Well right now everything in my engine bay is silver(VC, intake, headers, etc etc). Although it looks clean...all the silver sorta makes it look bland. So i decided to paint my valve cover and intake gunmetal. But i cant seem to find any gunmetal high temp paint. My question is...i have 2 cans of gunmetal DupliColor wheel paint. Will this be ok for painting the valve cover? It doesnt seem to get too hot to use this paint...but i was just wondering. Heres a picof it right now so you can see what im talking about....pretty bland huh?

 

Well I painted my VC with Krylon, and it still looks good. I'm shure the rite way would to get it powder coated,or buy high temp paint. I think your engine bay looks fine the way it is.

 

I wish i had the money to get it powdercoated right now. And it doesnt look too bad in the pic for some reason....but when its in the light it all sorta blends together and looks pretty blah. I just read the wheel paint can and it says "improved resistance to brake dust, chemicals, cleaning solvents, HEAT, and chipping"...so i guess it would be pretty good for a valve cover. Im gonna try it out in a little while and see how it does. Ill post pics when im done.

 

It looks alright, nothing special. Besides you'll never see it when the hood's closed. Do you break down often? Otherwise the wheel paint might hold up for a little while.

Take the cover off and hose it with aircraft stripper. Then polish it.

 

Try using powder coating in a can that is ment for brake calipars. It can definently with stand the tempature of the valve cover. I believe its also a Duplicolor product. Probly find it at Pep-boys, AutoZone, even Wally-World(Wal-mart).

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by boxybutfast &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It looks alright, nothing special. Besides you'll never see it when the hood's closed. Do you break down often? Otherwise the wheel paint might hold up for a little while.

Take the cover off and hose it with aircraft stripper. Then polish it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

When i built the engine i painted it like that so that it wouldnt look special. But im starting to get tired of the way it looks. And what does breaking down have anything to do with the paint staying on?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Civiclized &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Try using powder coating in a can that is ment for brake calipars. It can definently with stand the tempature of the valve cover. I believe its also a Duplicolor product. Probly find it at Pep-boys, AutoZone, even Wally-World(Wal-mart). </TD></TR></TABLE>

That was my original idea but i couldnt find any in the color i wanted. I went 3 different places and saw like 5 different colors...but none of them were gunmetal.

I talked to a friend of mine thats works at an auto body shop and he said that the wheel paint would hold up alot better than the 500degree paint that i have on there right now. I got the paint for my brake calipers a while back...and its holding up really good so far...and if youve ever touched a caliper after driving around for an hour then you know that its a good bit hotter than the valve cover will ever get. Im about to go start working on it right now...ill try and post some pics when i get done. Thanks for all the suggestions

 

I looks good the way it is right now. If you really want to get it painted save up and get it powder coated

 

i use wheel paint/clear coat on valve covers all the time, works great also Krylon wrinkle coat is awsome

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sCeRaXn &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When i built the engine i painted it like that so that it wouldnt look special. But im starting to get tired of the way it looks. And what does breaking down have anything to do with the paint staying on?</TD></TR></TABLE>

It doesn't, it was a joke referring to having your hood open all the time, you know, the only time you would even see the engine bay. I don't think it looks bad but I bet it would look really cool if you did it in white like the exterior, or a bright color to give it more contrast.

 

your valve cover now still looks good! just keep it that way..

 

Well i just got done painting my intake. I thought id try it out on something that isnt as hard to do as a VC. It turned out REALLY good. I used 3 coats of the wheel paint and 2 coats of clear. Here a pic of it on the car...its a really shitty pic but youll get the idea. Im going to do the VC tomorrow...i think itll look 10 times better then



It looks alot better in person because you can see all the flake thats in the paint...and the clear coat gives it alot of depth. Im really excited with the outcome...i didnt think it would look that good. Ill take some better pics tomorrow when i get the VC done...i had to use a shitty webcam so the pics i have now suck ***. So tell me what you think.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by leohj &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">your valve cover now still looks good! just keep it that way.. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yea it looks good in the pics...but when you see it in preson youll notice all the scratches and dings in the paint. I like the way the gunmetal gives a little contrast to the rest of the engine

 

I picked up a coat of "Cast Coat Iron" (I think it was duplicolor) high-temp paint from Kragen for my valve cover. It was the closes to a gunmetal color I could find.



Been running it for about 2200 miles now and the only parts that dont look as good as day 1 are the spots where my hood hit it

btw, that intake looks nice painted like that!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr_CRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I picked up a coat of "Cast Coat Iron" (I think it was duplicolor) high-temp paint from Kragen for my valve cover. It was the closes to a gunmetal color I could find.



Been running it for about 2200 miles now and the only parts that dont look as good as day 1 are the spots where my hood hit it

btw, that intake looks nice painted like that!</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats looks awesome..

 

Yea dude that VC is the ****

 

Yeah I painted my trans and d15b block that cast iron color before I threw it in my Si. Looks great even 6 months later. But i painted my VC with some cheap no name texture spray paint and it looks great still.