Has anyone here every clearcoated thier aluminum intake and/or heads to keep the dirt from staining them and to make htem easier to clean?

I plan on doing the intake, but im not sure if the heads would fair well, obviously high-temp clear will be used..

This has been discussed many times, it WILL go yellow. Sorry I don't have a better solution to offer you. Should your intake get dirty or stained, denatured alcohol is supposed to work quite well.

so dont clear either, just keep at them with the elbow grease ?

I powder coated my intake with no problems at all, looks great and cleans up easily. I do not think that denatured alcohol will removed stain from aluminum. I would say that your heads would be a different because of the extreme heat around the exhaust.

I painted mine orange :)

My alternator housing on my 69 Charger I clear coated with Krylon and it has stayed looking brand new for over a year so far.

I have cleared a few intakes (with regular auto body clear) and they held up very well, no yellowing. After it's blasted and cleared it almost looks gray compared to raw aluminum but I really liked it. These were not daily drivers but I put around 10,000 miles on them.

LK

The people who make POR-15 also make Glisten PC which is a clear coat - can't say about the high temp performance. Has anyone tried that? I have used their engine paint and although it is a pain to brush on it looks really good and it seems to stick better than the rattle can.

Ed

I use an alum color rattle can "alumablast" sounds right for the name on the can but I don't recall for sure. You don't paint it conventionally, the idea is to just dust it and put it on real dry. It fills the pores in the surface but doesn't change the look of the manifold. It's a high heat paint and if you get after spills and dirt it is really easy to keep clean. The green stuff and fuel doesn't seem to soak into the manifolds surface as fast...

I keep my aluminum intakes clean by wiping them down with laquer thinner from time to time

I applied a silver ceramic coating from Jet-Hot on mine.