Painted valve covers

[ayabrego]

Did you use the same gaskets as before or did you replace them?

 

[knight rider]

a more detailed write up would be great. Do you sand immediatly after laying down the coat of material or wait for it to dry. Ive never done something like this before and i have my stockers laying around, replaced with polished ones i ended up not being crazy about. Want to do mine in either torch red, redfire, or grabber blue

 

[allinon72]

Did you use the same gaskets as before or did you replace them?

Used the same gaskets, they are silicone and are reusable.

a more detailed write up would be great. Do you sand immediatly after laying down the coat of material or wait for it to dry. Ive never done something like this before and i have my stockers laying around, replaced with polished ones i ended up not being crazy about. Want to do mine in either torch red, redfire, or grabber blue

I start sanding once the finish is dry to the touch.

 

[Noclutch]

I did the same thing last year and followed the same writeup and used Duplicolor primer and paint followed with the clear (engine enamel with ceramic). The paint blistered over time and was prone to scratches and soon as you get a chip or scratch it comes off as moisture gets under the edges. I am not happy looking at it now and either I will need to do it over or just have them powdercoated. My issue I believe is that either I did not do good enough prep work or the paint did not react well and was weak. Quite a few cars I seen with this paint did not have my issues.

 

[ayabrego]

I have never taken off the valve covers before can you just take them off or do you have to drain fluids. (sorry)

 

[b00stedgt]

Post some pics when you get them put back on. They look great. Nice work!

 

[Charlie Sheen]

I have never taken off the valve covers before can you just take them off or do you have to drain fluids. (sorry)

Nope.

And sonic blue has pearl, vista does not.

 

[UltraKla$$ic]

Even painted the fuel rails.

 

[allinon72]

Well I will be honest with you guys...I would probably do a few things different if I did it over again.

First, the magnesium really doesn't take paint well. I would probably use adhesion promoter if I were to do it again. When reinstalling the covers, I used painters tape to mask off the edges so they didn't get scratched. When pulling the tape off, the paint came right off in one spot, all the way down to bare metal. This was quite disappointing. I was able to touch the spot up, but it has me worried about the long term longevity.

The best option would be powdercoat.

 

[2k05gt]

after painting mine twice, I just decided to get them powder coated,
Painting them was a waste of time. I have not found a paint job that last more than 6 months, good luck

 

[Ampire]

I like the DupliColor Engine Enamel with Ceramic. On my old car, the aluminum intake manifold was prepped with brake and parts cleaner and steel wool, then painted with about 4 smooth coats of the ford blue engine paint. When I had a larger throttle body put on, it needed a different flange. The shop doing the work cut the old flange off and tig welded a new flange on. The paint actually withstood the tig welding and didn't really burn, crack, or bubble. It darkened a small amount out from the weld but otherwise still looked great. The paint is advertised to 500 degrees.

I plan on painting my valve covers with this stuff in the future, for now I'll just do my intake manifold.