Painting Valve Covers.

[Makdaddymac]

ok guys Thursday im going to pull my ugly valve covers that are cracking paint all over the place and go for a stock look.... have to retorwue my lower manifold and other misc things anyways.

i just want a nice stock clean aluminum apearcne
tell me what to do:
im going to apply paint stripper for the actual pint that did stick and let them sit for however instructions say.
clean them real good or wipe them off.... i dont want to really reapint them cause i dont want this happening again. i was wondering if i anyone has just clear coated the base aluminum or whatever? just to give them some sort of backyard mechanic shine...any tips im listening...

 

[92GreenGT]

I just painted mine while I'm doing a engine swap, before I used some Duplicolor Wheel Coating in graphite color and it held up awesome. Super tough coating and everyone that looked at the covers loved them, most people would ask me where I bought them..haha I went with a engine paint this time, I'm willing to bet it won't hold up good at all but I didn't feel like spending a bunch of money because I eventually want to powder coat them. I used tal strip to remove the old stuff then clean them up, prime/paint. Thinking about putting some clear on them but I'll decide that tomorrow.

As for the 1.7 rockers, I just went through that as well. I used 1.72 Scorpion stud mounts on TFS heads the baffle had to be removed and some of the mounting tabs ground down. I'm going to make a new baffle and either pop rivet it into place or try some epoxy, the latter would probably worry me so I'll probably go with the rivet. The best thing to do is just install the rockers on the heads and keep test fitting the valve covers until you get it working. Use clay on the highest point to check for final clearance when you get done grinding. Good luck!

 

[Makdaddymac]

no my valve covers clear fine, i just modded the baffle a little no problem. i got crane cams 1.7's so idk if that helps?

so would just applying a clear to the raw aluminum be stupid? or would i have to apply primer? i dont want to spend more than 15.00 on supplies. and i dont mind just stripping them to bare aluminum and bolting them back anything looks better than my curent disaster paint attempt....i painted many aluminum valve covers on my other cars, and didnt have this problem. this stuff litterly is coming off in like paper thin flakes. i think it was the paint but i dont care im not taking any chances on this one cause i have to pull off the manifold everytime to remove them grrrr.... its okay this one time cause i got some work to do that will be easier with the big humpr top manifold gone, but this is it..... im re torquing my lower manifold,handlin the valve covers,tightining up my header bolts, checking the head bolts etc etc...

 

[92GreenGT]

You edited your original post about the rockers.lol

As for the covers, if you want a factory look just paint them the factory color. Strip them down using talstrip or something of the like, wipe them down, prime and paint. Add some clear if you want some extra protection.

If you want a nice graphite color, then def check out of the Duplicolor wheel coating, it's tough stuff and you don't have to clear it. Here's a old picture of mine, people really liked how they looked.

 

[DocG]

Ever thought about powder coating them? I know a local guy here that does it for $30 and your cores.

He might would ship.

 

[Makdaddymac]

i used that same color on some wheels for my old fun miata came out looking really nice. everyone liked em
will the wheel coating hold up to the heat.....?? i used hi heat engine paint and that **** just fell off.

do you have to prime with the wheel coating if so what kind of primer for working with aluminum i didn't prime the wheels? but i did clear coat the wheels and what a difference...i could give it it a try

so i need talstrip paint stripper, primer and wheel coating?

 

[FKE SNK]

I stripped mine. Painted the bottom body color and simply cleared the top that was bare aluminum.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I used VHT high heat on my Motorsport tall covers because i got sick of polishing them. I also used the same paint on my breather...both as a kind of test of this paint to see how well it holds up to heat. I actually baked the valve covers in my home oven and didn't have any problems whatsoever. So far it's holding up awesome even with my leaky PCV valve getting oil on everything...oil wipes right off. If it holds up well enough i may do my intake in it too.

I don't recall if i used primer or not...i'm pretty sure i used some self etching primer...just a few light coats. Then spray a "good enough" layer...you don't wanna paint it too thick or it'll be prone to chipping. Just spray a few coats so there's addequate coverage and bake it. I had to do some reassuring to the Mrs. about baking in our oven, but aside from a slight smell, there wasn't any problem with it and the smell didn't linger or anything like that.

Here's pics....as you can see my tensioner and brackets are due to be painted again too. The paint that's on them is Duplicolor high heat...which didn't hold up very well. I love their paint but the high heat stuff wasn't too great.

I like the satin black for a clean OEM look. I'll probably use their paint on my block whenever i rebuild it.

Oh, the intake isn't painted though...that's just raw aluminum after being glass bead blasted. However, i'd recommend the VHT high heat paint in silver since i haven't had any issues with the black so far.

 

[Makdaddymac]

im just going to talstrip them and use the remainder clear coat i have so it just doesnt sit in the shed forever.....worse case they will be a little shiny old looking alumin vs. just old. and if it cracks or peels it wont be noticeable...

ps. 85_SS what mods you got to run those high 12's

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

im just going to talstrip them and use the remainder clear coat i have so it just doesnt sit in the shed forever.....worse case they will be a little shiny old looking alumin vs. just old. and if it cracks or peels it wont be noticeable...

ps. 85_SS what mods you got to run those high 12's

More or less just some old school ported 351 heads and an X303 cam...those took me from 13.50s to where i am now, and i've only made 2 passes with this combo so i think it'll go faster with some better traction. The whole list is here: http://members.cardomain.com/evil85ssp

This spring i'm gonna start cleaning that engine bay up...i'm tired of it looking like a rats nest

 

[Makdaddymac]

hey i have noticed when i did the H/i swap and just checking them recently that the vlave cover bolts get very loose.... i was wondering if i could apply a little loctite to them to prevent them from backing off and causing valve cover leaks in the future? i figure it would t hurt the head any but i always check first?

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Probably wouldn't hurt but use the weakest kind you can get. I personally just use lock washers and haven't had any problems with loosening. Also i made my own stud setup...i went to the hardware store and bought some 1/4-20 threaded rod and cut them down to the length i wanted and threaded them into the heads. It's a LOT easier to deal with gaskets and such with studs instead of screw in bolts.