Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Has anyone done this?

I have Imco extension boxes and SC drives. I would like to paint or powdercoat them to match the boat.
Would powdercoating hold up?

I also thought about polishing and clear powdercoating the owers, but I'm not sure the clear would hold up at 120 MPH+.

Has anyone done this? How did it work?

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

I had powdercoating on my extension box. The problem was that it had released and laying like a sheet over the corroded aluminum. I stripped the coating off to a white metal condition. I then painted the box with a etching primer and then top coated it with a epoxy. The stuff is holding up great! Several years, and not a single sign of corrosion. Now if you are taling about just painting them to match, that's a different story. Just scuff the surface and spray a guide coat of etching primer. Now you can paint your top coat. No need to remove a good base paint.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

That's what I was wondering Cord. Thanks for the info.
I still wonder about clear powdercoating the lowers though.
I have a feeling it wouldn't hold up very long.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

My drive has been powder coated for years. The boat run in the upper 80's low 90's. A friend of mine did it at LOTO and he told the reason some people had problems with it was because of poor preping.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

What would be wrong with polishing the lowers and then painting, will it not stick to that smooth of a surface. I polished my lowers and havent decided how im going to keep them looking nice without running the mine orbital over them every week.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Custom powder colors are availible and can be match the color you selected however the price is generally $ 1,000.00 for custom color and lead time can be up to a couple of weeks - Scuff and paint your existing powder coated finish will work just fine. Solvent clean using a strong solvent like MEK and you will fine the powder has soften slightly - shoot this with a conventional aliphatic polyurethane ( DuPont Imron, Awlgrip etc...) Will hold up forever -

Clear coat paint or powder over polish surface presents adhesion problems and many times the polish compounds are imbeded into the aluminum resulting in poor adhesion - New parts with known compounds are a different story -

Etching primers are not magic - and corrosion needs to be remove then the invisiable salts removed with Chlorrid or salt away - Trapped chlorides will come back to haunt you - Ph adjusted primers are often polyamide epoxy and the good adhesion results in good performance - don't get too carried away with "self etching"

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Try the chrome powder coat. The pieces I've seen done with it shine better than polished Aluminum but not quite the shine as real chrome.

If prepped right, it should hold for a very long time.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

How hard is it to remove the boxes from the transom? I need to paint or powder coat mine and thought about painting them on the boat but getting the prep right would be harder to do.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Depends on how the engines are mounted. If they use a front and rear support plate, then the engine wouldn't have to be pulled. If the engine rests on the transom plate, the engine will have to come out. Then there are 8 bolts that attach the box to the transom. Pull the bolts, disconnect the steering lines, pull the gimble and the box is off. Reinstalling a bit more complex because of the gimble bearing alignment, but that is the worst thing. Actually the worst thing would be if somebody used 5200 to seal the box to the transom. You should use 4200 so it can be removed in the future.

Don't suppose you'd be looking for somebody to do this for you? I'll be headed your way later today too. :D :D

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Cord

As far as I know the boxes have never been removed. I'll try to find out from Sonic what sealant they use to install them.

Thanks for the offer to remove them but the boats already at a shop with the motors removed and I have to start doing some work on it myself. This boat is putting me in the poor house in a hurry. I'm spending more on the motor rebuild than I had planned.

Roger

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

I'm already in the poor house. Just hoping I could take you down with me. ;)

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

this is good info.!
I hate to go to all the trouble to polish the lowers then have them look like sh*t as soon as it is dipped in the water. :rolleyes:
It soulds like powdercoating may be the answer, as long as the prep is done correctly.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

I have the boxes off my boat now and was going to drop them off for powder coating but asked a few questions first. The powder coater said:

1. The boxes had to be sand blasted with mineral media to remove the old paint and corrosion. This type of media would not damaging the metal.

2. Any sealants have to be removed before sandblasting. The type of media used may not take them off and after sandblasting the parts can't be touched again with bare hands. If more cleaning had to be done it would require that they be sandblasted again.

3. Any imperfections left on the surface, dents or pit marks from corrosion, would show up as shiny spots. Powder coating will not level or fill in. To fill in spots you have to use hot lead and this is something he doesn't do.

