lithiumus

Hello Everyone,

astro suggested that I post up a feeler thread here and in the TL forums for the new service I am offering...

Some of you may remember some of my old 2nd gen TL Nav install or TL-S gauge cluster threads or know of my 2007 TL Nav retrofit into my NSX. The level of detail and care that I usually operate with will come along with this service... I'm usually on the NSX forums these days.

Many who have gone down this road have realized several things...

- most powder coaters don't have a perfect Honda Type R Red match (usually brighter and is more Orange in color)
- almost all powder coaters won't use a true wrinkle powder and instead use a fine texture (similar to 80-100 grit sandpaper)
- most powder coaters do not take the care in taping up all the no spray zones (according to OEM) and just plug the holes
- Krylon and VHT spray also only come in a bright red and is more Orange in color and is only paint
- Krylon and VHT spray while super cheap, will not produce a consistent finish and does not have the resilience or longevity of powder

I have gotten a powder maker to match the OEM Honda Type R Red in wrinkle powder to my OEM NSX Type R Intake Manifold Cover. I had to pay a hefty up front fee but now I own the powder and it's a perfect match! The powder has been spec'd to handle engine and under the hood temperatures and is UV resistant (for the NSX guys who want to show it off under the glass hatch!).

I'm offering a powder coat service for only $100 per cover. The sales are structured around batches to keep the costs this low.

The Service Includes
- drop off to get the covers chemically stripped (no sandblasting) with a 3 stage washing with appropriate phosphate levels for wrinkle powder
- pickup of the covers and a thorough wash and clean
- carefully tape the parts that should not be coated (according to OEM) with 400+ degree C tape
- mask rear of covers and drop off for coating
- covers will be powder coated with custom OEM Honda Type R wrinkle powder and baked in 400 degree Celsius to cure
- pickup, inspection and removal of tape, etc.

All you have to do is drop off the covers if you are local (Toronto) or ship them to me. If you are shipping them, you will be required to cover all shipping costs.

NSX Special
- for NSX owners who are coating the 2 valve covers and intake manifold cover, the cost is $250 for all three covers
- a core option can be available at special request but a core charge (full replacement value of OEM covers) will apply
- to avoid the core charge, you can ship me your covers and request immediate shipment of the cores to you (less wait time and no core charge)

NSX Full Service Special (local Toronto NSX owners only)
- for NSX owners located in Toronto, I also offer a full swap service for $400 all inclusive
- I will use my extra core set of covers that is already OEM Honda Type R Red coated and install them in your car for you
- I will swap out your OEM covers and use them as the next set of core covers
- Please note, damaged covers will incur a repair cost, or replacement cost

Pricing Summary
- $100 per valve cover (or any metal part you want)
- $250 for all 3 NSX covers
- $400 for full service NSX cover swap
- multiple valve cover / metal part discounts are negotiable (more than 2 pieces)

Turnaround time will typically be around 2 weeks from the time the batch kicks off (10 valve cover minimum). There is some flexibility in that I will usually have 3 covers (cores) that will need coating per batch so usually only 7 covers are needed to kick a batch off.

This service likely will end when the powder runs out, and I'll decide if making another huge batch of powder makes sense...

I already have 7 covers for the first batch. Once I get 3 more, I'll kick off the first batch. The holidays are coming up so I probably won't be able to start until January.

Please feel free to PM me or post questions here.

Pictures of the Sample compared to my OEM NSX Type-R Intake Manifold Cover

lithiumus

Current Batch (ETA January)

1. NSX covers (ready for coating)
2. NSX covers (ready for stripping)
3. Prelude cover (waiting for cover)
4.
5.
6.

JTso

iTrader: (2)

Thread moved to the general discussion area for non-performance related mods.

lithiumus

Current Batch (ETA January)

1. NSX covers (ready for coating)
2. NSX covers (ready for stripping)
3. Prelude cover (ready for stripping)
4. TSX Cover (ready for stripping)
5. Prelude cover (waiting for cover)
6.

vthree

iTrader: (1)

how much would that tsx cover be shipped to 75088? =)

lithiumus

vhtree, PM sent!

lithiumus

Just finished a batch with a TSX cover and it come out really nice!



As you can see, I took a lot of care taping up the cover. There is no powder bleed in the rear of the cover.







The flash makes it look more Orange than it really is. I'll post a more accurate color pic soon.

Aretardedorange

iTrader: (2)

Looks very nice. When I get my TSX I will consider this .

mdkxtreme

Wow you do a hell of a good job. Do you do them in black too?

lithiumus

Thanks for the kudos! My goal is to have results at least as good as OEM but they will be better since it's a powder coat not a spray paint. I'm only doing Authentic Honda Type R red at this time.

lithiumus

H22A Valve Cover



H22A Valve Cover bottom



NSX Valve Covers Top



NSX Valve Covers Top and bottom

lithiumus

Some more photos from a recent batch. Group buy will continue until I run out of the custom powder. PM me to make arrangements.

Stripped covers, phosphate washed and ready for masking.


I take masking seriously and even on a Civic cover, everything is properly masked.




Intake Manifold compared to Original Type R Piece




No powder bleed in the rear of the covers

erupt323

Can u do like. Rincle blue

erupt323

If possible can u pm me

mdkxtreme

If you ever decide to do wrinkle black, post it in there.

By the way, what are the procedures in cleaning wrinkled paints? A rag doesn't seem as effective picturing it in my head....

lithiumus

At this time, I'm only powder coating wrinkle Red. If I do a black, I'd need to have at least 6 valve covers to start a batch and that's a lot of covers to coordinate esp. when it means people have to send them to me.

