OIL Line Refurbish

[Schrup]

Last night I was able to remove all my oil lines including my trombone cooler with minimal damage. The only problem I had was that I had some electrolyses on the first couple of threads on the fitting of the thermostat that attaches to the oil line that runs to the oil tank. I am going to replace that line because it is original & has some of the thermostat aluminum threads welded into to nut. I was able to clean up the threaded fitting on the thermostat with a small file to where it would accept the new nut attached to the other oil line I already replaced when my mechanic installed my SSIs.

I'm wondering what is the best method to clean & polish the oil lines & if it would be a good idea to spray a coat of clear high temp engine paint on them to keep them shiny. I plan to leave my rocker panels off & want the exposed oil lines to remain purdy. I was also planning on trimming back the jack points a little so they don't stick out so far, probable angle them down to the contour of the bottom of the car.

I am also relocating my horns to the drivers side fender to further free up air flow for the trombone cooler. I have plenty of room over there now that I've removed the washer bottle & fuel collection tank.

Any comments are appreciated.

[Rot 911]

Start with 220 sandpaper to get the major oxidation and crud off and work you way up to 1000 grit. They will be nice and shiny after that. Don't worry about the residual scratches after the 1000, they won't be noticeable. Don't use any polish as the clear paint may not adhere. I've used the clear high temp paint with good results.

[concentric]

I cleaned mine with Simple Green and used some 3M body sandpaper in 80 and 220 grit to get all the road grime and old paint off, then primed with Wurth Self-Etch primer and some Wurth black paint. They came out pretty nice. I really didn't like the brass look on my car.

JCM

[JP911]

I used a sanding bit on a dremel and it worked really well. I had be careful not to apply too much pressure, but the patience and care paid off. I didn't use any clear paint (just brass polish) and they still look great.

[charlesbahn]

I would think painting them would reduce their efficiency at oil cooling.

[RickM]

Perhaps a variable speed die grinder with Scotchbrite discs. If you sand (or use scotchbrite) then clear as suggested. If you don't clear or paint then I'd polish. The fasted way would be to sand up to 1000 grit and then use Noxon cleaner/polish which is inexpensive, fast and available at supermarkets.

[oneblueyedog]

I dug the aluminum out of the nuts with a dental pick. It worked great. It's difficult. The aluminum comes out in splinters. Wrangling the lines is the hardest part.

I read in a VW rebuild book that if you paint the jugs flat black, it keeps the temperature lower than bare. I don't know if that applies to the brass lines or not.

The military uses heat dissipative coatings to help with IR. I know a coater in the DFW area that used to offer it. It is very costly.

I left mine bare. They are brown grey now. I purposely removed all of the paint from them when the PO had the car painted and oversprayed the lines with rocker panel paint and basecoat/clearcoat.

Lee 78sc

[concentric]

Originally posted by charlesbahn
I would think painting them would reduce their efficiency at oil cooling.

Probably to some degree, yes. However, the lines still radiate heat just fine, I wouldn't recommend touching them while the car is at temp.

If you are cooling your car properly, the couple degrees loss from painting the lines shouldn't break your car.

JCM

[Scott Clarke]

I have heard that polishing things will reduce their ability to disapate heat. It makes sense, as polishing reduces the surface area of a part.

[Randy Webb]

No it's not surface area - polishing removes oxidation which has a lower emissivity (for radiative heat exchange) than the actual metal itself (the latter is what polishing reveals).

Paint -- any color except a metallic color -- will increase heat loss by radiation. BUT, that mode of heat loss is not very important. Convective exchange will dominate. So it doesn't really matter.