Spraying that valve cover!
Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:28 am
Not the most challenging task but I'm bored at work so I thought I'd pass the time making a write-up 
Stuff I used:
- Sand Paper (Some Medium, and some Fine)
- Masking Tape
- Red Engine Paint
- Clear Engine Paint
- Some tissues or a cloth or a shirt of someone you don't like
Stuff I didn't use but you could use:
- Engine Paint Primer (I did not use this because the red paint i bought said it was not required, but otherwise you will need it)
- Wax & Grease remover (If you really wanna clean it well)
- A new Gasket (I didn't destroy mine so i just reused it)
- A wire brush for getting those hard to reach places
- A sanding wheel just cause its way easier than sand paper
So here we have an old dirty looking cover!
First thing I did was clean up any visible oil with tissues (or that shirt). Then gave it a quick once over with some water. Then out with the sand paper. I started with medium, trying to get rid of the major rust/grime/chippings and generally smooth it out. This is probably the most important part in getting a clean finish, the harder you work here the better it will look when it is done. After giving it a good run with medium, go over again with the fine sand paper to smooth out the scratches.
When i was done it looked something like this:
I didn't really get inside the letters very well, that's where you could try with a wire brush or something, but i didn't have one so oh well
. You can notice the difference between the letters and rest of the cover, letters are spotless cause i really worked hard on them, the rest still has quite a few black pits but i would have been at it for a week trying to get rid of *all* of them so i left it at that.
Next up, masking tape:
Be sure to seal those those things up well, I even plugged some of the smaller holes with tissues just to be sure, along with the little semi-circle gaps on the sides of the cover where your cam gear thingy would be. Soon as you're done with that start sprayin' with either primer, or if you aren't using any, the colour paint you chose. LIGHT coats, LIGHT. You make it too thick and it will run and then it is back to sanding things down.
and after my second coat...:
Don't worry if it doesn't look even, after several coats it will even out. After around maybe 5 light coats i did a wet coat (only a *bit* wet...) to finish up and make sure there's no blotches left. The hardest part to get to is that bit on the right cause it's stuck deep inside and its a small opening, but it came out ok.
Now to get the letters white again, I waited till everything dried and Sanded the paint off the letters, (I guess when I say white I mean shiny metal
).
And it should come out something like this:
You might notice a little white spot on the left edge of the cover... Thats what happens when your hand slips while sanding the letters... but well no biggie, i was done with the letters so i put a strip of masking tape over them, spray that bit red again, and then took masking tape off the letters and presto, problem solved!
Some people might like that matte look but it didn't really sink well with me (Should've probably bought glossy paint in the first place) but to resolve this i got myself some clear paint to give it a shine. Same as the other paint, couple of light coats and you're good to go. I let the paint go over the letters also to make em a bit more shiny too
I actually made looooads of mistakes as soon as i got to this bit cause the clear paint is very very sticky till it dries and i accidentally touched the 'A' in honda which made a lot of dirt stick to it... and in attempting to fix it i made it worse... so you might notice some imperfections in the way it shines but in real life unless you really stick your face to it it doesn't show anyway
. Same goes for the bits between the letters, the paint there actually is a different colour cause i didn't manage to get in there with sand paper, but from more than 30cm away everything looks fine.
End result:
Oh and P.S. those bolts on the cover are very fragile i stuck them back on with a torque wrench at only 10Nm (Like the lowest setting it has).
Stuff I used:
- Sand Paper (Some Medium, and some Fine)
- Masking Tape
- Red Engine Paint
- Clear Engine Paint
- Some tissues or a cloth or a shirt of someone you don't like
Stuff I didn't use but you could use:
- Engine Paint Primer (I did not use this because the red paint i bought said it was not required, but otherwise you will need it)
- Wax & Grease remover (If you really wanna clean it well)
- A new Gasket (I didn't destroy mine so i just reused it)
- A wire brush for getting those hard to reach places
- A sanding wheel just cause its way easier than sand paper
So here we have an old dirty looking cover!
First thing I did was clean up any visible oil with tissues (or that shirt). Then gave it a quick once over with some water. Then out with the sand paper. I started with medium, trying to get rid of the major rust/grime/chippings and generally smooth it out. This is probably the most important part in getting a clean finish, the harder you work here the better it will look when it is done. After giving it a good run with medium, go over again with the fine sand paper to smooth out the scratches.
When i was done it looked something like this:
I didn't really get inside the letters very well, that's where you could try with a wire brush or something, but i didn't have one so oh well
. You can notice the difference between the letters and rest of the cover, letters are spotless cause i really worked hard on them, the rest still has quite a few black pits but i would have been at it for a week trying to get rid of *all* of them so i left it at that.Next up, masking tape:
Be sure to seal those those things up well, I even plugged some of the smaller holes with tissues just to be sure, along with the little semi-circle gaps on the sides of the cover where your cam gear thingy would be. Soon as you're done with that start sprayin' with either primer, or if you aren't using any, the colour paint you chose. LIGHT coats, LIGHT. You make it too thick and it will run and then it is back to sanding things down.
and after my second coat...:
Don't worry if it doesn't look even, after several coats it will even out. After around maybe 5 light coats i did a wet coat (only a *bit* wet...) to finish up and make sure there's no blotches left. The hardest part to get to is that bit on the right cause it's stuck deep inside and its a small opening, but it came out ok.
Now to get the letters white again, I waited till everything dried and Sanded the paint off the letters, (I guess when I say white I mean shiny metal
).And it should come out something like this:
You might notice a little white spot on the left edge of the cover... Thats what happens when your hand slips while sanding the letters...
but well no biggie, i was done with the letters so i put a strip of masking tape over them, spray that bit red again, and then took masking tape off the letters and presto, problem solved!Some people might like that matte look but it didn't really sink well with me (Should've probably bought glossy paint in the first place) but to resolve this i got myself some clear paint to give it a shine. Same as the other paint, couple of light coats and you're good to go. I let the paint go over the letters also to make em a bit more shiny too
I actually made looooads of mistakes as soon as i got to this bit cause the clear paint is very very sticky till it dries and i accidentally touched the 'A' in honda which made a lot of dirt stick to it... and in attempting to fix it i made it worse... so you might notice some imperfections in the way it shines but in real life unless you really stick your face to it it doesn't show anyway
. Same goes for the bits between the letters, the paint there actually is a different colour cause i didn't manage to get in there with sand paper, but from more than 30cm away everything looks fine.End result:
Oh and P.S. those bolts on the cover are very fragile i stuck them back on with a torque wrench at only 10Nm (Like the lowest setting it has).
