painting rocker covers

[sapper]

Im thinking of painting my rocker covers and polishing the fins,has anyone done this, if so what type of paint should I use and whats the best way to prep them?

[clive f]

did thhis on mine, give them a good clean first, a fine bead blasting is good if you know anyone who can do this, then polish the top face, fins, then thoroughly degrease and carefully mask off the polished bits, this took me ages, then etch prime so your top coat sticks to the aluminium, them I used a black gloss enamel, or you can use an engine laquer, the rocker covers don`t get that hot so most paints will be okay, but preferably one that has a resistance to oil and petrol, its not something you want to keep touching up.
there are a few people offering powder coated covers on ebay ect.

just a note, if you do bead blast, remove the oil splash plates on the inside first, and thoroughly wash them out afterards so thaty there are no nasty beads left to drop in the engine.

[900T-R]

See if you can find a decent powder coater locally. The man who did my engine told me that doing both rocker covers, the breather flame trap thingy and the sump cost 68 quid altogether (although I'm not sure this includes the subsequent machining of the blank rocker cover faces, probably not as this was done by the machine shop) and remarked that this made wielding spray cans yourself was hardly worth the bother!

In my experience, it's very hard to get a good 'key' to cast aluminium surfaces for spray paint to hold. I've done it in the past, but the finish always turned out rather more vulnerable than desirable in an engine bay environment - unlike the powder coating which seems to be as tough as anything.

[blitzracing]

I think the best technique is to :

1) Clean the top fins, with various grades of wet and dry, down to 1000 grade to get all the marks out and a smooth surface ready to polish.
2) Clean the covers with Oven cleaner. It will discolour the alloy, but leave an ultra clean surface ready to spray. Wash in lots of hot water to remove all traces of cleaner.
3) Spray etch primer, then as its still soft (but dry to touch) carefully wipe it of the fins with thinners and tissue.
4) Spray on a heat proof top coat. Frost's do a range of high temperature enamel (http://www.frost.co.uk/) . When dry, but still soft, use a new stanley knife blade to "slice" off the paint from the fins. Remove any further traces with a thinners damped cloth held tight around a block of wood, to prevent it sagging into the recesses.
5)Once fully dry and hard, polish the fins with metal polish, but be carfull not to get it into the recesses, as the black muck will discolour the paint. If you do, dont wipe it out, but use water and detergent and a soft paint brush to clean it off.

Overall its a really tricky job and takes some time, but I was happy with the results.

http://www.g33.co.uk/images/101B0940.JPG

Mark

[driverrob]

I had some Blackfriars heat resistant paint to hand when I did mine last year. They only do it in black, which was fine for me. It brushed onto the cleaned cast surface beautifully in just a few minutes and shows no sign of flaking or discolouring.

[sapper]

Thanks for all the great advice folks. all I have to do now is choose a colour, at first I was going to go for the same blue as the car but black looks pretty cool i think.

[cmr2payne]

Just had both mine powercoated in black, Does look good with the TVR badge

[Tahiti450]

My efforts with caliper lacquer, thinned and sprayed from gravity feed touch-up gun (brilliant form small paint volumes). New badges and fins highlighted to bare metal with belt sander.

[URL=http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2098637660057726950ZNcUDu]

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[900T-R]

Quinny said:

Then again some cars have proper ones fitted as standard

Yeah, but they're even nicer powdercoated in red.

[Tahiti450]

Quinny said:

Ok if you like bling

I prefer a more classy approach myself

Sorry to offend the style police, but I preferred it to black.

[Tahiti450]

Quinny said:

Ehh!!
I ain't offended mate, each to there own an all that.

yes indeed, I like my red rocker covers anyway, 'nuff said.

[Slikk]

Look in Ian Ayres book, page 85. Thats how its done.
well, by me anyway.. .. ..

eta: Possibly the worst "Look my car's in a book" post ever.

Edited by Slikk on Monday 7th January 12:06