Hey guys,

Ive just bought a 5.7 TPI to swap my 5.0 TPI for and i was thinking about paint options just to make it look as nice as possible, i might aswell paint the block etc before it goes in the car.

The block i thought i would paint black, but then thought if there were any leaks they would be hard to spot, so im thinking maybe red for the block.

However the TPI intake is usually left natural finish, or ive seen some blingy looking polished ones. But with doing a KITT replica ive got it in my head everything on the car should be black and red.

So, im thinking a black TPI intake with some red accents would look badass, in my head anyway, in reality it might look crap. does anyone have any pictures of their painted TPI engines ?

Thanks,

Scott

 

I think it would look pretty cool if the runners were red, just so it's not overkill on the black.

 

Well i thought about doing it all black, but then painting the fins on the intake red, ive got red accell plug wires and im getting a custom TPI plate made which will have red lettering.

Ive been searching a bit and have found some pics, so basically like this but where the silver is, i will be going red

 

Back in 1996, I built a 355 tpi for my 1980 Malibu.

I painted thr tpi runners black, and put some red accent in the fins on the upper plenum.

I also had red anodized valve covers.

I'll have to get a pic of a pic to post.

 

Cool, sounds quite nice. ive also got hooker headers on my 305 which will be going onto the 350 naturally, they are silver right now but im thinking i could get them coated in red too, so the red is mainly down the bottom end of the engine, id rather have more black than red so its not over the top

 

here is the car it went in.

 

What air filter is that? I want one for my car.

 

It's a K&N. You can find them on summit or Jegs or anywhere really.

 

mine on my twin turbo iroc

 

 

Cool, if Iron Man rolled around in a TPI car, it would be that colour 8)

 

on my grey camaro I painted it semi matt black. when I start building a new engine for it (possibly this year) I will black out the accy drive and other stuff also, just like on my truck. Looks clean and mean. I hate bling!

 

Im with you there twin turbo, if i had an old school muscle car then fair enough but 3rd gens arent really chrome bling cars to me.

 

What about polished? There's a lot of aluminum there that can get shiny.

 

nah i really want to go the black and red route mate, i think it will suit my car and be a bit different to polished or chromed stuff, i might sneak a bit of chrome in there somewhere though

 

it will be tacky, guaranteed,...unless you are building a bat mobile

 

I'm also thinking flat/matte black plenum with silver stripes.

Here is my colour scheme so far...dark met. grey factory valve covers and black Chrome TPIS runners

 

What did you do to the paint so it stands up to the heat? Any sort of thermal dispersion or special paint designed for heat? They look awesome and that finish is fantastic. Nice work!

 

The runners are powder coated in black chrome.

The valve covers are painted with a high temp paint.

 

that stuff dont get hot enough to need special paint , i have engine blocks painted with regular automotive paint that look as good as the day they were painted and have held up 3-7 years so far

 

Yeah i was thinking i would paint all the bits i wanted with 2K paint, once the hardener goes off its pretty solid stuff

 

Subtle paint job. Runners semi gloss black. Top rib indentions painted black and fuel rail indentions painted black.

 

mine all black, very dirty..it's not a show car, it's meant to be driven

also have some matte black magnesium corvette covers for it but when I build the new motor it will be the same as in my truck, black gmpp chevrolet bowtie covers

 

Cool, i think im going for gloss black though, mine wont ever be a proper show car but i will be able to lift the bonnet up at a show with some pride i guess.

 

I didn't paint the intake, but I polished the entire top. here is a pic of the motor build in progress. It looks a little different now that I've polished the runners.

 

Tallltim- what color red is that? I love it

 

another one of mine...I like black

 

I went with gm blue to match the engine. The runners were lightly polished and coated with engine clear.

 

This is Mine

 

did mine to match the car

 

Damn, some tidy paint jobs here ! that flame job is awesome

 

That's a nice look

 

Do you live in Utah? I just saw this same exact photo on KSL.com lol.

 

This is what im doing with mine, my camera has now shown the red up well at all but it is a nice gloss red, i will get some better pics when its all back together on the car.

Ive also done my fuel rail red too so theres a bit more colour poking out from under the intake

 

I like that with the TB black.

 

Thanks, i will update my build thread once its all back together

 

Mine is flat black but I polished the stripes on the plenum to a nice shine, looks great in my opinion.

 

Soo is the car together yet. I like the intake on the bench but would like to see it on the engine assembled.

 

Mine finally done...

Plenum - brushed satin finish
Runners - Black Chrome powder coat
Fuel Rail - polished
Intake - natural
throttle Body - black chassis paint (VHT)
AFPR and lines - gray powder coat.

 

I wanted to go with an LT4 look for my IROC. I think it came out pretty nice, but I wouldn't do it again.

 

Hello, are those late style runners? Looks like the drivers side 9th injectior hole is plugged? Is there a milled slot under the plug on the flange side?
Parts look great, I think Ill do something similar when installing my new tpi

 

Damn i had forgotten about this thread, nearly 2 years old now since i started it. I finished up my engine swap and painted it all and i think it compliments KITT nicely.

5.7 TPI, EGR deleted, 9th Injector deleted, AFPR and Bosch 3 injectors from South Bay, remapped ECU by Tuned Performance, All emissions removed, all AC removed, Hooker headers, custom made full stainless exhaust.

Id like to add the distributor cover too and re-do my plug wires and run them down the back and underneath to tidy it up more.

 

They are TPIS big mouth runners. 9th injector hole is sealed shut.

 

Painted my tpi and runners satin black as well as painted the engine bay up with a gloss black, I think it came out pretty nice.

 

Is there anything I'd need to take into consideration to do this ? As it is not a requirement in Australia either.

 

Sorry to raise the dead on an old post but this is exactly the way I want mine to look on my truck. But I have found some corrosion on some aluminum pieces. Will that corrosion absolutely destroy the look of the paint and must be removed, and if so what is the best way to remove that corrosion?

 

I used a black hammer tone. It's a pretty durable paint along with having some texture to so it will hide some imperfection's in the runners and plenum. I'm swapping in a HSR and I'll probably paint it the same color. This was the only pic I could find that shows the texture and color that I used.