Discussion
Evening all
I'm going to be giving the engine bay of my wedge a bit of a spruce up and to that end Recently bought some bits off the bay in order to paint them up and swap over with my existing
Got a pretty much complete intake manifold plenum etc a pair if rocker covers and a flapper AFM for the princely sum of £50
I'm an ignoramus when it comes to this stuff and as a previous owner has already painted some of the engine bits and it's all peeling off I want to get it right so what's the correct process to paint these ? As they're Aluminium do I need to etch prime ? And how do you get the polished ribs - just paint it all then sand them back or mask off ? Some recommendations of products would be good too
Not sure if I'm going to go with black or dark blue to match the bodywork yet
Thanks in advance
Ron
I'm going to be giving the engine bay of my wedge a bit of a spruce up and to that end Recently bought some bits off the bay in order to paint them up and swap over with my existing
Got a pretty much complete intake manifold plenum etc a pair if rocker covers and a flapper AFM for the princely sum of £50
I'm an ignoramus when it comes to this stuff and as a previous owner has already painted some of the engine bits and it's all peeling off I want to get it right so what's the correct process to paint these ? As they're Aluminium do I need to etch prime ? And how do you get the polished ribs - just paint it all then sand them back or mask off ? Some recommendations of products would be good too
Not sure if I'm going to go with black or dark blue to match the bodywork yet
Thanks in advance
Ron
Edited by Rockettvr on Wednesday 22 April 21:58
Hi Ron...As you may know i did two pairs for Chris..And a plenum..One pair for Hallsie and mine and plenum...
Before:
After:
Before:
First thing is to clean and degrease as best you can..I use nitromors to remove any paint..Then Meguiars Hot Wheels...Its really good for cleaning alloy..You need to use a bit of steel wool on it..Leave for ten minutes rinse then repeat if needed..If not then dry thoroughly ..You can use a heat gun to warm the cover up which helps drying.
Then depending on what finish you want on the fins clay bar metal polishing is the way to go...You could do what i do and thats use 120 grit..Then a 240 grit paper..I prefer the sponge blocks that Howlfrauds sell for the finer grit = 1000 grit..But the polishing mop and two stage soap bars bing it up near mirror...Then you need to either mask which is tricky or what i do is use a form of grease and lightly coat the areas you want to keep polished...I find the vaseline...Well...1. Very embarrassing to buy and generally find myself explaining away what I'm actually doing with it in which most cases the shopkeeper doesn't believe you anyway...
And 2. A better form of grease when it comes to heating the rocker cover...More on that in a mo...
Once you have masked or lubed...Or both if your that way inclined...Then you need to prime with a VHT alloy primer...The really good stuff is not cheap but then you are restricted to their top coat finishes...I have used this stuff with good results every time..2 coats of SP 148 VHT engine primer..Its best to either warm the rocker covers with a heat gun prior to priming or in-between coats...It dries quick anyway but i leave them overnight to make sure its cured properly...Then i use the VHT colour and finish that i want...i:e Black matt and give three whats called dry coats...i:e warming gently after each coat with a heat gun on the low setting at about 12" inches away and moving the heat along all the time.
Then a final "Wet coat which is applied whilst the third and final dry coat has been applied....This coat needs to be left to dry overnight...Then you can carefully remove the paint from the fins...I use an old credit card to gently scrape the paint off..The grease helps it but it does need careful scraping as it will chip on the edges of the fins but then thats where the detailing comes in...You can finish the paint with a masked final wet coat or vaseline the fins again which should give a finish to the edges...Finally leave to cure for 7 days or run them on the car...Cleaning is just with some "ZiggyClean" available soon....
I would offer to do them but i have just had a new kitchen fitted...(Finally)....
VHT.
http://www.vhtpaint.com/products/engineenamel/
Meguiars
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=...
Edited to add:
If you want to remove the oil filler tube...Which i must say is a right bastid then you need a rubber jawed vice in which to clamp it in and then use the rocker cover as leverage to crack it off, They are sealed on with some thread lock shyte..Why i don't know?....
Before:
After:
Before:
First thing is to clean and degrease as best you can..I use nitromors to remove any paint..Then Meguiars Hot Wheels...Its really good for cleaning alloy..You need to use a bit of steel wool on it..Leave for ten minutes rinse then repeat if needed..If not then dry thoroughly ..You can use a heat gun to warm the cover up which helps drying.
Then depending on what finish you want on the fins clay bar metal polishing is the way to go...You could do what i do and thats use 120 grit..Then a 240 grit paper..I prefer the sponge blocks that Howlfrauds sell for the finer grit = 1000 grit..But the polishing mop and two stage soap bars bing it up near mirror...Then you need to either mask which is tricky or what i do is use a form of grease and lightly coat the areas you want to keep polished...I find the vaseline...Well...1. Very embarrassing to buy and generally find myself explaining away what I'm actually doing with it in which most cases the shopkeeper doesn't believe you anyway...
And 2. A better form of grease when it comes to heating the rocker cover...More on that in a mo...Once you have masked or lubed...Or both if your that way inclined...Then you need to prime with a VHT alloy primer...The really good stuff is not cheap but then you are restricted to their top coat finishes...I have used this stuff with good results every time..2 coats of SP 148 VHT engine primer..Its best to either warm the rocker covers with a heat gun prior to priming or in-between coats...It dries quick anyway but i leave them overnight to make sure its cured properly...Then i use the VHT colour and finish that i want...i:e Black matt and give three whats called dry coats...i:e warming gently after each coat with a heat gun on the low setting at about 12" inches away and moving the heat along all the time.
Then a final "Wet coat which is applied whilst the third and final dry coat has been applied....This coat needs to be left to dry overnight...Then you can carefully remove the paint from the fins...I use an old credit card to gently scrape the paint off..The grease helps it but it does need careful scraping as it will chip on the edges of the fins but then thats where the detailing comes in...You can finish the paint with a masked final wet coat or vaseline the fins again which should give a finish to the edges...Finally leave to cure for 7 days or run them on the car...Cleaning is just with some "ZiggyClean" available soon....
I would offer to do them but i have just had a new kitchen fitted...(Finally)....
VHT.
http://www.vhtpaint.com/products/engineenamel/
Meguiars
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=...
Edited to add:
If you want to remove the oil filler tube...Which i must say is a right bastid then you need a rubber jawed vice in which to clamp it in and then use the rocker cover as leverage to crack it off, They are sealed on with some thread lock shyte..Why i don't know?....
Edited by mrzigazaga on Thursday 23 April 07:52
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