight huh? I'm going to build a shelf to hang 4 feet from the ceiling and about 5 feet out from the back wall so I can get everything off the floor and out of the way.

 

[CajunKenny]

Man Ron. I can see why you commented on my garage. That is tight!!

I didn't know that your car was black! What year is it?

The parts look great!

 

[SupraRon]

Definitely is. Mostly my fault though. There is a lot of junk in there that needs to go. It's just finding the time to clear it out!

Yup. My car is black. It's an '89. Check January of Tanya's calendar!

 

[SupraRon]

Not much going on. Took the intake manifold and runners off. Now the daunting task of cleaning! :aigo:

Some pics:

Got some stainless steel bolts for the valve covers and test fitted them. They look very nice, I think:

 

[Sawbladz]

Hey. I have a carbon fiber piece for between the cam covers if you want. You need to replace that damn thing! lol

 

[SupraRon]

Wow. Is it March 14th already? Yikes. I've really fallen behind considering I wanted to have this done by April. Obviously I won't. It's just been incredibly busy at home and work. Anyhow, a small update. I got the intake manifold and runners painted. Also cleaned the throttle body. Not perfect, but it will do.

Here are some pics:

I also took the exhaust manifold off and started to clean it up.

Hope to get the engine cleaned by end of next week and hopefully get the engine swapped in by next month. I'm being optimistic!

Thanks for looking.

 

[CajunKenny]

Looking good Ron!

ETA on start up?

 

[SupraRon]

Thanks Ken. At this rate, April 2011! I'm hoping for next month, but that's really being optimistic. I'm really busy with work these days. If I wanted to just slap everything together, I could probably having it going by next week, but I want to make sure everything is clean.

 

[Sawbladz]

I'm there with ya on the 2011 build. I feel like I have no time and there is a mountain of work left to be done. Yours is coming to together well and I can't wait to see it on the road.

 

[SupraRon]

Thanks Jamie. Nice to know I'm not alone. Gotta pick up that cf piece from you one of these days.

 

[SupraRon]

Boring update. Still cleaning the engine of it's multiple layers of grease etc. The problem is I can only tackle it an hour or so at a time. Juggling family and work and car is really difficult. Anyhow, pretty much finished cleaning the right side of the engine. So a few more spots to go. The left side shouldn't take me as long. And I ordered some POR-15 engine enamel (black) today, so that should be here within a few days. I also painted the water/coolant pipes. Hopefully the next pics I post are of the engine painting process.

Boring pics added:

 

[CajunKenny]

Looking good Ron. If you're considering running a Mechanical Oil Pressure Gauge and/or an Oil Temp Gauge, now is the time to get the fittings sorted out. Don't do what I did and install that AFTER the engine is in!

What color scheme are you going with?

 

[SupraRon]

Thanks Ken. I've been thinking about the gauges. I don't think it's in the budget this time around though. If anything just a boost gauge/controller.

Just the black and silver as far as the color scheme goes. I'm still waiting for my POR-15. Not sure what's taking so long. The block is clean and ready to be painted. Just waiting for the paint!

I have some updated pics where I bolted a couple things on just to see how they look. I'll post them up this evening.

edit: Some pics as promised.

A couple pics of how it looks with some of painted parts back on. Gotta take them off again to paint the block.

And what I've been waiting for finally arrived this afternoon. Yay!

 

[SupraRon]

Almost done painting the engine. It's looking nice. A little shiny, but I still like it. I couldn't decide if I should paint the oil pan with black or aluminum. However, as I'm almost finished with the engine and still have half a pint of POR, I gonna continue on the pan with it as well.

Some crappy bb pics:

So now a question for those looking, do I ceramic coat the exhaust manifold and if so, black or silver/aluminum? It's gonna cost about $200. I'm leaning towards the silver/aluminum look as there is already a ton of black. Is it worth the money though for a potential "...30-40% surface temperature reduction that decreases underhood temperatures and will increase exhaust flow."?

 

[Sawbladz]

Lower underhood temps are always nice. I went with wrap on my manifold but if I had the money at the time I would have done both ceramic and the wrap. I like the black stuff because it has a higher heat rating and the chrome stuff tends to go to a flat silver.

 

[SupraRon]

Well I have neither the time nor money, but you know..... I like the black too, but I'm partial to the flat aluminum. But then again it's not really gonna be seen once the engine is in the car! Hmm!

OK, so which black? Flat or matte? How 'bout even a cast grey or charcoal?

Flat black Matte Black

Cast Grey Charcoal

 

[CajunKenny]

As saw stated, lowering underhood temps is always a good thing.

However, my opinion is that your $200 could be better spent elsewhere. I noticed that you've re-installed the J-Tube. That tells me that you don't have an AFPR yet. With a little bit more money, $40-$50, you can pick up an Aeromotive AFPR. Or you could be well on your way to a set of used injectors. Or you could pick up a Walbro 255 and have some money left over. You can get a number of suspension upgrades for that kind of money too.

My point is, you can get more out of your car with $200 going to something other than ceramic coating the manifold.

Just a thought...

Oh...and my vote would go to Flat Black. You can look at my Blitz Elbow to get a feel for how the 'Aluminum' color looks.

 

[SupraRon]

Thanks Ken. That's exactly what I wanted to hear! I really didn't want to spend the money on the coating when I have other important stuff to buy, like you know a battery! I also need a boost controller/gauge and/or a wideband so I definitely could spend the money otherwise. I'm not sure about upgrading the fuel system now. I'll probably save that for my next project. Anyhow, this is good news 'cause I can pretty much button everything up and hopefully get the engine in before the end of this month.

Once again, thanks for the feedback guys. It's very much appreciated. :drink1:

 

[SupraRon]

Since I decided against powder coating the exhaust manifold, I went ahead and painted it with some left over POR-15. It's not the best solution, but it looks way better than being rusty.

Here's a pic with it and some other things bolted up.

Next on the list is to paint the thermostat housing, clean the vane pump and get them bolted back on. Probably gonna get a couple oil gauges and install them as per Kenny's advice.

That's all for now!

 

[CajunKenny]

Any more progress Ron?

What's the temp rating on the POR-15?