DIY Ceramic Coating (how-to)
 

So, decided to ceramic coat my turbine housing and manifold. Since I can't afford the downtime to have it professionally done on my DD I wanted to try doing it myself.

Enter Columbia Coatings. I didn't want black because it's just too plain. I didn't want chrome because it's too damn bling. So I went with titanium.

Titanium Ceramic Coating Link

The basic process is as follows:


1) Remove your shit
2) Clean your shit
3) Sand blast your shit
4) Handle your shit with latex gloves (like a bad porno)
5) "Gas Out" your shit
6) Cool you shit
7) Spray your shit
8) Bake your shit
9) Install your shit
10) Idle your shit

Stuff You'll Need:
Play Sand
http://img34.picoodle.com/data/img34...8m_fcb84c2.jpg

Harbor Freight Sand Blaster. The screen is for filtering the playsand.
http://img32.picoodle.com/data/img32...7m_126da7f.jpg

Harbor Freight Air Brush
http://img33.picoodle.com/data/img33...6m_2ec344e.jpg

And an oven capable of holding 450+ degrees for at least 30 minutes. You'll want to use an electric as the ceramic coat is highly flammable and sparks/flames are bad. We have a spare one in the kitchen that we don't use (too small for cooking) that I'll use for this.

I've got all my parts removed at this point and will be sand blasting in the next half hour. I'll report back with updated pictures after sand blasting while the parts are in the oven gassing out.

Manifold
http://img32.picoodle.com/data/img32...5m_1c67950.jpg

Turbine Housing
http://img27.picoodle.com/data/img27...4m_bb078e2.jpg

More white than me impeller
http://img27.picoodle.com/data/img27...9m_00de1f4.jpg

none of the pics work

should be fixed to thumbnails now... click for full size.

UPDATE: I ran out of sand! The bag I bought was outside during IKE so it was all wet. I'm having to broil the sand for 45 mins to dry it out. Well, I ran out of dry stuff and have to wait until the next batch is done.

I did manage to finish sandblasting the turbine though so it is in the oven gassing out. Gassing forced oils and other stuff trapped in the pores (especially of cast materials like valve covers and turbos) to boil out. If you don't do this it will happen anyways, but with a layer of ceramic coating on top causing a rough surface finish that looks terrible and lessening the adhesion drastically. Basically, if you don't want to have to redo this in 3 months its a necessary evil. Gas out requires 400* F for 30 mins minumum. When I've done powder coating I get best results by checking on it every 10 mins and letting it bake for an additional 20 mins after the visual smoke is gone.

cant wait for result pics!

11) post your shit online

Close.
1a) post shit online
2a) post shit online
etc.

Any chance good header paint will hold up on a manifold?

Update: Parts have completed sand blasting, and out gassing. Here are pics all taped up and ready for paint once they finish cooling.

Manifold Taped Up (still hot)
http://img32.picoodle.com/data/img32...1m_9cfa8c4.jpg

Turbo Taped Up (ready for coating)
http://img28.picoodle.com/data/img28...2m_a955cc1.jpg

Tape/Blade: Do not use standard masking tape, it will burn and make you house smell awful. Columbia coatings sells high temperature fiber glass tape like this which is good to 700* F. It trims easily with a razor blade.
http://img29.picoodle.com/data/img29...3m_a28a5df.jpg

Should have some post paint pics up in 30 minutes depending on how long it takes the manifold to cure. I'll then let the pieces air dry to get most of the solvents out before baking. Air dry takes about 30 mins and baking takes about 30 mins. So I should be done in about 2 hours.

The stuff BEGi used was a pain in the ass to get off, it held up great. It just discolored after 10 mins of use. The problem with header paint is that it doesn't hold heat inside the manifold very well. The ceramic coat should lower my underhood temps quite a bit and look good to boot.

*edit* is it normal for my impeller to be that white? Or does that indicate poor (lean) tuning or high EGT?

Are you saying they used header paint or ceramic? Perhaps if I sand blast and gas out the parts then header paint would hold up and not discolor. So how much did the different things you had to buy cost? And where did you get the ceramic coating stuff?

So the "gassing out" consists of putting the parts in the oven at 450* for 30 minutes and that's it?

He's got the link for the stuff in his first post...

^^Indeed he does have a link. I looked twice and didn't see it. I'm an 11 month baby...

Yeah, that's it. Most folks I know usually gas out ~50* hotter than the curing temp just to make sure. You don't care if you get everything out of the material... you only care that you get out what will otherwise come out during curing and fuck up your coating.

UPDATE: I hope to hell the metallic comes out a bit more during curing. Right now they just look like a dull gray :( I should have gone with the uber bling chrome stuff.

Pre-Cure Manifold
http://img27.picoodle.com/img/img27/...4m_73828ba.jpg

Manifold Close Up
http://img28.picoodle.com/img/img28/...5m_9721a31.jpg

Pre-Cure Turbo
http://img26.picoodle.com/img/img26/...6m_1fb55b2.jpg

Pre- Cure Turbo Close Up
http://img37.picoodle.com/img/img37/...7m_5e22ab7.jpg

The overspray on my table looks fantastic, but the parts are incredibly dull. Here's to hoping that it get's more spiffy during curing in the ol' oven. Turbine is in the cooker now, manifold will go in about 15 mins.

FWIW, it takes roughly an hour per inch to heat steel to a uniform temperature. So if it were me, I would gas out the manifold for at least a couple hours, and same for baking the coating on. Let that sucker get fully up to temp.

Yeah, but remember... your coating is on the surface so heating it all the way through isn't really necessary.

In this case I'm following the manufacturers instructions since I haven't done it before... I won't be adding bake time as I have no idea how that will affect the coating. I do know that the coating will not fully cure until it's held at or above 750*F for one hour. Most folks recommend idling the vehicle for an hour before driving if you are curing in a standard kitchen oven (which will only cure @ 500*F), which is my next step after install.

I already had most of it but here is what the respective websites say it costs for this gear.

Tape : $16 (36 yards x .75", used ~2 yrd)
Coating : Bought 8 0z for $36 (used ~2 oz based on airbush can size) = $20 (min order 4 oz)
Sand Blaster :$19.95
Air Brush :$12.95 (sale price)
In-line air dryer (air-brush) : $3.25 (sale price)

Play Sand: $3.25 (Home Depot)
Play Sand Strainer: $3.50 (walmart)

Total I spent: ~$95, could have been done for ~$80 if I had bought less coating (didn't really know how much I'd need).

awesome write up. the ceramic coating is slowly peeling away on my manifold, defintely want to recoat it. this gives a good idea for people who wish to ceramic coat other things, like DPs and charge pipes.

I have the oven heating up right now!! Time to bake some turbine housings!

waiting on additional pictures :)

there won't be any more pictures till tomorrow... they look pretty much the same after baking as they did in my last post. Just a bit more glossy. So, if you DIY I recommend the black or chrome stuff. I'm sure this titanium stuff looks great on bare steel/aluminum, but it sucks donkey scrotum on cast iron.

The first pics looked good to me. :) Think you might be being a wee bit too critical. But I'll wait for the final pics. I would go black if I did it.