Guys,

Thought this interesting project came out pretty good and wanted to share....

Over the years I have had a handful of people ask me to remove the logos on their ported FAST intakes I have reworked for them and I always took a pass on the job knowing it would leave crappy looking results if you didn't find a way to refinish it and leave the entire manifold textured like it is stock (otherwise you see an obvious sanded or smooth finish where you removed the lettering which looks doctored/hack in my opinion.....I'm pretty particular about the aesthetics of the stuff I work on....the porting work being the most obvious but the entire finished product as well!).

Anyway, I recently had a customer that insisted I remove the lettering and I thought this would be a good opportunity to try a few different techniques in an attempt to get a very clean OEM stock look with a low gloss textured finish that you see on most GM manifolds (this is the perfect look for the enthusiast that likes an "understated" clean look or the Friday night grudge racer who wants everything to look stock!)

Anyway, after a few attempts with various projects on junk intakes and various sacrificial parts I ended up with this very stealthy look on certain LS7 intake I just recently finished porting. Note with the 102 modular design its the same top on a cathedral (LS1/LS2/LS6) or LS3 intake and it would look exactly the same on all three.



It looks so good I'm considering it for my personal Vader project although part of me likes the lettering painted also because it add some interest and subtle color/highlights to the engine.

Its a time consuming PITA however to do it right and may require a smear of some bodyfiller in some areas where the lettering was carefully removed to shape the runners properly before the texturing and painting if you want it to look perfect.

I'm going to offer this new service in the future so if you want to send me an already existing top or have me do a complete intake for you and include this let me know. At this point I have invested the time in the process and materials so it only makes sense to do so

Let me know what you guys think!

-Tony

 

Very nice work! I shaved and painted my fast 90 before I had it ported. Between the gray color and lettering, it looked offensive sitting in my clean engine bay.

 

Thats interesting work!!

 

Definitely looks nice, but I'm like you, Tony. I like the painted letters.

 

I agree. And I also hate the stock grayish white color most Fast intakes have.

The work looks good but sounds like it was time consuming and difficult. I'd prefer just painted then do the letters in a nice color for some "pop" for simplicity but the more I look at this, the more I like it.

 

that looks real good.
it really looks like it's covered in LineX or something of that nature.

 

mite it pass as a nhra legal intake ?

 

I think it looks beautiful! and grey does suck. I am just going to rattle can my fast.

 

I think it's awesome and I like the charcoal color. Makes me want to re-work my Fast 92 and fill in the stupid dip in the middle runners.

 

Guys,

Thanks for all the input

Its actually a low gloss black finish on the texture.....kinda picks up a gray hue from the towels its laying on. In hindsight I should have done a white towel background. Will do that on the next one!

-Tony

 

I love it! Coming from the old school restoration scene, I appreciate the stealth stock look. I hate to think what this service would cost; I only know that were I do to attempt it myself, the result would be some kind of horrible abortion.

Kudos to you, Tony, for moving the hobby up a notch (yet again)!

 

that looks good tony. I did a fast78 - 85/85 stealth a few years ago




http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_0054.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y11...n/IMG_0055.jpg

 

Looks extremely good, I would buy that.

 

I edited my post, I think there was confusion. Your intake looks amazing, I was talking about the gray stock "trying to be aluminum" look that most out of the box fasts come with.

There is no fault in the job or color of the intake you posted, it looks incredible.

 

Wow nice and stealthy!

 

Looks great. I doubt I would fork over the bucks if it were mine. The letters would not offend me that badly. Just paint it.

 

I love it! A very clean, stock look. Excellent work!

 

Updated (and better!) pic care of Jim Riley the proud owner....LOL

Jim, thanks for taking the time to make this happen.....looks great!

 

All I can say is that Intake looks PERFECT!

 

So Tony how much does this work of art cost?