Which colour?

[roswel]

i'm goin to paint my valve cover this weekend but i'm having trouble desiding which colour to do it in.

my choices are:

red to match the sway bar (or whatever it's called)
and have the existing lettering in silver (basically just sand the paint off the letters after painting)

or

paint both the cover and bar yellow to match the car, sand the lettering as well PLUS stencil in protege 5 (like the badge on the back) in silver with the 5 in red, somewhere on the cover.

what do you think?

[MP5Navy]

Sway bay goes under the car, the red thingy on top is called a strut tower brace.

Anyway, I'm having troubles deciding on a colour too. Think I'll be going red cause of my AEM intake. I'm also planning on clear coating the valve cover once painted. I didn't think it was possible until I saw a car at DKN with a clear coated valve cover - wicked. I also planned on die grinding the paint off the letters and numbers. If you have a yellow car you could try bright blue, black, or even yellow but don't paint it all red cause it kinda remind me of Mc Donald's LOL.

[roswel]

LOL...ya i hear ya on the macdonalds thing.

couple questions for you......

what is die grinding? do you mean take the letters right off?

and

would the clear coat have to be high temp as well? brush on or spray on? (for the clear coat)

[MP5Navy]

A die grinder is basically a pneumatic dremel tool. I'd use it just to take the paint off cause it leaves a nice and clean sanding mark and it's so fast.

Oh and get this! The clear coat is just your basic spray clear coat! No need for high heat (I doubt they even make one). The guy at DKN explained to me that the clear coat doesn't turn brown or hazy, and I saw it and it looked good.

[roswel]

cool, thanks.



last thing, for the clear coat, did it come out smooth or was it rough to the touch (i'm assuming it was nice and glossy). if it was smooth how do you get it smooth with spray. do you wet sand it when it dries?

[ChopstickHero]

when i clear coated my custom front lip, i did the 3 second pass method.  each press of the nozzle i held for 3 seconds and passed over the entire lip spoiler 3 times.  i repeated this method over many times until i thought the entire lip spoiler was covered in clear coat.  it should dry smooth, without having to sand it or anything.  you can pick up a can of clear coat (the big one) for $6.99 or less.  be liberable with your application, but try not to overspray, or else it will look uneven.  let it dry in a somewhat dustfree area for a few days (it says 7 days on the can! )  remember to cover your exposed cams, etc with a garbage bag so nuthing gets in there.

a good HOW-TO site:  HOW-TO PAINT YOUR VALVE COVER (http://forum.protegemp3.com/vbb225/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5931)

[MP5Navy]

Yes it was smooth and glossy. I didn't ask him if he wet sanded though. I've used clear coat before and as long as you take your time with it, it come out well without sanding, Just spray in a windless dustless environment.

What this guy had done was take his B16a and angle grinded his valve cover, exhaust manifold cover, intake manifold and intake. This left swirling marks in big chunks, he then just clear coated to preserve the finish. It's a love hate thing but I loved the way it looked and he put sOoOOo much time into it.

[yellowmp5]

Can we pick a nice day, and paint it together??
cuz i wanna paint mine too....but
i will have difficulty takin' out the stuff...and puttin' them back together...

[Bill_Stats]

WOW
Looks like another must have MOD!!!!