Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

Im thinking of painting my intake and vavle cover any sugestions other then ford blue, heres my engine bay the car is dark blue the only pic i got is in my profile on here it's the 88 tc not the sport. thanks

I left mine natural and polished the raised parts and painted the inside of the ford oval blue.  might have a pic somewhere stay tuned ;)

How do u Polish? Have someone dO it for u?

thought about that one too. i plan on polishing the lettering and painting the oval blue but just not sure if i want to leave the intake and valve cover natural.i have started with 1000 grit sand paper steping up to 2500 grit sand paper than used a aluimun polish to get it to shine. others may have a better way but thats always worked for me.

To polish,my method is as follows....get a 5 inch sanding disc "Bit" for your drill,a box of 120 grit stick on sanding discs (I get mine from lowes,about $7.00 or so for 25),and using constant motion,I smooth the aluminum.Once it's smooth everywhere,I start wet sanding with 220 grit,320,400,600,800,1000,1500 and 2000 grit.Once all that is done,Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish,then Mother's Billet Polish.Taaa-Daaaah !!!!! It really doesn't take that long,and the results can be great. This is my "do-it-yourself-at-home-with-no-special-tools" way of doing it.

When you're using the 1`20 discs,a small amount of effort and you can remove all of the casting lines and "texture" of the metal.I'm getting ready to go back over my upper intake and remove the casting line on the very front (thick mold line).

I did my steering pump bracket,tensioner,upper intake,throttlebody and spacer,and my hand fabbed intake plate.

(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc205/Vinnietbird/000_0509.jpg)

The new engine will be all blue with the polished upper,and other parts I already mentioned that I polished.The valve covers are now different as well.I'm going with the smooth polished aluminum with my stickers on them I had made.

(http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc205/Vinnietbird/DSCF2740.jpg)

Lol well I think I'll just do that then and i'm gunna Try to buy that H.O. Engine Outta that Lincoln so I can get What I can out of it.

If you can get the H.O engine from the Lincoln,grab the computer and bolt it all into your car...instant H.O package deal right there....if the engine runs decent.

Two different ways that usually work are expanding on original engine scheme (in this case, black and "natural" colors) or coordinating with the car color.

People have done nice-looking work by painting the intake and leaving the lettering bare, or painting the design with the rest bare.  IMO, the later intakes and early turbo VCs are the most interesting when done this way.

started mine. still getting the casting lines out.
(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee79/daminc/motor%20rebuild/IMG_6346.jpg)

Nice start Jerry.Keep on sanding.I've got to remove the thick casting line on the front of mine.Then,awesomeness......to me anyway.LOL.

There's some big ones on the sides.. may pull out the grinder for those

The ones facing the front and rear of the car when it's installed?Those are ugly.That's what I was talking about as well.When I originally polished it,I was still learning.

Those are the ones. They stick out about 1/4"

They'll be going right before I swap the engines out.

lol wait, Im still learning but i thought tht the intake manifold cut off like right underneath where u can see....? lol is it as big as it looks in Jerry's picture? does it drop down that far? lol grr i really need to learn more about the engine im a body man... mechanics is my sisters job.

There's an upper and lower intake.Look at the picture of my engine on the first page of this thread,and you'll see how the upper intake goes over the driver side valve cover,and in my second pic,you can se the lower intake EASILY.

Here is what i did ford blue on the intake and throttle body. Black on the valve cover, also sanded the ICM then clear coated it all. It aint the best but it will do untill i do a complete teardown and rebuild of the whole car.

I like the Ford blue idea;)
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/cantigny%202009/DSCN0984.jpg) (http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/thunderjet302/cantigny%202009/?action=view¤t=DSCN0984.jpg)

You need to take that bracket thing off on the front of the intake. Also you can remove that vacuum fitting that faces forward on the lower front of the intake and plug the hole.