I'll definitely post it up here if I do any different colors.

lithiumus

Recently installed a set of covers on an NSX.

Rear cover compared to the freshly powdercoated Type R cover


Rear cover off. The rear is the hardest as everything is in the way, the strut bar, rear air dam and engine cover. The rear barely fits and removal is a real pain!


Rear cover mounted...



Front cover off and compared to the fresh Type R cover.


Front cover mounted.

lithiumus

Finished it off with the Intake Manifold cover and his new NA2 Type R plate. It's a shame I had too much flash...

lithiumus

A customer who asked for only the NSX Intake Manifold to be powdercoated on his already red NA2 engine was kind enough to send me some pics of the results. Not a bad OEM match...

lithiumus

Some more pictures for comparison purposes and some results from a recent batch...

Here is a freshly powder coated cover on top of a set of NA2 OEM Red covers that were sent in for a fresh set of powder. The covers were dirty but look at the center covered areas where the coils sit... The match is almost perfect... (without flash)

with flash


Using a new stripping method of using soft plastic blasting (never using sand!) the covers come out nice and bright. This also eliminates the need to re-Honda Bond the breather plates since the chemical stripping deteriorates the seal. Yes, if you don't remove the breather plates, scrape off all old seal and re-seal it after chemical stripping, the breather plates will leak air / vacuum and not work 100% Yes, all my covers that were chemically stripped were also re-Honda Bonded to ensure a perfect air-tight seal.


Here is a stripped 2004+ Intake Manifold Cover that was sent in to be powder coated. Notice the extra notch on the bottom left? A similar notch is on the topside as well. Only the 2004+ Intake Manifolds had those. The 2002 and 2003 Intake Manifold Covers actually did not have the extra notches but still had the raised DOHC VTEC letters.


The OEM 2002+ Intake Manifold cover DOHC VTEC letters were simply painted silver on top of the wrinkle paint. I decided instead to expose the shiny Magnesium leaving the raised letters nice and smooth rather than a rough surface like OEM. To protect the Magnesium from oxidizing, I immediately coated it with 2 layers of clear coat for protection.



Freshly coated NA2 valve cover, 2004+ Intake Manifold cover and an AEM CAI

TypeRod

Lithiumus, are you still doing the wrinkle red powdercoating? I'm interested, but just registered here and dont have access to the private messaging. Thanks!

lithiumus

Yes, I am still doing these! I'm gathering covers for the next batch. Won't be for a month or so. E-mail me at lithiumus at gmail and we can work out the details.

TypeRod

will do! Thank you!

TypeRod

Lithiumus, email has been sent, Thanks!

lithiumus

Just installed another set of NSX covers. I'm starting a large batch soon. If anyone is interested, let me know. I'm going to have an extra K series cover so there will be no downtime for TSX owners wanting to do this. For a fair price, I can include installation / swap for you. Should take about 30-45 mins max.

Dead_end

great work...

Dead_end

I have two covers btw....id like to get in on the next batch...

GWEEDOspeedo

This looks fantastic! You have great attention to detail!

AMUA6

iTrader: (7)

$100/cover is a little steep Keep doing the good work!

lithiumus

Thanks for the Kudos!

The price is likely higher than most powder coaters out there because I still pay an actual powder coater retail prices to coat my parts. i.e. I don't coat them myself so it's really a pass through coating cost and stripping cost.

- I wash and degrease the covers (unless they are pretty clean)
- I bring all the covers to a place that media blasts the covers with a plastic media rather than sand blasting to avoid unnecessary scoring to the covers.
- I then bring them back home and wash them all
- I pre-bake all magnesium covers @ 450 degrees for 1 hour
- I try to correct all casting defects (grind areas smooth, etc)
- I then mask all the covers front AND back (all the letters as well)
- I place my own lifting eye bolts on all the covers to avoid thread damage at the powder coaters from the hangars
- I bring everything in for coating (using my custom powder)
- I inspect the finished product and if there are any imperfections (over coating / smooth areas) I request a re-coat (and I pay for that, happens more often than you think)
- I remove all the masking and pack for shipping if necessary.

So I know it's more expensive than most powder coaters and I don't get a lot of business, but it keeps me out of trouble and for the enthusiast who wants a perfectly coated and matched Type R powder with proper masking "a la OEM", I offer this humble service.

Each cover takes me 30-40 mins of my time to fully mask. Given that I had to pay up front for the custom powder which cost me over $1,000 alone and the fact that I still have to pay for the coating service, etc... I'm probably not making any money @ $100 per cover. BUT... I love taking a nasty neglected cover and making it look brand new and the look on a customer's face when they come to pick it up as see it!

lithiumus

Some recent work and batches...





Sun was pretty bright but the color is not that bright in person...

tsx_trendz

great looking covers man

mrhiguy

Are these still available? Please email me voices0013@yahoo.com

tone4488

nice stuff

mrhiguy

Ready to ship 2 out to you when you reply. My PM system doesn't work right now. So either post a reply on the thread or shoot me an email for shipping instructions. My
email is voices0013@yahoo.com

eagles_tsx

great info

TurboDC2CU2

Is this service still available? let me know if there will be another batch soon, i would be very interested.

Ron A

The OP posted this feeler thread when feeler threads were authorized. Since they are no longer authorized, and he never became a vendor, I am closing the thread.