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Anodizing a Radiator?

2K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  55 Tony 
#1 ·
Can they anodize just the top tank and not the fins and stuff. Well maybe both tanks and the brackets also, just not the fins.
 
#4 ·
So what do you do about the anodized tank when you weld it to the core? The filler metal is going to be plain aluminum, and the part of the tank that gets welded will be too, since anodizing is a coating. So it's going to look like ****. Maybe you could epoxy the tank to the core, but you still have the contrast/blend problem - not to mention that epoxy is frowned on by most for this.
 
#6 ·
I was mostly just thinking out loud. I got this *anodizing* spray paint, yes I know it's not anodizing, it's just the look it gives stuff. Anyway I was thinking of spraying the tank with the stuff and put come clear lacquer over it. In these pics, I went a bit too heavy with the stuff and it came out more like candy apple red (I think that's what candy apple red is supposed to look like?). The bands going around the air cleaner cold air intake are more like what it should look like. I don't want to go too wild with this stuff, but I'm thinking of the battery hold down cover. The red stuff needs a shiny surface to go on and I'm not sure if it will go over silver paint. Might have to wire wheel it then polish it first.

Before I go and do the radiator tank, I'll wait a few months to see how this stuff holds up. I had brushed a little on the tank and let it dry and it seemed pretty tough without a clear on top. I sprayed some walmart generic wd40 (it has some solvents) on it and rubbed it and it didn't come off. The second I hit it with carb cleaner it was gone! I'll try it again with a clear on top and see if gasoline dissolves it. If not, I just may also do the front bowl of the Holley. I know, I'm out of control with this stuff. :sign0020: When you see it in person and the MSD red box nearby, the MSD box looks like crap.

Hmm, I really need to clean the greasy plug wires so they look red again, and up close the valve covers look pretty bad. Hmm, I wonder how the valve covers would look with the red stuff instead of the black? Yep, I'm out of control!
 

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#11 ·
Honest opinions...that fake anodizing looks surprisingly good but it should be only on aluminium parts which could be anodized in 'real life' and don't carried away with it. It looks nice in some details but I think you might have too many of those details.
The air cleaner cold air setup is pretty nice but that aluminium hose should be black IMO too massive in silver/ alu color.
 
#12 ·
Thanks, I appreciate your honesty!

The cold air intake tubing is actually a titanium/stainless alloy and is a flue pipe made for small chimneys. It's tough as hell to bend as much as I have it bent. I seem to take it on and off quite a bit since the air cleaner covers so much and it stays attached to that end. Anyway, I think it would get scratched up too easily if it were painted. One person on another group told me I should make one with straight and angled pieces without the "flexing wrinkles". Any thoughts on that? I don't like the black plastics pieces I've seen.

The red, yes I can get carried away. The little chevy logo on the valve cover is going to get wiped off. It looks crappy in person anyway since I dabbed it on with spray paint in the cap and dipped it on with a cue tip. So it's pretty blotchy looking. Also the radiator cap has to go, that just plain looks weird. What do you think?
 
#13 ·
Ok, definitely the radiator cap something else than red. Cold air hose clamps black...if you have some scrap piece of tubing left, try to put some heat to it? My son has titanium exhaust pipe in his dirt bike and that pipe looks cool as heck when it has changed color from heat...just a thought, don't ruin your pipe but if you have some scrap piece for testing it might be worth to try.
 
#14 ·
Do you ever recall seeing the hose clamps on my air intake their natural stainless steel?

The titanium heat color sounds neat. Picturing chrome headers or motor cycle exhaust turned blue, I never thought they look that bad that way. I hope I saved a piece of that tube to test it on. If not, I can try it at the other end where it goes into another rubber coupler, and it's hard to see. What color did the pipe turn?

The radiator cap will just go back to it's natural metal color. No need for any color on it. That was the first thing I did that I really didn't like red at all as soon as I put it on.

The snout I made for the air cleaner housing bothers me. I wish I could have put some kind of lines into it. With the old time looks of the main housing, it seems out of place all smooth. Then again, I made that when the car was loosing power when hot and I was trying to do everything to help that. It turned out years later that my new at the time MSD "ready to quit" distributor was the problem of loosing HP when hot. So I could go back to a good old school open air cleaner?
 
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