powder coating sheet metal parts

I talked to Steve, my Corvair expert and machinist, and he still has not gotten the rotating parts back from the balancer. Good. That gives me more time to prepare. I’m getting behind. This weekend I’ll take the sheet metal parts to a place for powder coating. Don’t know what color I can get, but red would be nice, to match the body. I could go with yellow or blue, but black might be best. I still have to cut the lower shrouds to fit the headers, which come out the bottom in three places instead of one out the front, like the stock manifolds. I guess I can do that after painting, since they’re on the bottom anyway. As I do more research I find more parts available for small improvements in performance. But they all cost money. The important thing right now is to get this thing on the road this Spring. Small improvements can wait. I am more focused on reliability and durability. Important things for that are cooling and smooth operation. So the most expensive things now are simple improvments of the factory stuff. Simpler is always better in my book. Special oil pan and valve covers dissipate heat better, weigh less and provide more rigidity. Balancing and blueprinting make it run smoother than new. Rotating the 4 carbs 90 degrees and an improved throttle linkage make for smoother idling and throttle response. Painting the right colors helps dissipate heat. Improved lighter clutch components provide better life, smoother shifting, and faster acceleration. I would cut down the diameter of the fan for more power, but that is expensive, so an alternative is a larger fan pulley. It may seem like that would make it run hotter, but only in high rpm high load conditions. That alone will give about 10 hp at 5000 rpm. Oil temperature and head temperature gauges are a good addition, especially for a new engine. The Corsa dash I am istalling has a head temp gauge anyway. Better shock absorbers provide improved handling and a smoother ride. I can’t find the high rate springs at this time. Improved shift kit takes the slop out of the shifter. Larger wheels and tires improves both ride and handling. I am going with a factory stock high performance camshaft. It retains the good idle and low rpm torque. Special tuning of the ignition and distibutor will help smooth it out and provide more power and better gas mileage. Exhaust headers breathe better allowing use of larger carb jets. That provides more power and maybe better gas mileage, depending on how I drive. Everything so far is a win-win modification with no down side, although the headers might afffect the heater operation. I’ll have to work on that one when the time comes. Little improvements to make an already durable engine even more durable and efficient.