Between being down with Bronchitis (Steroid!!! I've got insomnia, so I'm posting at 3AM) last weekend and tearing half of the interior of the mustang apart chasing a wiring gremlin (broken ground wire under dash from over-crimping), I've made sadly little progress on the 818. I did get a long day in on Friday and a half day on Saturday, so I have some pics to show for my effort.

First is progress on the motor. I had pulled it to check it out (Bore scope visuals check out nice, turbo is in great shape) and also to powder coat all of the stuff that was painted red. My wife loves copper, so the car will either be copper, or more than likely black or grey with copper accents. Either one would not look great with red engine components (or calipers, I'll get to that soon enough). Some of the intake piping and the alternator were red and I powder coated them black so they would not stand out. I was going to powder coat the valve covers black as well since they are mostly hidden when installed, but decided it would be a good idea to powder coat them copper so that I could have some practice with the copper before I attempted the intake manifold. The copper is a candy, that goes over a chrome base.

I must say I was really impressed with the Eastwood chrome powder, it is actually really shiny:

Chrome Valve Covers.jpg
Chrome Valve Covers Close Up.jpg

The copper is applied by hot-flocking the chrome. Basically spraying it on while the part is still hot from curing the chrome. The hock flocking is a little trickier than the base coat, I think because the electrical charge isn't as strong going through one coat of powder, and so the copper doesn't suck to the part nearly as well as the first coat does. You have to work a little bit to get a good even coat. It's not perfect, but for valve covers that are pretty much hidden, I was really happy for my first attempt at a candy coat powder:

Copper Valve Covers.jpg

Next up was the manifold... but much to my dismay, it was about 3" too long to fit inside the oven. At least I check the fit before I started, but then like any good redneck I decided to proceed anyway.

Manifold in Oven.jpg

To cook the manifold I went totally bush league, I turned the bottom burner on (bake) to 450 and let the back bottom half heat up and cure, then I turned the top burner on (broil) and let the upper back half cure, then I flipped the manifold and repeated. The chrome actually came out perfect, and I was really stoked to get the copper on. The copper was looking really good at the halfway mark when I pulled it out and turned it around to cook the other half, but when I turned it to broil, I think I had the manifold on a higher rack slot than I did the first half, and the middle section closer to the broiler heat source got really hot (520F), and it yellowed. I guess the candy coats are way more heat sensitive than the base coats:

Manifold Two Tone.jpg

At this point I had a few options. One is I could leave it. I'm not really a fan of the gold, but the two tone does look pretty cool. Couldn't sell my self on that though. Two was to blast/grind it off and start over. Seemed like the best idea, but I couldn't see why I shouldn't try to salvage it before I blew it away. Three was to just paint it with some copper VHT... No, that stuff looks terrible. Four was to heat it back up and re-flock it and be more careful curing. I opted for four with the option for two if that didn't work.

The center section that was candied over gold instead of chrome is definitely darker than the outer edge, but it's not terrible, and I'm betting in the engine bay with shadows on it, you won't even be able to tell the difference. If you can then I'll be pulling the manifold to re-powder coat it.

Manifold Darkened.jpg

I went ahead and re-installed the alternator (powder coated black, disassembled), AC Condesor (right off the donor), valve covers, fuel rails (also powder coated copper, they were red anodized), and then set the intake in place just for some mock up pictures. Next I have to install the new belts (AC is slip fit, yay!!), and figure out the mess of piping, hoses, and wires before I can permanently install the manifold and get it back in the car.

Motor Front Mock Up.jpg
Motor Rear Mock Up.jpg
Motor Side Mock Up.jpg
Motor top Corner Mock Up.jpg