Strip and paint amp

[JabawokJayUK]

Anyone got any experience of this?

I have an Alpine MRV-T420 I have stripped to make some "improvements" to, one of which is to re-paint it as the surface is pretty battered. It looks like a pretty thick coat of paint (maybe powder-coated?), so was planning to strip back to metal and then spray a flat black.

Anyone done this before, got any tips?

[shiny_car]

Should be easy-enough to do. 'How' you strip the old paint is up to you, and to what extent you wish to go. You could simply lightly sand it back, and not remove all the paint; you could use brush-on paint stripper. Or you could dismantle the amp and take just the cover to a sand/bead/metal blaster and have it totally stripped.

When done carefully and with patience, I'm sure you can achieve 98% of what the last option offers, by doing only the first option of sanding by hand, paying attention to detail and ensure the surface is well-prepped. I'd be dismantling the amp, either way.

[JabawokJayUK]

Its already stripped ready for paint prep Shiny

IMG_0267.jpg

Additional cooling is also on its way and will be installed.

[shiny_car]

Cool. Get it 'blasted'. Oh, water blasting is another good option; possibly less likely to damage aluminium. A mate (here in Oz) had his engine plenum and cover water blasted; like new afterwards.

[kris lee]

Drill with a soft wire brush attachment? Might be a bit harsh if it is aluminium though!

[JabawokJayUK]

I have read a few things about using paint stripper / oven cleaner, but if I can find someone locally to blast it I will for ease. who knows, maybe they can powder coat it too? Otherwise I was just going to use a flat black stove paint of some kind.

[JabawokJayUK]

Ok, found a local blaster, £30 got it looking like this:

IMG_0293.jpg IMG_0294.jpg

I don't want to paint it now

Any suggestions on how to keep it looking mint? clear coat?

[shiny_car]

Great result! Clear coat would be fine. But I quite like the original black wrinkle paint.

[JabawokJayUK]

In the end, I painted it

"Halfords Very High Temp Paint" + 1hr in the oven @ 100 Degrees then a second hour at 150 degrees and its perfect !!

IMG_0296.jpg

The finish looks awesome, flat black, like an engine part!

[shiny_car]

Looks good.

[JabawokJayUK]

Now rebuilt, thanks for the input guys:

+ YouTube Video