4. My boxes have wing plates bolted to the side for mounting the cylinders. They have to be taken off and powder coated separately.

5. I have Imco boxes and thought they were powder coated but he said no, they were painted.

6. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. :confused:

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

What they look like now.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Hey Roger!
You should probably just get new ones.
I could get those old pesky boxes out of your way for you :eek:

When I powdercoated my trim tabs I learned a tough lesson.
If you have any pits, you must smooth them out; take a ball nosed bit on a die grinder and make little smooth "cups" out of the pits. The powedercoat doesn't like to flow over pointy surface, and when you sandblast that corrosion that's what you'll end up with. The pointy parts will end up with no coating and you'll be back to funky white stuff in no time.
So if you powdercoat, you will most likely have a little funk wherever there is pitting (unless you find somebody to fill the spots).

If they were mine (you know, if you bought new ones)' I'd blast all the paint off them and fill the deep oxidation pits with West Systems epoxy with the high density filler (or the aluminum filler). Sand em smooth, prime em and shoot imron on them.
But that's just me.
Good Luck!
Dan

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

I agree with Zanie ... I dissasembled one of my Bravo drives and had it PC ...when I went to get it ...it looked great cept for anywhere there was corrosion before looked pitted ....makes it really stand out ....my PC gut said he could put 2-3 coats on but you need to do alot of sanding between coats ...time and $$ ..also with any older aluminum they preheat and cool ( call it Gassing) and preheat before the PC is applied ....to try to prevent corrosion from causing problems ....

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Dan

I thought about just replacing them too until I priced them out.

I'm going to clean up the surfaces that are damaged before I send them for sand blasting and see how they look when they come back. I could live with some surface imperfections but if I can't get enough out, I'll have them filled in and painted.

Thanks for the offer to take them off my hands :D but I have to give it a shot first.

Roger

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

To fill the imperfections, you can use something called Lab Metal. Eastwood sells it, as well as some powdercoating suppliers like: columbiacoatings.com. It works like a regular filler, but will hold up to the powdercoat curing temps. The metal has got to be super clean, and baking the parts to outgas any oils or solvents must be done (aluminum can be porous). Prep is everything! I've done some small outboard lowers (10hp), and they've held up pretty well.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Lab Metal?
Cool!
I get a new eastwood catalog every month and never noticed that stuff.
Thanks!

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

I just spoke to a guy that has a paint shop and he recommended having them powder coated. He said the paint will not hold up nearly as well. I guess I'll have to go with his advice.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

I have two years on the epoxy etching primer and epoxy appliance enamel over coat and it still looks great.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Roger, you can paint them you don't leave the boat in the water. If they are proped right and you use a good paint like imron or PPG urethane they will hold up just fine.
My buddy Kenny owns a body shop in Oak Lawn we can have him do them if you want.

Mark

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

http://www.boatarmor.com/productDetail.aspx

works real good. i have used it on nose cones and no delamination, almost pure aluminum. strip parts, sand blast, and apply to the pits . if u use a razor blade it will spread like butter on bread.use small amounts, (don't try to do it all at once )wear latex gloves(thin kind) so no moisture from hands touches the parts. after fill, scratch off the top with 150 grit, blow off , tack and prime with ppg dp 40 or another GOOD 2 part epoxy primer. let it dry and then sand. top coat with single stage urethane (ppg concept) .clear is a waste of money on a solid color. if you go pearl or metallic you will obviously nead to use clear. e

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Thanks Mark but I missed this info. I dropped them off at Gorilla's right after work Saturday. I worked about 6 hours removing all the corrosion I could before I dropped them off.

I'll remember Kenny has a shop next time I need something painted.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

I should get them back in two weeks.

Re: Powdercoating Ext. boxes and uppers?
 

Roger
Wish you luck which ever way you decide to go.. I my self had a ladder that is mounted between my drives Chrome power coated, when I put it on it looked great. after running a few times the shine went away and it looked like it had just been painted silver.. dont know if the exhaust had something to do with it or if it was just a bad case of PCing.I'm taking it off again and having it chrome plated this winter..
As far as the lowers, polish them and check out Zoop Metal Sealer.Show cars and bikes swear by it..No more polishing,Just wipe off :D :D

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