Cleaning/painting the cam cover

[pmanson]

I have a little box of goodies on the way to me from mx5parts, two items of which I hope will solve our oil leak (CAS 'o' ring and a cam gasket).

Quite happy to do the work myself but I was wondering if anyone had cleaned and then painted their cam cover and what they used.

While it's off the car it seems like a good idea to give it a tidy up! Thinking about either painting it a glossy red or I have seen them painting in matt black with almost appears to be a "crinkle" finish.

I'm assuming I just need to degrease it, give it a quick key, then a couple of coats of heat proof undercoat then on with a couple of coats of the chosen colour?

[speedychrissie]

there a lots of people on the mx5oc forum who have done this:

http://www.mx5ocforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=55830

it seems that degreasing and painting is the quicker way to go, but polishing can have some awesome results (in my opinion)

[Planet Claire]

I helped my bf clean his cam cover a couple of months ago (he managed to buy a spare one to work on). We just got the wire brush, sandpaper and gave it a good old scrub. I think it was just washed down with soapy water.

He then spray painted it with red crackle paint from here, which you then bake in the oven.

pic 1
pic 2
pic 3

And the best thing? He then polished up his old cam cover and gave it to me for my birthday last week. Not quite finished yet but it's fab!
piccy

[pmanson]

Planet Claire said:

I helped my bf clean his cam cover a couple of months ago (he managed to buy a spare one to work on). We just got the wire brush, sandpaper and gave it a good old scrub. I think it was just washed down with soapy water.

He then spray painted it with red crackle paint from here, which you then bake in the oven.

pic 1
pic 2
pic 3

That's exactly what I have in mind! Although yours is lovely as well!

[Wilburo]

They both look awesome!

[ciderminx]

They do look very good!

An email to Fr3n2y and i'm sure he'll tell you what stuff he used to get his rocker cover looking like this:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by ciderminx on Wednesday 15th October 16:25

[pmanson]

ciderminx said:

They do look very good!

An email to Fr3n2y and i'm sure he'll tell you what stuff he used to get his rocker cover looking like this:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by ciderminx on Wednesday 15th October 16:25

Polishing certainly looks good but it's our only car so we haven't got the time to sit down for hours and rub it all down. The wife likes the idea of red (car has a white/black/red theme already going!)

[philmar]

they do look very good, may have to look into doing something like that - once i have an engine .

what colour would go with a yellow car... any suggestions?

[pmanson]

philmar said:

they do look very good, may have to look into doing something like that - once i have an engine .

what colour would go with a yellow car... any suggestions?

i'd be tempted to do it in black with yellow lettering or possbly a blue/yellow or red/yellow combo.

[MX-5 Lazza]

philmar said:

they do look very good, may have to look into doing something like that - once i have an engine .

what colour would go with a yellow car... any suggestions?

Why not yellow? I think that would look good

[Wilburo]

Yellow might look pretty cool. I've never seen a yellow engine before

[Podie]

pmanson said:

ciderminx said:

They do look very good!

An email to Fr3n2y and i'm sure he'll tell you what stuff he used to get his rocker cover looking like this:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by ciderminx on Wednesday 15th October 16:25

Polishing certainly looks good but it's our only car so we haven't got the time to sit down for hours and rub it all down. The wife likes the idea of red (car has a white/black/red theme already going!)

Buy another one... paint it, fit it.

Then paint the one that came off the car and flog it either on PH or on eBay.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Wilburo said:

Yellow might look pretty cool. I've never seen a yellow engine before

Now I think about it, that might look pretty cool on my red car...

[Podie]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Wilburo said:

Yellow might look pretty cool. I've never seen a yellow engine before

Now I think about it, that might look pretty cool on my red car...

Go mad... use the Mazda racing paint scheme... y'know the Orange and Green with dotted white lines - as per the 787B from Le Mans...

[Wilburo]

Mind you, you do run the risk of having your engine refered to as a cowardy custard.

[philmar]

MX-5 Lazza said:

philmar said:

they do look very good, may have to look into doing something like that - once i have an engine .

what colour would go with a yellow car... any suggestions?

Why not yellow? I think that would look good

Got a bit bored this evening, had a few , here's the result using microsoft paint and a shaky hand had on turning it yellow...



I imagine it would look better in real, not quite as bright, have a bit of texture, and hopefully a better finish to it!

I may be getting an engine at the weekend so should have a spare cover to work on.

[roverspeed]

I did mine with smooth paint as opposed to the crikle, with writing in gold,

my inlet manifold is now the same gold too.

[fr3n2y]

How easy is it to removed the inlet manifold to clean it up? Any guides to removing it, online?

[franv8]

Having just had it off as part of the head replacement, it is not too bad although many of the manifold to head bolts are in awkward places - a selection of 3/8" spcket set extensions and a UJ will suffice though.

[fr3n2y]

franv8 said:

Having just had it off as part of the head replacement, it is not too bad although many of the manifold to head bolts are in awkward places - a selection of 3/8" spcket set extensions and a UJ will suffice though.

Is it just a case of removing bolts...nothing pressurised or any fluids in there etc etc??

I'm a dumbass