I am on the scrounge as we say over here in the UK. My local powder coater recently offered me his services to silver wrinkle paint all my intake components. I was a really happy boy. He is (was) the only person I have found in the UK to be able to provide the paint. It was very expensive at £400 per tin. However, as it was the only real option I thought that I would give it a go. Turns out that the paint supplier does not stock it any more. I am stuffed short of a work around. Is there any one of you kind chaps in the US willing to buy and sea mail enough of the paint from the US to do my Testarossa intakes? I dont mind paying everything up front including something for your time Thanks P
I have been through several of the powder paint suppliers here in the US and found no one offering a product that I considered acceptable. I did find one that was willing to try and make me some but after about eight attempts and failures I got tired of that route too. There is an Italian company that supplies silver wrinkle automotive grade paint but I cannot get them to respond to Emails. I have just settled for now on doing wrinkle powder in another color and painting the correct shade of silver over it. I was talking about this yesterday with another shop having the same trouble and we are considering having one of the auto paint manufacturers make us a batch in the correct silver.
The shop that did my mufflers on the boxer (twice) have silver wrinkle powder coat which ill have them do my runners and plenums with only after I see a sample.
Brian, is that something that is going to come off soon? I dont mind if it is in cellulose (OK perhaps not that) as long as it works. For me the last option is to paint over a wrinkle paint of a different colour. In the UK we only have the option of black wrinkle over painted with silver. I am sure that just the slightest scratch will show through really bad. Please keep me in touch with any information. I was hoping to have the car ready for shows starting in May by which time the intakes need to be sorted. At the moment I dont have a move at all.... P
I have no idea. My body shop does it for me. He specializes in Ferrari and has a number of products and custom blends that he does for them.
I understand what your saying Phil and if i could've done it the correct way i would have. However i had mine powder coated in red so you've got the top section already and then oversprayed with silver. It does come off a bit but overall it looks pretty good. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
That engine bay looks really nice. Did you paint the fuel pipes or plate them? BTW leaving the intake runners in red might look really cool, if one wasn't a purist.
I've found that if the texture of the intakes is good, no matter what the appearance is...do NOT strip the original crinkle off. Just clean it up real good, and get the right shade of silver-gray and repaint it. I think that recently there was some company making gray crinkle, but it was still the wrong shade of gray (too dark) for the Testarossa. Like Rifledriver said....I too have called several shops that work on Ferraris and they all say the same thing about the intake paint.....you can't get any!!!! It's unobtainium!
Phil, I have found a company who still makes this paint, I will be sending for a sample of this to check the colour and finished appearance. This paint will require stoving at 50c!! More details when I have them. Regards, Phil.
Phil squared eh? Keep me in touch please Phil. I cant tell you the hours I have wasted looking for that paint and I know I am not the first. Hope it is the right colour. p
I always use VHT wrinkle in grey and then lightly mist it over in aluminium colour to get the 'correct' look, but now VHT don't make grey anymore since their big fire in 2007. I got the last 11 cans left in Australia, some very old stock, and of the 11, 9 cans wouldn't spray. I ended up removing the paint from the can and applying it by spray gun which worked fine, bbut when my last cans are gone I'm screwed like everybody else. Worst part is I have two Testa engines to dress this year. VHT work through a distributor here who don't get too invloved, but a barrage of emails or calls to VHT in USA might help out if they understand the actual need for their grey base product.
Unfortunately VHT only do the black and red here in the UK. And then it is supplied by a distributor.
Same as here Phil. Stopped grey about two years ago. They need some US muscle applied to them to explain how much we depended upon this paint in our restorations.
I too will be following this thread as I am in the middle of a 30k service and my intake looks like crap. Rifledriver - like the new pic...
I would also like to refresh my engine intakes and plenums both with silver and red paint. Count me in too. Juri.
I am arranging for a direct contact with the Italian producer of the paint. A friend of a friend is going to go there and see what we can get.
