Valve Cover Paint

[Alexlind123]

I had decided to Paint my valve cover to make it look like 535ise's valve cover while i had it off to adjust my valves.

Prep: I got the paint on the 20th and prepped it that day and the next. I first used soap and water to get much of the looser grime off. I then took it outside (so the fumes didnt suffocate me) and used paper towels, q-tips and paint thinner for about an hour try to get it clean enough so that when swabbed with a paint thinner soaked q-tip it would come back clean. I got it nearly perfect and the switched to brake cleaner (nasty stuff) which proved to be better for removing baked on grime deposits than the paint thinner. I then put it in the sink and used an "aluminum-ware scouring brush" (i have no idea why it was even here) to ! remove the last two remmnants of cosmoline from the aluminum. I then did one final wipe-down with the brake cleaner and pronouced the surface prepped. I then masked the oil-filler tube and the threaded studs.

Painting: My older brother, having much more experience with spray paint than me, offered to spray the valve cover; so took him up on the offer and soon it was drying in the required 70 degree heat in the shop above the lower garage (where i park). The directions on the can recommened using a hair dryer or oven shortly after applying to "tighten the wrinkles and accelerate the drying process", so i used a hair dryer on it for about 10 minutes while wearing a chemical respirator.

Sanding: After the requisite five days of drying time had elapsed, i set out to sand the raised areas down to metal and create a polished surface. I started with 60 grit paper (probably a bit too high) and removed most of the paint. Then i switched to 100 grit paper and removed the last of the paint and began the polishing procedure. At this point it had a kind of brushed metal appearance. I used 220 and finally 400 grit paper to create a polished surface on the raised areas.

The finished product actually looks a lot better in real life than it does in a photograph (as do most things i take pictures of) but these should give you a general idea of what it looks like.

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Bad angle, decent quality



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