Valve Cover Painting

[ACCORDICT]

I've just got my new motor thanks to patrick and i need to paint the valve cover, so.......
Have any of you painted your valve cover youself??????
If so, how did you do it and how did it turn out?????
THANKS

[91SEeinblue]

This is for the F22A. IF you have the H22 it might be similar, but i not sure.

Check out the post above ( "Check out our rides"). Mine is obviously the 91SEeinBlue one, but yeah, i bought the high heat spray paint from my local Autozone (1500 degrees i beleive..kinda overkill..but oh well). You also need to buy the gasket (about $10 at local store). Spark plugs need to come out. 4 nuts on top of the cover need to come off. But other than that it just lifts straight off. I reccomend you at least clean it off good first (inside and out..make sure its dry on the inside before you put it back on). And then some reccomend sanding the outisde down to the metal (didnt do this with mine so i dont know how hard it is..or if its even possible). But mine hasnt chipped or anything at all in the 8 months its been like that. Hope this helps. Its pretty easy.

[ACCORDICT]

C'mon I donnin the swap myself, do think I cant take off a valve cover.......lol....Any way thx for in depth report.....I was more concerned w/ the prep and painting part and ( i've seen on ebay a co. that does it and they add clear...) clear coat.......I want to do red and in the 1500 deg. they have two red's which one is better????

[91SEeinblue]

The paint cans at the auto store, the actual color comes out brighter (more realistic to its intended color) than the cap shows. When i was there, they had like "Chevy Red(their camaro red)" and a few others, pick whichever you think most closely resembles the color scheme you plan on going with for the rest of the engine (if you picked one).

[ACCLUDE]

I think I told you this over the phone, but once the cover is off, I suggest running it through the dishwasher by its self using a mild detergent. Before you do that, you may want to scuff the existing paint with medium grit sandpaper just to create a good surface for the new paint to bond to. Run it through about 2-3 times and it will be perfect. Dry it off IMMEDIATELY after it's done getting cleaned so that rust doesn't start to form. Once it's dry, it's good to paint. Clear coat is not needed but helps preserve the color.

[midnite racer x]

take the actual valve cover and put it in the dishwasher???? Damn, that scares me for some reason lol. If i were to paint mine i'd just paint it black again nothing fancy for me but my girlfriend on the other hand would paint hers purple...she also says hi acclude and welcome back.

[ACCORDICT]

Hey yeah Luckly I am remodeling a house and have an old diswasher...Did that, I was wondering more about the affects after it is painted..i.e. bubbles, cracks, and to see if anybody primered it b4, yadayadayadyada

[mark986]

You should pop on some headers and say good bye to the valve cover! :D

[ACCLUDE]

Mark, I think you're talking about the heat shield cover that goes over the exhaust manifold. Yes, you can do without that, but John's talkin about the valve cover that covers the valves/cams/etc. and you NEED a valve cover inorder for the motor to be driveable. If you try to start the motor with the cover off, get ready for some oil to squirt all over the place:eek: Not a good idea to say the least.

[vasponger]

unless of course 3 hot busty naked chicks are bending into your engine bay and the get all slick and oilly the oil is warm not hot and ... ok umm anyways, thatpaint cant you just paint it without taking it off, and that heat paint how much did that run?

[ACCLUDE]

unless of course 3 hot busty naked chicks are bending into your engine bay and the get all slick and oilly the oil is warm not hot and ... ok umm
Ha! I'd pay to see that...um..wait...uh...nevermind, I'm a poor bastard:mad:

The cleaner the cover is, the better and longer the paint sticks to it. I suggest taking it all the way off and scrubbing it nice and clean first. The F22A4 I have that has 270,000 mis. on it has a valve cover I re-painted about 4 years ago and it still looks great. No cracking, minor fading (expected after 4 years), no bubbles, etc. I took mine off, scuffed it with sandpaper, cleaned it, painted it with high-temp. flat black (3 coats wit plenty of drying time in between each) reinstalled and walla, it looks like a brand new stock valve cover. It looked hideous before but it amazing how far a $3 can of paint will go. lol

[mark986]

Right. My bad. I guess I read that incorrectly. :rolleyes:

[ACCORDICT]

Ok thanks guys I painted it today, I used the flat red in 1200 deg. W/ primer first and then clear. ( kind of like your car, you have flat paint and then add clear to make it shiney)<--spell check pls......I painted the intake tube same color, and I painted the spark plug cover black....Well I wrote down everyhing I did and will post a "how to" my way w/ pics....Soon..... I dont have a digital cam. so have to wait for 1 hr photo, and then scan them all...Untill then....

[ACCLUDE]

Hey John...what else you gotta do to that thing until it goes in?

[ACCORDICT]

I recd. motor w/ a little damage around the tensioner cant tell exactly what needs to be replaced, but dont have that much time, because I'm dealing witha fucking snow storm, while I'm tryng to rmodel a house, w/ a fucking hole in the roof where the old chiminey was, and oh yeah I almost Frogot About The fucking Furnace...Ohhhh wait dont have one of thoes either....Any way...Sorry, I am changing the clutch timing belt and balance belt and parts that are damaged
What about thoes $79 or $100 pulleys on ebay?????? And Oil pan gasket...And as of now I think Thats it.....Oh yeah when I was in dispose ( best thinking time) I thought about doin the rear disc off an ex...What the hell Else can I do????????Help, I'm addicted

[ACCLUDE]

The rear disc conversion requires A TON of parts that you wouldn't even think you needed. It'll run you at least $500-1000 just in parts and that's if you find good deals on the stuff. It can be done, but its expensive and prolly the only reason it's not a commonly done thing.

As for stuff you can do now...you're already putting in a new clutch so that's done. The flywheel on the H22 should still be good, but inspect it to make sure it doesn't need to be turned. If so, either have it turned or get a lightened aftermarket one. If you plan any flywheel changes...now is the time to do it. Also if you want to paint/touch-up parts of the block/tranny/covers/anything really, do that now while its all out of the car still. You're putting on a new timing belt when the tensioner gets replaced, so what about some adjustable cam gears? You mentioned the lightened underdrive pully which will increase hp, tq, and throttle response, but it may not be such a good idea on a daily driver. The alt., P/s, and A/c pullies can benefit you greatly tho. Have you thought about having the throttlebody bored out or buying an aftermarket one? Considered a head port & polish job? There's lot of things you can do and while the motor is out of the car is the best time to do all of that.

[ACCORDICT]

Roommate needed Yeah I'm so there...oh wait I'm on the west coast.......Picture it now a buch of accord freaks in the same house that cant be good.....


Someon aked how much the rattle cans were:
primer 500 deg. 3.99
base coat (color) 1200 deg. 4.99
clear 500 deg. 3.99
As for why they dont have primer and clear in 1200 deg. thats got me, but we'll have to see how it will hold up. As for pictures We now have freezing rain and I'm not ging to the store to get pictures....sorry