Ok, like the title says, I just finished up my first custom valve cover and I wanted to share... let me know what you guys think.



CRUSTY OLD B16 VALVE COVER



After coating with aircraft remover kinda looks like the bad guy at the end of RoboCop...



And a thorough rinse with the pressure washer



Shaved lettering



Full side cut for adjustable cam gears



and a quick coat of primer to prevent flash rust in this humid Texas weather...




A couple days later...


Stripped back down, CIVIC emblem placed over cam gear shield





SHUT THAT DAMN OVEN!! LOL



Wrinkle black





White base coat laid down



WRINKLE BRONZE!!!

 

Not bad

 

Looks like some paint issue above the CIVIC emblem. I personally think it looked better in just wrinkle black.

 

Must've just been the lighting... everything came out pretty uniform wrinkle texture. I painted it bronze to match my wheels. Bronze Konig Heliums

 

Looked good wrinkle black when you pulled it out of the oven, the civic emblem looked like it was made on there.

 

Thanks. That's kind of what I was going for. If you look around the edges though, you can see it's put on top... trying to think of a way to fix that. Might be as simple as stripping it down and going around the edges of the emblem with some sort of filler then repainting it. I'm thinking of making a small change too.

 

that civic emblem will prob fall off or melt later on down the road.

 

It's already been in the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes 3 times... and I don't see how it would just fall off when it's attached with epoxy and painted on to the VC... but ok. Thanks for your input.

 

It probably wasn't vibrating at 8100RPM in the oven either...just sayin. It might stick, who knows? I'm not going to say that it won't, just pointing out heat+vibration might make a difference.

 

looks good!

 

awesome decorative piece but may not be a practical application for a running car.
i run some haggered work though.

 

Don't worry about the valve cover rusting. Aluminum valve covers don't rust. Anyway, primer can actually absorb moisture if you ever do body work or anything. Just trying to help.

 

Do you have any pictures of it installed?

In my opinon the black looked better,but that's just me. Either way, good work man.

 

I guess we'll see...

 

Thank you. I just overthought the primer i guess. I am in no way a paint or bodywork guy. Just a guy who likes to try to do things myself, unless it costs a lot of money that would be lost if I mess up a tiny detail (like building a motor).

 

Just waiting on the valve cover gasket set I ordered to get here. Pics installed will be up after it comes in. I've got a few other parts on the way I want to put on at the same time. Hopefully everything will come in soon.

 

Make the civic shine up and ur good to go

 

Just a suggestion that I think really makes the valve cover pop, scrape the lettering to make it shine.

Here is a couple valve covers I have done:

 

wrinkle black looked really good

 

Bwhit12 ill agree with you ive dont that to my single cam it looks good when thats the only shiny think in your engine bay

 

I don't think this is lighting. Above the CIVIC logo definitely looks like some type of paint error.

 

Agreed. Here's some of mine.

 

sick!

 

kaiba --- What do you do with the lettering? I have tried a few different tricks (Chapstick, glue stick, and just scraping with a razor blade). What have you found that works best?

 

I'd love to know this too... great work.
And OP: looks good bud, seems like you took your time and tried your best. I am worried about that Civic emblem too (especially with an open cam-gear cover), but like you said I guess time will tell. I hope it sticks well, post a pic of the engine bay!