Painting the intake manifold

A pal with a RR had someone do a "cast iron ceramic" finish to his logs, and 3 years later it's fantastic. I like that look you have there. Hard work, good results.

Your underhood looks lovely, with the exception of the sticker on the front of the battery. That's a pet peeve of mine, particularly an ugly white Interstate with a green top. Gag! That, and zip ties and modern crimp connectors. That stuff is fine out of sight, or course, but to me a zip = laziness. Zips and crimps belong out of sight under the dash, etc. I don't spy any zips under your hood. Very tidy!

After taking that picture I did remove the sticker of the modern day battery. The fake battery topper looks cool.
 
I block them everytime, even here in the Northeast. Anytime I can eliminate heat soak to the carb, I do. Gas today isn't what it was 30 or 40 plus years ago and that cross over only serves to pump heat into a giant hunk of cast iron, boiling the fuel out of the carb once it sits long enough.

....and yes, I run a phenolic spacer as well.
 
After taking that picture I did remove the sticker of the modern day battery. The fake battery topper looks cool.

I dig the fake battery topper.

I went totally Plain Jane. O Reilly with everything peeled off. Black box in the Group 27 size, new holddown hardware. Nobody sees, nobody cares.

I was just at Amelia (many, many times over the years) and you wouldn't believe the zillion-dollar cars with the battery screaming AUTOZONE, INTERSTATE, DIE HARD, PEP FRICKIN' BOYS.....
 
I decided to leave it as is...painted it with a few coats of high temp silver 1200deg and 900deg clear. I will paint my base over that and hope for the best. If it doesn't last I can always redo it...it unbolts.
 
Even with the noted items, I believe you did a pretty good job with the underhood area. Looks very good! Probably even better with a little age on it, too?

FWIW, Interstate still builds solid black batteries, many without the screw-on cell caps, although there might be some that still have them. Check their catalog.

Nice color on the car, too!

CBODY67
 
Ok...back to this issue. I have been driving the car for quite awhile now and love it. Runs great, the high heat silver did the trick on the intake...no paint has burned off yet, BUT I am having heat soak issues. I now have an electric choke instead of the mechanical. Heat crossover is NOT blocked...wishing now that i had. I am trying to figure out if I want a phenolic spacer or replace the intake gasket with the 1215 to block the crossover. Is there something else I can do or a better option? I live in NC...its over 80º most of the year here...not worried about cold issues anymore.

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I'm a real big fan of blocking the crossover, despite the PITA factor in your case. There's just no substitute for NOT having zillion-degree heat under your carb. I feel that you could have a 2 inch stack of phenolic plates and still have the issue.

BTW, what is the issue that you think you have heat soak. After all, everything under there is just soaking in heat....:(
 
I'm a real big fan of blocking the crossover, despite the PITA factor in your case. There's just no substitute for NOT having zillion-degree heat under your carb. I feel that you could have a 2 inch stack of phenolic plates and still have the issue.

BTW, what is the issue that you think you have heat soak. After all, everything under there is just soaking in heat....:(
hard starts after short periods of sitting after driving. mornings...no problem....trip across town...cranks and cranks and cranks til I get fuel back to the carb...then fires fine and drives fine. Im assuming its fuel vaporizing in the carb, but I could be wrong and it could be something else. I have no problem pulling the intake and swapping gaskets if that will solve the issue.


I suppose it could be related to the reluctor gap in the dizzy too...I will have to check that tomorrow.
 
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I have no problem pulling the intake and swapping gaskets if that will solve the issue.

Well, doing that certainly won't exacerbate the issue. For a frame of reference, when our old cars were principle transportation for middle America, a fast warm-up in the cold of winter was pretty important. But now, few of us jump in our big old Cbods (or hemi Cudas) in January and rush off to our job at the factory. Indeed, manifold heat was darn useful back then so you wouldn't clock in late. :p

When my car is hot hot hot, a tiny turn of the key brings it to life "right now". When cold after being hot, this holds true for about 3-4 days until the carb eventually evaporates out. No cranking at all. I also run 14 degrees initial timing with limited mechanical advance (to 33 total).
 
Well, doing that certainly won't exacerbate the issue. For a frame of reference, when our old cars were principle transportation for middle America, a fast warm-up in the cold of winter was pretty important. But now, few of us jump in our big old Cbods (or hemi Cudas) in January and rush off to our job at the factory. Indeed, manifold heat was darn useful back then so you wouldn't clock in late. :p

When my car is hot hot hot, a tiny turn of the key brings it to life "right now". When cold after being hot, this holds true for about 3-4 days until the carb eventually evaporates out. No cranking at all. I also run 14 degrees initial timing with limited mechanical advance (to 33 total).

I am at 12.5º...unknown full timing...what would you attribute your easy starts to?
 
I am at 12.5º...unknown full timing...what would you attribute your easy starts to?

Well......I can't accurately say, me vs. you. The 12.5/14 timing is quite similar. When I took possession of the car, all the cranking in the world could barely start it. Shitbox Eddy AVS [hate 'em], awful dizzy tune, crappola ECU and so forth. I suppose it's the little things I know to do to make things right. I have an 11:1 engine, a tiny, brand new, emasculated 625 cfm Demon carb (so modern, so perfect!), and my lucky mechanical life to make it all work. I also use an FBO timing plate in my dizzy such that my total mechanical is never over 32/33 [14 initial + 18 mechanical= 32ish], which has nothing to do with hot starting, other than I can run that amount of initial lead without detonation due to the FBO limiter plate. That amount of initial allows it to jump to life, at least in my case. But I really feel that the clever Demon carb, once dialed in with idle revs and idle mixture, has a lot to do with my driveability. I've parked the hot car for an hour or two, then without a touch on the pedal, hit the key. Vrooooommmmm............ Every time. Next morning? Just a bit of pedal to set the electronical choke. Vrooooommmmm. Three-six weeks sitting in storage? I do exactly nine seconds of cranking to fill the bowl. Then two full (but slow) depressions of the pedal. Then my feet are on the floormat. Turn the key. Vroooommmmm.

Spark is spark, assuming it's hot enough. Carbs and heat soak are another, tricky matter. Reduce some of that trickery by blocking crossover heat.

I believe that the shitbox AVS has historically been a hot soak, leaky POS for the last 50 years. Or maybe just since gas has changed dramatically regarding vaporization of gas today vs. when the thing was unleashed upon us so many years ago. Gas boils real easy now. I really, really, really hate old carbs. It's a new world now for a street car. An old double-pump Holley (a dumb, blunt object!) is fine for max WOT performance, but not for a cruiser like an old Cbod. Someone will disagree, but that's because they haven't tried a Street Demon. Modern magic.
 
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