I am having my charge piping polished on my V2 set up. THe guy that is doing the work just called me and told me the piping is not stainless steel but rather some other type of steel, and he said when he strips the paint down and polishes the piping it would rust over time. Does anyone have experience with this? Is he correct? Could I clear coat the pipe after he polishes it, or would the heat melt thru it? Any help guys? THanks.

-Carson

 

Yea i was going to do the same until i realized it wasn't stainless. It's just regular steel pipping i think. You look into getting it chrome dipped,but i don't know if that would conflict with the heat generated from that pipe.

 

I told the guy to go ahead and polish it, but what can I do now to protect it...clear coat?

 

yea if they make a high temp clear coat.

 

I would chrome it rather clearcoat it after the polishing.

 

I want to avoid chrome for the simple reason I do not have enough money to chrome every thing else in the engine bay. I already have my IM polished, if I chromed the charge piping i think it would make the IM out of place. So, if I can find high temp clear do you think it would hold up?

 

I was just thinking about polishing those pipes too. How long does it take to chrome those pipes and whats the cost?

 

It's pretty difficult to polish any type of steel. Ss stee might be difficult also. I think the best you can do is maybe a nice brush satin with ss steel. But that guy is right. Unless you clear coat it, it will just rust asap. It's probably just mild steel.

Now you don't want chrome. Understandable. But you want it shiny. You have to coat it anyway.

My advice would be to have the guy strip it and then have them powder coat it some color. I think you can have it coated a fairly shiny satin finish.

 

yeah, what Jeffy said..
there are many types of powder out there that will look really nice and match your polished IM fairly well..

here's what Eastwood's "Argent Silver" looks like on my IM and intake piping:
http://mattblehm.com/pics/car/powdercoating/

they also have some stuf called "almost chrome" which is probably what you want to use for the charge piping.

 

There is a colore powder coat called "almost chrome" that may be close to what you are looking for. I have seen alot of people use it on IC/charge piping, looks good.
EDIT: sorry for repeat Matt's post wasn't here yet when I responded.

 

Powdercoating stillen charge pipes run about $50 locally for me. That's what I'm plan on doing instead of chrome...

 

On mild steel, surface rust will develop from just touching it with your hands.

 

does the place you use have 'almost chrome'? Can you give me the name/number? If they do and are open Sat. I will be there. Let me know, I just called the guy that has the pipes now and told him not to polish them. So once he re welds my BOV flange I am going to pick them up. Let me know. Hopefully that guy will done with my pipes by tomorrow.

 

With the right equipement you can polish anything, metal, iron, Stainless steel, aluminum, plastic, glass, you name it. It's all a matter of using the right buffer wheel, speed, compound and the right technique. Stainless steel once polish give a very nice shine, like chrome and it's the same thing for aluminum, you can also have great result with cast iron or metal but it take a lot of works.

 

Just wanted to throw this out there, Polishing and chrome thats beautiful. How ever come summer time and your driving around, the temp in those pipes are going to be very high and stay high. Shine and bling=heat magnet! but looks good!

 

Ceramic coating ownz.....



Guaranteed to outlast up to 1300 degrees and to never chip or rust.

AND it acts as a heat barrier....although I've never figured out if that is a good hting since the intake piping has heat on the inside (compressed air) and outside (engine bay heat).

not QUITE as mirror finish as chroming or hardcore poilishing - but noone ever seems to notice the difference....

Got mine done here for $85.00
http://www.performancecoatings.com/headercoatings.html

<see Chromex - first item>

 

I sent them an email. How long have your pipes been coated in chromex? How has it held up to the heat?


*and where are they located?*

 

A little over a year - still looks brand new - actually - once I had my charge piping out messing with the Z32 Setup and I dropped them on accident.

I was sure I scratched the hell out of them.

Picked them up - not a scratch.

Good stuff.

IanS

 

cool....just got an email back...my pipes will be in the mail tomorrow

 

can you post pics once you get them done

 

Can you not see the pics above?

It's going to look exactly like that.

 

Looks great to me.

I think I'll follow your lead and do the same thing. Thanks for sharing.

Just to clarify, all I need to do is take my charge piping to any reputable shop and tell them to polish it? Then send it off to performancecoatings for the clear coat and I'm done? What was performance's turn around time?

Thanks.

 

Nope, do not have it polished or cleared. Just send it off to have it coated in this chromium coating. Polishing will be a waste if you are going to have it coated. And from what I have found out polishing would be a waste since the charge piping is not stainless.

 

my bad bro i just wanted to see it in the engine bay sorry

 

No pre-polishing necessary.

And kid_buyin_a_max - here ya go.

 

Blangidy Blang

 

Swaaaaaaayt.

I really need to do something about improving the appearance of my engine bay. I'm at bling factor zero right now.

 

ian,
What clamps are you using on your couplings? Your's look much more beefy than mine.

-Carson

 

tbolts-$3 at napa.

size: 2.75

 

The pipe size after the maf is 3". The coupling OD is going to be around 3.19"-3.25". The 4th gen TB is 2.75" (or close to it) so the coupling OD there is going to be 2.9-3".

 

i thought he just meant for the piping.

i covered all those sizes in another thread.
Steve

 

I will give my pipes to anyone who can trade me directly for 5th Gen Piping, assuming that the 5th Gen piping fits.

(which it should)

Unlikely, I know, but I'm not lookign forward to making my own intake for the Z32 MAF.

Stephen - I need to discuss with you where to route custom piping, since I know you have some experience with it.

Bought:
3 2' long 3" Straight Pipes
2 3" U-Bends
A bunch of 3" couplers.

Maybe I should have gone 2.5"

Now I have no idea where to route it - 3" pipe doesn't want to fit over the charged side piping.

Looks like I'm going to have to go through the bumper Intercooler style.

<Unless I get some 5th Gen piping>

 

do you not want to cut your fender for the cai?

 

Already is cut - but I don't think there's enough room in there to get the 36" away from the inlet that JWT requires.

Actually, I still have yet to hear of anyone who got the Z32 MAF working perfectly on the non-charged side....

It seems everyone at least has decelleration richness.

 

Just buy the 3" charge piping and put the Z32 MAF on the Charged side

-matt

 

I had planned on trying that with some of the extra pipe I bought.

But I honestly don't think it's going to work.

We'll see.

 

ferhan did it. try pming him.