Painting the valve cover

[ajs350]

My valve cover has lost some of its paint over the years and being as it is off to adjust the valaves I thought I'd give it a coat of paint.
I have a can of Duplicolor BGM0535 (replacement for T178) and wondered if I can just spray it on or whether I need a primer first. Painting is not my strong suit so any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks Ross

[zxbob]

I dont think you'll need a primer (i did'nt) just make sure its clean, oil free.

I just took some brake clean and compressed air to mine first - it came out nice !

Bob

[Don]

If you're not going to prime it first (or even if you decide to) I would wetsand it with some #320 before you spray it to give the paint some 'tooth' to adhere to

Having it powdercoated is also a great way to keep it nice looking for years and years to come - My local guy would want about $40 to 50 to do a valve cover . . . . he charged me $75 to prime and powder my front wheel even though it turned out he had to use 2 coats of black to get it looking really nice

Don

[ajs350]

Thanks for the tips. As you can see it came out pretty good!

[NobleHops]

Thanks for the tips. As you can see it came out pretty good!

Awesome! How did you prep it?

N.

[ajs350]

Nils
I cleaned it with Gunk and then soap and water. Rubbed it down with some wet and dry and used more soap and water. Let it dry and started painting. The duplicolr paint will run if you spray too much (yes I found out) so I had to do one sweep and then wait 10 minutes to do the next filling in the areas I had missed.
Hardest part was finding somewhere warm to paint it. I used the downstairs shower as a paint booth before Christmas.................what a mess.....won't do that again. This time I went in the crawl space although it is not what you call well ventalated!
Ross

[Z Grand]

It came out nicely -- good work.

[zxbob]

Nils
The duplicolr paint will run if you spray too much (yes I found out) so
Hardest part was finding somewhere warm to paint it. This time I went in the crawl space although it is not what you call well ventalated!
Ross

So you must have felt pretty good painting it a second time ?

Bob