intake manifold painting bolts

[John H.]

My engine had broken a valve stem. It appears stem was a 2-piece item
welded and machined together. I had never heard of such a thing regarding valve construction. Is this posible?
Secondly after intake and heads were reinstalled the shop had
cleaned off the intake maifold bolts, thinking that they should
have be natural.
What my question is can I remove one bolt at a time and paint each
one, or sholud I leave them in place and paint over them while they
are still bolted to the manifold.?
Car is a 1972 small block.

[Bill C.]

Re: intake manifold painting bolts

interesting....

if you remove and paint, likelyhood is good that while reinstalling the paint will be chiped off by the socket/wrench. You would have to do some touch-up.

If you deal with them installed you would need to remove all the items off the intake and mask areas off, then carefully paint the bolt heads.
This would take more time, but I think the results would be better.

My 2 cents...

[Joe L.]

Re: intake manifold painting bolts

My engine had broken a valve stem. It appears stem was a 2-piece item
welded and machined together. I had never heard of such a thing regarding valve construction. Is this posible?
Secondly after intake and heads were reinstalled the shop had
cleaned off the intake maifold bolts, thinking that they should
have be natural.
What my question is can I remove one bolt at a time and paint each
one, or sholud I leave them in place and paint over them while they
are still bolted to the manifold.?
Car is a 1972 small block.

John------


VERY possible. Most likely, these are very cheap Chinese-manufactured valves. These days, you're going to find that most SERVICE valves are going to be imported from somewhere. However, there are still quality pieces out there even though of foreign manufacture.

If the valves are "no-name" or some "oddball" brand, you can be pretty well assured they're going to be junk. Rebuilders often buy these things in bulk quantity in plain cardbaord boxes that smell funny.

If you get valves from a major brand source like GM, Federal-Mogul, TRW, or Manley, you'll likely get a high quality piece even if it's foreign manufactured. Of course, they'll cost more but you usually get what you pay for.

NEVER, EVER let a rebuilder install parts of their own choosing, especially from their "bulk-purchased" stock. They'll often tell you that the parts are all the same, but they're NOT.

[Terry M.]

Re: intake manifold painting bolts

My engine had broken a valve stem. It appears stem was a 2-piece item
welded and machined together. I had never heard of such a thing regarding valve construction. Is this posible?

Not only is it possible for your rebuilt engine, as Joe Lucia posted -- but the LS7 in the C6 uses hollow two-piece exhaust valves. I believe the two other LS engines available in the C6 also use this valve construction. And just to make you feel better, this "feature" has not been entirely without problems. Not a high percentage of failures, but if it happens to you it is one too many.

[Patrick H.]

Re: intake manifold painting bolts

I'd remove them, paint them, then when they are dry place them on an old piece of cardboard (or a pizza box) and bake them in the oven. No, I'm not kidding. It hardens the paint and you're much less likely to chip the paint upon reinstallation.

Make sure you put thread sealant on the proper bolts when reinstalling.

Patrick

[John H.]

Re: intake manifold painting bolts

Thanks for your commments, however I still didn't understand
whether I can remove a few of the bolts as a group, then paint
and bake them? Will this disturb the intake maifold as it sits on the
rest of the motor. I would then remove a 2nd group of bolts and
do the same paint/bake and reinstall them.
I really am not versed in the rebuilding of a engine etc....
Or should I try and just paint the bolts with them already
bolted on the maifold?
Thanks for your help.....

[Joe L.]

Re: intake manifold painting bolts

Thanks for your commments, however I still didn't understand
whether I can remove a few of the bolts as a group, then paint
and bake them? Will this disturb the intake maifold as it sits on the
rest of the motor. I would then remove a 2nd group of bolts and
do the same paint/bake and reinstall them.
I really am not versed in the rebuilding of a engine etc....
Or should I try and just paint the bolts with them already
bolted on the maifold?
Thanks for your help.....

John-------


You can remove the bolts a few at a time, paint, and re-install without causing any problems. However, bear in mind that the bolts were originally painted when they were installed on the engine. You really cannot duplicate the look of bolts painted off the engine with bolts painted on the engine. It's just not going to look "quite right".

Another problem that you're going to have whether you paint the bolts on or off the engine is matching the paint already on the engine. If you don't match it EXACTLY, the bolts are going to stand out "like a sore thumb".