Harbor Freight Powder Coating Kit

[keflaman]

We don't have a Harbor Freight store nearby, so when I visit I'm sometimes subjected to impulse buys. About a year ago I saw their powder coating kit on the end cap and substantially discounted, so I scooped it up. It languished somewhere deep within the bowels of my garage buried between, under, and behind about a thousand other "projects" waiting for when I get a round "to-it".

After getting started on my engine rebuild earlier this week, I started preparing the valve cover, intake manifold, etc, for paint and had several items de-greased, abrasive-blasted and cleaned. After staring online at thousands of engine bay photos, I had a sudden impulse to try out the powder coating kit.

A phone call and couple of texts to an ad on Craigslist and that afternoon I had a $60 electric range sitting in my garage...


For once I didn't let my analysis paralysis render me impotent and I dove right into the project. A small spray booth is next on my list...


I'm pretty critical of my work, but I was actually pretty happy with the results of my first try!


No fish-eye, orange peel, sags, dust, or bugs!


On to the oil filter cover. Notice a small spot that didn't get covered and the sag running along the lower lip? I was to discover later that I had the powder pot too full and when I pulled the trigger the powder spewed out onto the part like dumping a bag of flour into a bowl. I should of stopped, blew, or knocked the excess powder off and tried again. Instead, I wanted to see what would happen and here you can see the results.


A slightly sharper image of what I was talking about...


Since I had the oil filter canister prepped...well, why not?


If I'm not overly critical, I would say this is good enough to go on my engine. If I am overly critical, I'd say it's good enough to go on my engine.


But....I wasn't really feeling the testarossa engine paint scheme and after some searching I decided to place an order for RAL 9007 "Grey Aluminium" and do all my covers in that. Fortunately, the M42 valve cover fits perfectly in my oven. Unfortunately, the M5X valve covers don't.


Oops. Family just pulled in, so I gotta run!

Ciao for now!

[DesktopDave]

This sounds like a whole new can of worms...but the results speak for themselves.

So how far are you away from being a complete restoration shop now?   

[deansweet]

I've been told once you buy the oven you quickly become addicted to powdercoating?!
Pretty soon you'll be powercoating the handles of your forks, spoons and knives...

[keflaman]

Dave, I don't have a paint booth...but, I've seen some acceptable driveway paint jobs.

Dean, you're right about that. I decided to wait and get some more experience powdercoating before I tackle any more car parts. I have several vices and some homemade tools that could definitely benefit from the process and they'd be the perfect test platforms for durability.