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Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
#7927
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Re: Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
My VC is coated...but then again, I powder coated quite a few people's covers on here over the past few years.
http://www.racecoated.com/gallery (no longer in business, but I keep the images up for everyone)
Steve
#7929
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Re: Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
MANY people get their covers coated, however most people either don't want to spend that kinda $ on a VC or would rather do it themselves.
My VC is coated...but then again, I powder coated quite a few people's covers on here over the past few years.
http://www.racecoated.com/gallery (no longer in business, but I keep the images up for everyone)
Steve
My VC is coated...but then again, I powder coated quite a few people's covers on here over the past few years.
http://www.racecoated.com/gallery (no longer in business, but I keep the images up for everyone)
Steve
sick color. How much does it normally cost to get a VC powder coated?
#7930
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Re: Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
So the color I have is Satin Candy Green
Chrome Base, Candy Green top, Satin clear final. On top of that, you can pay for masking options and polishing (lettering, bolt locations, etc...)
Steve
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#7936
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Re: Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
Damn, that white valve cover w/ carbon fiber spark plug cover is a nice look. Just makes me wish I had a white teg...
#7937
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Re: Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
How do you guys shave off the lettering on a valve cover? A flat filer, dremel, or palm sander? Take note, I'm going to be polishing this bad boy. =P
Last edited by khmers0uljah; 10-05-2009 at 10:10 PM.
#7939
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#7940
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#7941
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Re: Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
finish with hard pad DA and 80grit
clean up 80grit scratches with 180grit
clean up 180grit with 220grit
here's my old one, no good pic of the new one yet.
Heres a shitty cell phone pic of my new one i did up out of left over colors from the week + some gold pearl, good pics to come. Ignore red ground wires, they're temporary.
#7942
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Re: Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
I actually got the valve cover itself from one of my buddies with the letters already shaved off, im not sure how he did it. And to answer your question Brian, I just gave it to another buddy of mine thats a good artist and told him to go crazy with it, and that he did lol. He's actually doing a few others this weekend for a few local kids.
#7947
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Re: Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
Finally got my rocker cover painted. Is not quite finished just yet though haha.
Is really hard to get the colour to show in the photos as it is dam bright. Really needs a carbon lead cover too.
Is really hard to get the colour to show in the photos as it is dam bright. Really needs a carbon lead cover too.
#7948
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Re: Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
here is my valve cover i did it the other day still not all the way done took pic with phone so color isnt that great but yea here it is
#7949
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Re: Official: Post Your Valve Cover (56k warning)
So here it is, if you've ever wanted to strip the OE wrinkle heat coating from your valve cover. If this cover would have been perfect, I'd never strip it, but since it had some blemishes, decided on making my own poor man's type-r valve cover.
The Victim:
The Murder weapon: this works much better than the spray version of the same product. KEEP this AWAY from your SKIN...if it gets on it, believe me, you'll notice. Latex gloves don't help by the way.
The accomplice: try and stay away from nylon bristle brushes, since the stripper will eat right through it, opt for a cheap throw away "natural" bristle brush.
Just start applying it, it doesn't need too heavy of a coat either.
This is only after a couple of minutes, it starts to bubble. They recommend leaving it on from 15-30 minutes, but will start to work much faster.
After a while, it will start to fall off on it's own.
You can then use the brush to start sweeping it off.
No need for a crazy scrubber, the brush works fine for the OE coating....if you're trying to remove actual paint from a previous paint job, it might be more difficult.
Also, no need for going crazy with the paint stripper, what's in the little red cup is all I used. It's the top from a can of shaving cream.
After taking off as much as I could with the brush, I set the cover down on the floor and hosed it down with a garden hose and a little pressure.
The results: There are still tiny bits of the heat coating, but that comes off with just a little more stripper.
Part 2: if you've ever wanted to re-coat your valve cover with a wrinkle heat coating.
After stripping your valve cover and making sure it's clean and free of dust, you can start to cover up what you don't want sprayed.
I use a file to file away the tape I don't want, this is how I used to remove the excess grip tape from my skateboards back in the day. I would recommend using a smaller file than I did, this was the only one I could find in my garage.
Pretty good results
Once you've got everything covered up, it's time to start spraying.
My weapon of choice, VHT Wrinkle Plus, this comes in either red or black and you can purchase it from Summit Racing for about $11
I would recommend doing this on a hot day, as the heat helps the wrinkles be nice and tight.
FIRST COAT - Nice and even, don't over do it, as you'll do 3 or 4 coats in total. Obviously try not to get any drips.
SECOND COAT - I let it set for about 10 min before I applied the second coat, again, nice even coat.
THIRD COAT - At this point, the paint had already started to wrinkle, don't be scared, if this is the case, it's still safe to put on another coat, I found that this actually gives you a smaller wrinkle in the end, more like the OEM Honda heat coating.
