Has anyone ever painted a carburetor and intake?
I currently have an Edelbrock 600 cfm 4 bbl carb on my 84 and it will be taken off soon to be jetted up and recalibrated. I will also be removing the cast iron intake and replacing it with an aluminum Edelbrock RPM Performer dual plane intake.
Prior to putting the intake and carburetor back on the car, I would like to paint both of them to make then look better. Has anyone done this?
I want it to look nice but I would also like to do it myself and as inexpensively as possible without it looking worse than it does now.
Any suggestions??

 

I think engine enamel would work but im not completely sure

 

I have painted the Intake manifolds before, we used a High Temp Paint.
I think if you tried to paint the Carburetor that it wouldn't stay on. Mostly because of the fumes that would remove most of it.
Powder Coating might be an option, there is a Company in Aurora, NE that does some of that and recently I saw on there website they do some Color Chrome also. But it is not a cheap process. I asked about a small handle and they wanted $80.00
J&B Powder Coating

 

80 bucks for a handle? yikes. Maybe I will paint the intake and just clean the carb really well...lol

 

Barbara...

I can't say that I have ever painted an Aluminum Intake...

Since its currently not on the motor.. Have you considered polishing it?
Mothers makes a great product for polishing Aluminum. and now they even have a Ball,Cone that you can attach to a drill motor to take some if not all of the elbow grease out of the equation! and I believe it would look friggn awesome (IMO)

I feel painting the intake and or the carb..actually (IMO) helps to hold heat..
Which IMO is the enemy when it comes to performance. you could also use the same process with the carb..Its a tedious process (polishing the carb up)... but so worth the effort!

This is what I would recommend.

What else do you have to do over the winter? LOL
jking...

 

Hmmmmm...polishing may just be the route!!!!
I sure don't need heat being held in!!
Projects for the winter?? LOL Just so happens I have my list right here...LOL
-remove front/rear seats (DONE)
-remove old steering wheel (DONE)
-install new steering wheel (DONE)
-install racing seat (DONE)
-Different front tires (DONE)
- Install bucket seat in passenger area (DONE)
-install Competition Engineering adjustable shocks (HAVE)
-remove existing radiator fan
-install electric radiator fan (HAVE)/relay to toggle switch25amp toggle on dash(NEED TOGGLE, IN LINE FUSE & RELAY)
-remove water pump pulley/belt
-wire/install electric water pump drive(HAVE) to ignition
-install exhaust cut outs (NEED TO ORDER-JEGS) & glass packs (HAVE)
-replace wheel cylinders/brake shoes (HAVE)
-aluminum for firewall(NEED flashing and pop rivets)
-Have carb jetted up and recalibrated (NEED calibration kit-JEGS)
-change intake to Edelbrock dual plane RPM Performer intake(HAVE) (gasket-HAVE) and thermostat(NEED)
-Fabricate and install harness bar
-Install RJS racing harness (HAVE)

 

Wow! After doing a bit more research on this idea of mine, I think I will clean the intake and carburetor the best I can with carb cleaner and a scrub brush and call it done...LOL

 

Yep! I had this idea for a shifter handle and I was thinking a Chrome look for it, it would have resembled a handle of a Sword.
The fellow suggested I might look into polishing it. So I went to Harbor Freight tools an purchased a grinder polisher combination and some polish and that did make it shine like Chrome.
Maybe Eddelbrock makes an intake that is already available with the look you are trying to achieve.

 

Hmmm Harbor Freight?! I should go there today anyway!!! I will check it out.
Really, no particular look I am going for other than cleaner. The intake never had a shiny finish and the carb also has a silver finish but MAY have been shiny at one time. Once I get them as clean as they are going to get, I will decide if that will keep me happy for awhile until I can buy shiny, fancy stuff...LOL

 

Intake manifolds are easy to paint. The most important part is the preparation. I agree the best method for the carb would be powder coating it. I'd check around in your area on pricing. We had all the side molding, the headlight bezels and tail light housings for a '56 Chevy wagon done for $75. Obviously prices are going to vary depending on where you live, but it may be worth looking into.


BTW - paint won't restrict heat from radiating any more than polishing or anodizing.