Painted Valve Cover: patience saves $$$
06-23-2003, 06:33 AM
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Painted Valve Cover: patience saves $$$
Check it out, took me about 20 minutes to smooth and clean this valve cover, then i masked it off and nailed it with a good few coated of flat high temp paint. What do you think? I think it's sweet considering tenzo-R wants $125.00 for the exact same thing 
.
BTW: It was a very, very tarnished silver before this overhaul
. BTW: It was a very, very tarnished silver before this overhaul
06-23-2003, 06:52 AM
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did you tape up the honda letters and all the holes? this is a tech so could you do a mini write up on what you exactly did? my valve cover looks horrible and i want to clean it up...any help would be appreciated
06-23-2003, 07:10 AM
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Thanks for the comments, here's how i did it, maybe it will help someone else looking to save some $$ but still look good:
1. Take some coarse steel wool and sand it good, try to get rid of all the blemishes and get it to as shiny as possible.
2. Use a wire brush to clean any crevices you can't get to with the steel wool, like around the letters.
3. Now with some fine steel wool just go over it so its nice and smooth to the touch.
4. At this point you should have a semi-shine, but it get's better. Get some wide masking tape and cover the latters with one strip, work your way around the letters with a craft knife, cutting away the excess tape so you should just have "honda" or whatever your masking covered by the tape.
5. Mask off whatever else you want to stay silver (spark plug holes in my case).
6. Plug all the holes from the inside, including the holes on the left and right of the cover
7. Cover it with a few coats of hi temp paint, and let sit overnight.
Voila! You got yourself a sweet valve cover for about $5.00. If I could do it again the only thing I would change is I would use a belt sander to really make the letters shing, becuase the steel wool doesnt take that much off. Hope this helps someone.
Thanks again
Dan
1. Take some coarse steel wool and sand it good, try to get rid of all the blemishes and get it to as shiny as possible.
2. Use a wire brush to clean any crevices you can't get to with the steel wool, like around the letters.
3. Now with some fine steel wool just go over it so its nice and smooth to the touch.
4. At this point you should have a semi-shine, but it get's better. Get some wide masking tape and cover the latters with one strip, work your way around the letters with a craft knife, cutting away the excess tape so you should just have "honda" or whatever your masking covered by the tape.
5. Mask off whatever else you want to stay silver (spark plug holes in my case).
6. Plug all the holes from the inside, including the holes on the left and right of the cover
7. Cover it with a few coats of hi temp paint, and let sit overnight.
Voila! You got yourself a sweet valve cover for about $5.00. If I could do it again the only thing I would change is I would use a belt sander to really make the letters shing, becuase the steel wool doesnt take that much off. Hope this helps someone.
Thanks again
Dan
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06-23-2003, 07:25 AM
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I still want to find some one that will weld some extra material on the valvecover so I can machine soem of my own words into it. I want it to say something pther than honda. I know it is ricey, but I have a good idea of what I want it to say.
06-23-2003, 07:39 AM
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Re: Painted Valve Cover: patience saves $$$ (turbotime)
Damn dude, that looks REALLY good!! 
You could buy some old valve covers from junkyards or something then clean them up and sell them on ebay. You could make some serious cash! Very nice job!
You could buy some old valve covers from junkyards or something then clean them up and sell them on ebay. You could make some serious cash! Very nice job!
06-23-2003, 09:24 AM
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Re: (dogpile5)
I did the same thing with my valve cover. Only I painted the whole thing, then I used my Dremel to strip the paint and shine the logo. I also used flat black bbq grill paint. I thought it might hold up to the heat a little better. Nice job, mine looks the same only black. Saved a ton and looks OEM.
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