FOURTH AND FINAL COAT - This is your last coat, so make it count, make sure you cover any bare ares. **Once your valve cover dries, DO NOT re-spray it, as the wrinkles will NOT match up**
End results - The texture came out nice and even. Keep in mind that this paint cures VERY VERY SLOWLY, as in 3 to 4 days. It dries somewhat fast, but the paint is still soft, so anything you do can alter the wrinkle, you can actually leave a big old finger print on it if you're not careful.
Part 3:
After giving the valve cover PLENTY of time to dry and cure, you can start on the last step.
I used my Dremel with a small sanding disc for the holes around the valve cover.
Just take your time. I wasn't too concerned with getting these super clean free of paint, since they get covered up by those...ummm whatever you call em.
Got to work on the lower part. I put a couple layers of tape all the way around, since if you do only one and you make a mistake, the sanding cylinder will eat right through it.
Take it SLOW...no one needs a hero...
I got it pretty clean with the dremel, but decided to finish it off by hand with some rough sand paper. Just back and forth back and forth so you get a nice even looking "grain" to the metal.
Now I moved up top to the DOHC. Same process.
Then to the VTEC, which was what I was the most nervous about, since it wasn't as raised as the other lettering on the cover.
DONE!
I didn't really clean it before I put it on, but it still looks pretty nice.
Not bad for $11 worth of paint and a little work
The Victim:
The Murder weapon: this works much better than the spray version of the same product. KEEP this AWAY from your SKIN...if it gets on it, believe me, you'll notice. Latex gloves don't help by the way.
The accomplice: try and stay away from nylon bristle brushes, since the stripper will eat right through it, opt for a cheap throw away "natural" bristle brush.
Just start applying it, it doesn't need too heavy of a coat either.
This is only after a couple of minutes, it starts to bubble. They recommend leaving it on from 15-30 minutes, but will start to work much faster.
After a while, it will start to fall off on it's own.
You can then use the brush to start sweeping it off.
No need for a crazy scrubber, the brush works fine for the OE coating....if you're trying to remove actual paint from a previous paint job, it might be more difficult.
Also, no need for going crazy with the paint stripper, what's in the little red cup is all I used. It's the top from a can of shaving cream.
After taking off as much as I could with the brush, I set the cover down on the floor and hosed it down with a garden hose and a little pressure.
The results: There are still tiny bits of the heat coating, but that comes off with just a little more stripper.
Part 2: if you've ever wanted to re-coat your valve cover with a wrinkle heat coating.
After stripping your valve cover and making sure it's clean and free of dust, you can start to cover up what you don't want sprayed.
I use a file to file away the tape I don't want, this is how I used to remove the excess grip tape from my skateboards back in the day. I would recommend using a smaller file than I did, this was the only one I could find in my garage.
Pretty good results
Once you've got everything covered up, it's time to start spraying.
My weapon of choice, VHT Wrinkle Plus, this comes in either red or black and you can purchase it from Summit Racing for about $11
I would recommend doing this on a hot day, as the heat helps the wrinkles be nice and tight.
FIRST COAT - Nice and even, don't over do it, as you'll do 3 or 4 coats in total. Obviously try not to get any drips.
SECOND COAT - I let it set for about 10 min before I applied the second coat, again, nice even coat.
THIRD COAT - At this point, the paint had already started to wrinkle, don't be scared, if this is the case, it's still safe to put on another coat, I found that this actually gives you a smaller wrinkle in the end, more like the OEM Honda heat coating.
FOURTH AND FINAL COAT - This is your last coat, so make it count, make sure you cover any bare ares. **Once your valve cover dries, DO NOT re-spray it, as the wrinkles will NOT match up**
End results - The texture came out nice and even. Keep in mind that this paint cures VERY VERY SLOWLY, as in 3 to 4 days. It dries somewhat fast, but the paint is still soft, so anything you do can alter the wrinkle, you can actually leave a big old finger print on it if you're not careful.
Part 3:
After giving the valve cover PLENTY of time to dry and cure, you can start on the last step.
I used my Dremel with a small sanding disc for the holes around the valve cover.
Just take your time. I wasn't too concerned with getting these super clean free of paint, since they get covered up by those...ummm whatever you call em.
Got to work on the lower part. I put a couple layers of tape all the way around, since if you do only one and you make a mistake, the sanding cylinder will eat right through it.
Take it SLOW...no one needs a hero...
I got it pretty clean with the dremel, but decided to finish it off by hand with some rough sand paper. Just back and forth back and forth so you get a nice even looking "grain" to the metal.
Now I moved up top to the DOHC. Same process.
Then to the VTEC, which was what I was the most nervous about, since it wasn't as raised as the other lettering on the cover.
DONE!
I didn't really clean it before I put it on, but it still looks pretty nice.
Not bad for $11 worth of paint and a little work