Does anyone know of an easily available paint that is a good match for a QV intake plenum? My engine has just gone back together, and I had a discussion with the shop owner about repainting the plenum versus leaving it as is, which is to say leaving the "patina" of a bunch of small chips here and there. We were both in agreement that we don't want to actually repaint the whole thing. It's not in bad shape, and I much prefer knowing that the paint was sprayed in Maranello, rather than in Pennsylvania! That being said, we decided that a little bit of minor touch up here and there would be acceptable, if not invisible. If anyone has found something that is a good color match, please let me know! I'm not even sure whether it has to be a wrinkle paint, since the chips are pretty small... I think a wrinkle with a different texture may just call more attention to the touched up areas... Thoughts? Thanks!
Trust me, if you've gone the distance of getting the motor out and rebuild, repainting the plenum is no big deal to have a "perfect" motor cosmetically; the original paint loses it's luster from exposure to heat. Even if you touch up the chips now, the paint is so fragile that it'll chip again at some point in the future. Refinish it right and you'll be happy, promise. -w-
lots of threads on this. Lots. I did mine with VHT Wrinkle. It's not terribly close. So I had a body shop shoot it with Corso Rosso afterwards & its been holding up for years. That's it in my avatar
Touch up or full repaint, either way you're messing with the originality of the part. I would either leave it as-is or completely redo it... A freshly painted plenum will look fantastic!
+1 The VHT is too orange. I think they changed it at some point. Respected restorers still use it though but its definitely lighter than the original.
Is the color the same on the 308 and 328? Is there a good source or paint code available. Did not find it in my search. Also interested in a code or source for the black in the engine bay. Need some touch up near my VIN # Thanks
Or you can use wrinkle finish powder coat. I found a almost perfect match to original color and texture. If anyone is interested I can look up the brand and color code. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Joe that looks awesome. Hard to tell from pics but is it the same as the 328? I would like the color code and brand info. Thx.
I've thought about this as well, and have decided to leave the plenum alone. The re-painted examples folks have shown do indeed look great, but unless I was doing a full-blown restoration it seems like a re-painted or touched-up plenum wouldn't look quite right.
Image Unavailable, Please Login here's a couple pics from work done over the winter. I'll find the powder coat receipt and post the plenum color name and brand. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Sent from my SM-P905V using Tapatalk
Powder coat over paint. Here's from a build last yr, I had the machine shop kiss cut the top to get a 'jeweled' sparkle in the sunlight. Turned out really good. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Your plenum (and rest of car) are in fantastic shape. You may find touch-up to be perfectly adequate. Below is a photo of my QV plenum which I have touched-up the small chips that I had. The thing I like about touch-up it is the dirt and discoloration ("patina" is it is euphemistically referred to) match the dirt and discoloration on the rest of my engine. It all looks in an equal state of decay. I had to custom mix a color to do the touch-ups. I used PPG paints which I got from Neds in Concord, CA (nice people). They have a big book of color chips which you can take out to the car and match the color. They custom mixed a small ($12) bottle of satin. It turns out the color was still a little too red, so I mixed it down with some tints I also got from Neds. I believe I added some white, but I also have black and brown tint available (for other color matching projects). Buy some small empty mixing bottles so you dont have to dilute (and possibly ruin) your original bottle. Apply the paint with a very fine artist brush. It may take several mixtures to get the color exactly right. Regarding the color near the serial number, I have not yet tackled that, but I have some major touch-up to do there. From Orchard Hardware, I bought Rustoleum oil based gloss black and flat black paint. I am going to mix those to get the correct sheen. The serial number paint is remarkably light grey in color: it is not a pure black. I will use some of my PPG white tint to reduce the black down to the appropriate grey. I have an airbrush and intend on applying the paint with that. At least that is the theory: I have not yet done this yet. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks Brian. I would like to touch mine up. I will have to compare the 308 to 328 at Blackhawk and go from there.
Heres my thread http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/mondial/483539-getting-ready-summer.html#post143930895 suggestion it states to spray heavily, my experience showed heavy spray large crinkle light spray smaller crinkle also it looks orange at first and turns red when dry
Here is mine that was just redone. VHT krinkle paint with Rosso Corsa added for a more OEM look. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
