hey guys so i was talking to my buddy last nightand he pulls out this new fuel rail
for his car and it was sweet, anodiesed goldy yellow and nice blue fittings.

anyways im considering doing a few peices under my hood, fuel rails, HSR, ect ect

what are the pros/cons of each? any experience with anodising?

thanks

 

Anodising is more expensive but better.
The industrial equipment I work with, anodising has better corrosion resistance and is necessary on complex parts.
Take a steel hydraulic tube assembly for instance. At either end is a flare nut on the tube. If it were powdercoated the area under the nut would be unprotected.
Pros for powdercoating: cheaper on simple parts that won't have as much exposure to corrosion.

 

If you can get your hands on alodine it leaves a very nice goldish color on bare aluminum.

 

what is alodine?

 

now if i did the plenum and manifold for my Stealth ram do you thin there would be any issues? im assuming the whole whing would have to be done as you couldnt mask off anynthing for a electroplating type process

 

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It's a solution that covers the alu w/ a protective chromium conversion layer.

Typically used in aircrafts, I think aircraftspruce sells it.

It turns out like this, IMO that's ff-in pretty. It's not as durable as anodizing though

 

i actually quite like that, im hoping to do reds and blacks though

 

You may want to mask off threaded holes (screw a short bolt in them).
Hardest part would be finding a place that can dip them.
There's a place here in Huntsville that anodizes but they do production runs of thousands of identical parts. I doubt they will do one-offs.

 

We can't even get it here anymore..typical european green weenies/tree huggers and eco idiots ruin everything here. So much for my plans to one day build a complete black/gold car in a sort of smokey yunick type way. I was wanting to do that w my 82 trans am 9it's gold/black), I detest gold painted alu parts though.

 

ive contacted a company in Calgary here and they dont mind it at all i gather

 

I think it depends what you mean by durable. Chemicals are one thing, a hammer is another!!!!! I know you can easily scratch anodized surfaces. Powdercoat you can git with a hammer, and if done properly, should be fine. My TPI is powdercoated, and is pretty much as it was the day I had it done. ...and for that matter, every aftermarket suspension piece you can buy is powerdercoated. Sure, it's cheaper, and easier to do one offs, but I think they're totally different processes designed for totally different types of durability.

 

i figured theyd have different use's, i just thought it was a really cool and different look