I'm Officially Obsessed. Valve Cover Painting!

[jrhone]

I have a few valve covers laying around the garage and my painted valve cover I got from eBay 7 years ago is starting to look a bit ragged.  So I thought I'd take a shot at painting one myself.  The first one was kind of a train wreck. lol.  The second one came out pretty good very usable.  Here it is installed....

 

 

The 3rd one, well this one I really like!  I was able to get better paints, better techniques and more detail.  Here are pics of the last one.

 

 

OK...moving on to something else...like cleaning up the engine bay wiring.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2017 by jrhone

[Fatherof3]

If someone has tips on wrinkle paint I'm all ears. My latest attempts leave much to be desired

[bublinki]

The valve cover painting showed a nice progression! Your attention to detail is great.

Would you be willing to tell us the type of paint, i.e., special for the heat generated, color name..., your technique for painting the letters, BMW emblem..

I really like that grey color.

Thanks

[bublinki]

28 minutes ago, Fatherof3 said:

If someone has tips on wrinkle paint I'm all ears. My latest attempts leave much to be desired

Try this article, I think he gave a good description and the covers turned out great.

This Project is Giving me Wrinkles

Follow 3

Entry posted by MildSeven · April 5, 2016

843 views

 

I found his post by typing "Wrinkle paint" in the search box. A bunch of references came up, but I did not have time to review the others... 

Good luck!

Edited May 25, 2017 by bublinki
to add more information

[jrhone]

5 minutes ago, bublinki said:

The valve cover painting showed a nice progression! Your attention to detail is great.

Would you be willing to tell us the type of paint, i.e., special for the heat generated, color name..., your technique for painting the letters, BMW emblem..

I really like that grey color.

Thanks

 

 

Valve covers dont getbthat hot so i didn't use any special heat resistant paint. My last one was painted with krylon enamel I think and it lasted 8 years. I used duplicolor metallic paints. I then used sharpie oil based paint pens to do the lettering and rounded. Then i used duplicolor clear coat to seal it all. They do make a engine clear as well that I was thinking of using but decided the duplicolor clear may work best from a paint compatibility stand point. On my second valve cover I used hobby enamel paint for the stripes and it looked a little cheap. That's why I went with all duplicolor metallic paint on the third one. 

[zinz]

Very nice M Sport motif

 

Ed

['76mintgrün'02]

Your next canvas could be a nice big stOck air cleaner, sitting on top of that WeBer.

 

I see a great BIG rOundel on the lid!

 

 

Plus, you get added horsepOwa with the swAp.

 

... and it eliminates that rAsty sucking sound.

 

I Obsessed over mine for a lOng time.

 

(my paint is just plAin old matte blAck, but it was a very satisfying process)

[tups]

2 hours ago, Fatherof3 said:

If someone has tips on wrinkle paint I'm all ears. My latest attempts leave much to be desired

The only thing I've tried, and it worked fantastically, is HYCOTE spray paint "wrinkle finish". I had to order it from the UK. Does exactly what it says on the can - spray it on thick, wait 20 minutes, and presto!, original looking 1940s-1950's wrinkle finish. It does seem to be sold out everywhere though ... I don't know if these people still have it:

http://www.autopaintsbrighton.com/hycote-wrinkle-finish-black-400ml-aerosol-1100-p.asp

[Preyupy]

I had a couple of valve covers done in a Powder Paint Wrinkle finish a few years ago. It is a much finer grain that the common "spray can" Wrinkle finish but it has held up great, It is BOMB Proof. 

[AustrianVespaGuy]

Very nice! I've always been a fan of highlighting the cast-in lettering features! And I'll admit, you've seem to gotten the knack of it better than I!

[jrhone]

@AustrianVespaGuy sharpie brand paint pens are the key. They have various tips available and the fine tips give you amazingly precise control of the paint. Also I have gotten pretty good at masking as well. 

[2002Scoob]

If someone has tips on wrinkle paint I'm all ears. My latest attempts leave much to be desired

 

 

I use VHT Wrinkle Coat, and have had great success.

 

The key to it being either an oven, or a good heat gun.

 

For metal parts, heat it up thoroughly in an oven or with the heat gun, then spray on a dusting.

-flash heat

-moderate coat

-work back and forth over the part with the heat gun, eventually it will start to Wrinkle and you can literally push the texture across the part with the heat gun as the reaction kicks.

-keep some heat on it for a bit, then add another moderate to heavy coat (depending on how much Wrinkle you want).

-bake in the oven, or keep even heat on the part for the next 20 minutes.

-let sit for 24-48h, and DONT TOUCH IT.

 

 

Keep in mind, gravity is your enemy with the stuff, so don't go too thick, coat evenly, and allow 15-2o minutes between coats. Shouldn't take more than 2.

 

After, you can use various sanding/scraping/polishing methods to achieve a dialed finish.

 

 

 

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[Mike Self]

An easy way to highlight the ribs and roundel on the valve cover is to sand them using a rubber sanding block with progressively finer wet/dry sandpaper, finally finishing up with an itty-bitty buffing wheel on your Dremel tool.  You'll get a nice high polish on the raised portions, and duplicate what the factory did on the 2000CS coupes that used the twin carb version of the M10.  Clearcoat if you wish.

 

mike

 

 

[frankg]

Very nice! I've always been a fan of highlighting the cast-in lettering features! And I'll admit, you've seem to gotten the knack of it better than I!

Where did you find those spark plug wires? I am looking for a similar set!



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[LimeySteve]

 

I go Full Deutsch on mine