Plating/Powdercoating Prices-Yikes!

In the course of cleaning up the engine compartment of my 1985 Carrera, I took a modest box of parts--the alternator housing strap, fuel rails, and a bunch of smaller brackets and fasteners--in to be plated with yellow zinc. When I went to a well-respected local plater, I should have known, from the photos of the cars at Pebble Beach on the walls, that it would be expensive. But the quote I got was beyond my worst imaginings--$650 to $750. Oh, and there would be a six-week wait! The parts suddenly looked a lot less grungy.

I called our local guy who knows everyone in the business, and he suggested another place. Their quote was $325, with a two-week turn-around. This was on the high end, but I decided to go with them. Gone are the days of inexpensive plating, I gather because the process is so environmentally unfriendly.

My second quest was to have the fan, shroud, and intake manifold media blasted and powdercoated. This too was a shock. Because I wanted a couple different colors, the tab for this was $525. They charge a $125 minimum set-up fee per color.

Gone are the days of inexpensive metal finishing.

[john walker's workshop]

Electrofinishing in Kent and Seattle Powder Coat.

[Superman]

Thanks, John. I miss the nice powder coated fan and shroud that got destroyed in the collision. The current ones are UGLY. I would like to again make the shroud black and the fan red. The valve covers are already red. I care about engine compartments and it has taken me some effort over the years to configure it properly. No A/C (this car was actually AC Delete), backdated heat duct, no cruise control (at least, for now). Seattle Powder Coat.

[Ayles]

I am very happy with the work I had done at Seattle Powder Coat. It’s just too hard too hit places like Kent to save few bucks when it means almost taking a day off of work to get there. With Seattle Powder Coat I was able to drop off and pick up quite easily on a work day.

[Evans, Marv]

Remember if you're going to powder coat your fan & housing, unless you want them to cover the tips of the fan blades with tape to keep that part from being powder coated, the fan blades need to be cut down slightly to compensate for the thickness of the powder coating.

[billjam]

^^^ Not necessary. Clearances aren't that tight.
We (S&S Powder Coaters) have done many fan/housing combinations with not one clearance problem if coating thickness is controlled well. And that is with a primer coat as well as the colour coat!

[4flyboy]

Shaun at Shaun@Tru6 on this forum does tumbling and plating.

I've found him to be to be a pleasure to deal with though I haven't sent him my suspension pieces just yet.

The guys on this Forum seem to be extremely pleased with his work. Suggest a search?

Best of luck and update us when you decide?

Scott

[Seahawk]

Corgi,

I am headed in this direction with my '82.

Please post some pics when you are done. I am also interested what pieces you opted to plate/powder coat.

Best.

[mepstein]

Powder coating isn't environmental unfriendly. Just the opposite. Old paint and rust stays in the blasting cabinet. No outgassing or chemicals, just heat and minimal amount of plastic powder that can be swept up and tossed. Find an industrial place and tell them its car parts, not Porsche parts. Or get a group of guys to all pitch in for an oven and powder coat set up. I think we paid $1k for the gun and set up and another grand for the oven. It's an easy DIY.

[pksystems]

Build your own powdercoating setup.

Cheap used (<300cdn) Nat-gas oven converted to propane and Eastwood gun. Already had a decent sized compressor.

[Rich Lambert]

Originally Posted by madcorgi

In the course of cleaning up the engine compartment of my 1985 Carrera, I took a modest box of parts--the alternator housing strap, fuel rails, and a bunch of smaller brackets and fasteners--in to be plated with yellow zinc. When I went to a well-respected local plater, I should have known, from the photos of the cars at Pebble Beach on the walls, that it would be expensive. But the quote I got was beyond my worst imaginings--$650 to $750. Oh, and there would be a six-week wait! The parts suddenly looked a lot less grungy.

You went to Mukilteo...almost had stroked out when I got a quote to have my calipers plated there. Turns out they did me a favor because I would have them plated the wrong color. The silver Dupli-Color caliper paint is still looking good 10 years later.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Terry, there is a much better option than powder coating for anything Porsche related. You should find a local Cerakote applicator. Cerakote is a ceramic, catalyzed paint that is heat cured, originally developed for the military. Powder coating goes on fairly thick and is just plain ugly unless you are fond of the 2000 Ford Taurus. Cerakote is applied in plating level thickness, is more durable and looks amazing. Many of my customers are high end restoration shops doing everything from early S's to 8-figure Ferraris. None of them have anything powder coated. For your fan & housing, Mark Motshagen (sp) only uses Cerakote, as do I. You can't get this kind of beauty and perfection with powder coating.

[911 SLANT]

Tru6 what do you charge to do a 911 fan like in your picture.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

$450. Hub and associated hardware (pressure washer & nut) are replated yellow zinc though cadmium is available. If your housing has studs, I put new ones in. After the fan is done the hub is riveted back in place as the factory did.

I can also etch early fans to an original finish as well as polish.

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

Electrofinishing in Kent and Seattle Powder Coat.

Well, John, I got one out of the two right! Electrofinishing is where I took the parts to be plated, but I ended up going with Mukilteo Powdercoating for the powder. They are expensive, and I should have shopped around, i.e., posted this thread earlier. Next time I'll know. I know Muk does nice work, though.

This project has been a slippery slope kind of deal. It started out as a replacement of the 33-yo fuel lines with new braided ones from Len Cummings. Since I had been chasing a nasty idle unevenness, which was likely either a vacuum leak or a leaky injector, I decided to strip down the top side of the engine, send the injectors out for rebuilding, and get the fan, shroud, shroud strap, injector rails, intake, and hardware all refinished while I was at it.

Of course, while there is such a clear path to the shock towers, might as well replace the likely original, 33-yo rear shocks with new Bilsteins. But then the fronts needed doing too, right? More packages from our host.

Next up is the backdated fan shroud, which I gather several folks here have done.



Top end of the engine fairly clean, about a gallon of Simple Green and four cans of Brake-kleen

[TimT]

I'll give some props to Shaun @ Tru6..

I needed some parts plated with CeraKote... a few small non car things... He took care of it promptly, quick turn around, and the price was right...

Drop him a line...

[mepstein]

We ceracote some parts on some cars. It depends on how you want the part to look, your intentions for the car and your budget. Before our shop had a setup, I took my entire suspension, an oil tank and a bunch of small parts to the local powder coater. It was $250 to blast and coat everything. The problem was turnaround time. They were used to doing big lots of parts and our parts were put aside for weeks - or longer, at a time. Having it in house means we can get cars done without delays for coatings. We still don’t have a local place for plating. Seems like they are all located on the west coast.

Originally Posted by TimT

I'll give some props to Shaun @ Tru6..

I needed some parts plated with CeraKote... a few small non car things... He took care of it promptly, quick turn around, and the price was right...

Drop him a line...

I'll definitely drop Shaun a line as things continue to progress. I plan on refinishing major systems on the car one at a time--the front suspension, rear suspension, etc.