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Flathead Manifold Porcelain

Started by Bill Sullivan, January 25, 2007, 11:15:20 PM

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Bill Sullivan

Friends:

Anyone have experience with a vendor doing porcelain for three-piece flathead exhaust manifolds?  What is the typical cost?  Will I have to plane the mating surfaces afterwards to make sure they are flat?

Any comments appreciated,...

Bill.

JIM CLC # 15000

01-25-07
Bill, I would "plane" the manifold, if for no other reason then ss & gs.
HTH
Good Luck,JIM

Anthony Amman #15293

Bill,

I had mine redone in about 1976 or 1977 by a company in California.  I think they were called Pacific Porcelain and the price was around $200.00 back then.  They did a beautiful job and created a much smoother finish than the original factory application. The mating surfaces were not affected by the new porcelain coating.

Ill look through my receipt file to verify the info. tomorrow, and will update on what I find.

Tony

Harry Scott

Bill, I would check for warppage before sending and make it a point to ask the vendor about their precautions for preventing it. I had a set of 1930 V-8s done by Prairre (spelling, they advertise in Hemmings)and they claim to put them on a jig that prevents warppage. They came back fine, but it was expensive. I had a set for a 48 done several years ago by Independence Porcelain in Missouri, but I cant find the receipt. The price was somewhere in the $200s and they did a good job. Good Luck, Harry

baxter culver #17184

I had mine reporcelainized last spring by Prairie.  The price was $400 plus UPS ($35.83).  Quality of workmanship is very good.  No warpage of the items but I had them surfaced at my local machine shop just to remove some old pitting from the mating surfaces.  Expensive but look great on the newly painted engine.

Anthony Amman

Bill,

The name of the company was Porcelain Products located in Los Angeles at 4627 East 50 Street, zip of 90058.

I paid a total,including shipping, of $70.65 for the complete job.  Obviously, prices will have changed over the last three decades but if this outfit is still in business,they did outstanding work.

I think I initially found them listed in Hemmings when I was looking for a source back then.

Hope this helps.

Tony

Bill Sullivan

Friends:

Thanks so much for that input, I will get some quotes and report back to all of you.  I only see two vendors in Hemmings:  Prairie of MN and Caps of CA.  Seems to me there were many more a few years ago....  

Bill

Wayne #17075

 I had a set done by Prarie two years ago. It was $360 plus the shipping. They came back pretty quick and beutiful! They did a great job, bolted to a plate to keep the surface streight. I did send them to be surfaced because since they were off, why not do it right! You can do it right the first time...or maybe the second time. As for price, how much would you charge to strip, prep and porcelain coat these parts?
 They did change ownership just after I had mine done and have talked to the new owners with reguards to doing my next set.
 Wayne

don pettee

Bill, I had my 32 V8 done at Parkys Porcelain, So. El Monte, Ca.
I paid $250.00 for the three parts in Dec 03 and thought they did a good job porcelaining but not sure if the parts changed in the process.  I finally put the engine together last month and it took several trys to get rid of the exhaust leaks at the top of the box. The gap at the top and bottom where slightly different but the metal gaskets seemed to solve the problem.  I had to make a thinner gasket than the one the supplier sent for the bottom of the box.  I found by trying different sequences of tightening the top of the box and the manafold to the block I got rid of the leaks. If you need more information on Parkys I can probably find the invoice.

Don Pettee  #20471

baxter culver #17184

I looked for Parkys when I needed mine done.  Parkys was recommended by clubmember Bill Ingler.  However, they appear to have disappeared.  An extensive search (internet, phone book and info) yielded no clue as to their whereabouts.  If they moved, they have changed their name and vanished.  The only ones I could find that did the process was Prairie and Independence.  I went with Prairie.

Scott Perrin, CLC#17618

Last year I visited Prairie Porcelain in Faribault, MN.  My uncle had several pieces from the engine of a Stearns-Knight, and he wanted to personally visit and talk to them before leaving them his parts.  

They are a small family business in an unassuming outbuilding in the country, but they know their stuff and do great work.  Very friendly also; they drove several miles to meet us at a freeway exit, and we followed them to their shop, because they were afraid we might get lost trying to find the place by ourselves on the rural roads.

I observed some Cadillac V-12 parts while I was there, which were beautifully done.  Theyve done parts for many other high-end cars, such as Deusenbergs, too.  They make their own sturdy crates to ship parts back to you, which I observed.  They showed us their whole operation.  They also took pictures of the parts when my uncle left them.  Very easy-going and nice people to deal with.

If your cast iron parts are pitted (some of my uncles parts were), then they have a man in Wisconsin who does this repair for them.  They actually personally drive the parts over to this guy--a several hour round-trip--and charge you the UPS rate for their troubles.  As you probably know, welding repair of cast iron isnt easy, but my uncle was very pleased with how smooth his repaired pieces came out.

Finally, because my uncle was going to be passing through the area, they turned his parts around in about a week (including the sending out for repair welding) so that he could pick them up in person and save on shipping.  One of the pieces didnt come out to their satisfaction, so they removed the porcelain and re-did it to satisfy themselves.

Based on my uncles experience, my personal observation of their shop, and meeting them in person, I have no reservations about recommending them for your most prized Cadillac engine parts.

Bill Ingler CLC # 7799

As far as I can find out Parkys is no longer in business. If anyone in the LA area knows any different, please let me know.

Michael Lepak 17679

Bill,
I too recently used Prairie Porcelain in Minnesota to reporcelainize my 32 V12 Cadillac manifolds.  Tom, one of the owners is great to work with.  He kept me well informed as to the progress of the procedure.  They offer an internal ceramic coating in conjunction with the porcelainizing which I opted to use.  My highest praise to their work, I am well pleased with the end finished product.  They use the utmost care and I am sure you will be happy with their work.  Turn around time was approx. 2 weeks and they were exactly on target with the estimated price-no hidden costs.
Mike Lepak