This is a good month. In addition to getting back my chrome I have also
received my black, shiny exhaust manifolds. With the newly painted
engine compartment in my E-Type the rusty manifolds looked terrible
in amongst the polished alloy. I had kept a reference from Dick Nyquist
for an Oakland firm who would porcelainize the manifolds in the same way
as the original Jaguar manifolds. I had long since given up on manifold
paints which are just a source of frustration, doing all the fancy
prep work only to have it burn off the first time you get up to speed.
So I called them up and they quoted me $9 per lb weight to sandblast,
anneal and porcelain. Oakland is across the Bay from me so I took
them in and chatted to the owner. Its a father son operation and they
recognized the pieces as Jaguar (We do a few of them, he said).
They weighed in at 18 lb so it cost $162 and two weeks time.
They redid one of them 4 times as it kept getting bubbles in the finish,
but now they look great. It gets fired at 1200 deg F so I am confident
its not going to flake off, providing I never drop a tool on them.
They will take orders shipped to them, but warned to pack them really
well as cast iron is breakable and shippers are not too careful,
especially if it feels heavy.
> Porcelain Patch and Glaze
> 966 86th st, Oakland, Calif
>
> 1(510)635-2188
>
Cheers, Patrick.
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