Anybody ever re-finish the sump plate?

[Doug E]

Just curious if anybody has ever re-finished their sump plate and if so, how'd you do it and what did you use?

Here's a picture of mine. I was thinking of just hitting it with the wire wheel and then spraying with some high-temp paint. Yes or no ?????

TIA.

[AFJuvat]

Refinish them quire frequently at the shop.

Wire wheel them.

I like to leave the drain plug in and put bolts and washers in the holes - I've found that the paint under the nuts gets messed up anyways, so I mask them off.

Any high temp that does not require curing (you can warp the plate curing it) or Krylon satin black works well.


AFJuvat

[Wayne 962]

Bead blast and engine hi-temp paint works very well...

-Wayne

[RoninLB]

The plate doesn't seem to get a lot of road chipping.

anyway I did the plate with POR-15 40k mi ago and still looks somewhat glossy to match the case.

[aigel]

I think you can get a nice aftermarket billet aluminum cover. My vote goes to that. Better cooling too!

George

[clnilsen]

Originally posted by aigel
I think you can get a nice aftermarket billet aluminum cover. My vote goes to that. Better cooling too!

George

Problem is, from what I can see, is that you have to pull the studs and replace with longer ones.

Not something I'd want to do on a perfectly functional engine.

Chuck

[CarreraS2]

I had mine powdercoated black.

[aigel]

Originally posted by clnilsen
Problem is, from what I can see, is that you have to pull the studs and replace with longer ones.

Not something I'd want to do on a perfectly functional engine.

Chuck

? Whats so tough in pulling those studs out of the case? They don't hold anything but that cover. Gravity will make all grime fall the right direction too. Everything is on your side. And if you mess up a thread, there is always helicoils! And those things are so sweeeet in aluminum. They make the thread better than it was ever before and running the tap into AL is a POC.

My plate has been majorly mistreated, probably in earlier life's engine drops. When I got the car, on the first oil change, I dropped the sump plate to inspect for things in the sieve. Things checked out great, but one of the studs' threads was messed up to the point where the nut wouldn't come off and it now is a 'screw'. I put it all together like that again. It was quite painful to a perfectionist like me. But there is more important things to do on the car right now and those covers aren't cheap. But once the SSI are coming and the underside of the engine will look nicer, I'll buy that billet stuff! It is pretty darn cheap that they didn't make it an aluminum cover in the first place, don't you think?

Off to the garage ...

George

[Doug E]

Thanks for the ideas guys.

I'm going to give it a shot and will post pics when done.

[fintstone]

I think it makes a difference:

[rfuerst911sc]

I recently installed SSI's on my 1983SC and at that time added a CNC machined aluminum sump plate,it has additional cooling fins and looks great!!!! It was easy to install.

[Early_S_Man]

Doug E,

That sump plate looks distorted around the stud holes ...

You may want to try flattening the mating surface for the gaskets by pounding carefully with a medium-sized mallet at each stud hole. I braze oversize-diameter M6 washers around each stud hole to strengthen the plate and eliminate distortion and 'denting' ...

I had my original plate cadmium-plated after reinforcement! No leaks since!

[Doug E]

Thanks for the call-out Warren. I'll be out in the garage later tonight and will check it out.