Painting Valve Covers
 

Ok, I saw a few people do this and the results turned out really nice. Seemed easy enough, so I gave it a shot. here is what it took:

Materials:
10mm socket
12mm socket
4+" socket extention
torque wrench (10ft-lbs)
600gt wet/dry sand paper
degreasing cleaning solvant
high-temp paint
masking

To Remove:
--------------

Step 1: Take the hose off of the clip of the spark plug cover. Take the oil cap off. Use the 10mm socket to remove the 3 bolts holding the cover on. Remove the cover.
http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0659.jpg

Step 2: Also with the 10mm socket, take off the bolt on each of the 4 spark plug harnesses. Note the pressure, because when tigntening these, you dont want to over do it. I couldnt find any torque settings for them, but it really shouldnt be a big deal. Just get them tight enough to keep in place.

Step 3: Unclip the wire harness from the rear of spark plug harness. Just push on the tab and pull. Carefully take the plugs out and put them in a safe place.

Step 4: With the 10mm socket, Remove the 2 bolts holding the wire rails to the back of the valve casing.
http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0655.jpg

Step 5: Pull the two air feeds (one to the right of the front portion, one near the back center of the rear portion) off of their nipples. Remove these from the engine side, not the source! It may take a bit of tugging, but dont worry too much about hurting them. They are tuff ;)
http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0653.jpg

AND


http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0654.jpg


Step 6: Using the 12mm socket, LOOSEN but dont remove the two upper bolts on the black plastic cam-gear casing (i think thats what it is) to the left of the valve casing.
http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0634.jpg


Step 7: Using the 10mm socket, remove the 3 bolts holding the front of valve cover. Do the same fo rthe 3 bolts on the rear side of the cover.
http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0658.jpg


Step 8: The cover should now come loose with a little giggling. Move the hoses and harnesses out of the way and work it away from teh cam gear casing by lifting on the right side and sliding it to the right. It should come out without much trouble.
http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0649.jpg


Preping:
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Step 1: With your solvant, spray down the top of the cover only. Dont worry about the inside, as you dont want to paint it. Wipe the solvant clean after a few mins. Do this as many times as it takes to get all the grime off.

Step 2: Use a slightly wet soaply cloth to clean the top of the cover. Dry.

Step 3: Use the 600gt sandpaper to sand the cover. Make sure to work on the little groves, as if they are not roughed at all, they may start to chip/peal. Also work around the corners of the mivec and mitsu logos.
http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0642.jpg


Step 4: Repease steps 1 and 2 again to get rid of the sanding dust and dirt. Dry VERY well and let it sit for a bit.
http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0640.jpg


Step 5: Mask off all the screw holes and openings. You dont want ANY paint inside the valve cover. Also, tape off the valve stems that the air hoses were hooked to.
http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0646.jpg

Step 6: Remove the rubber gasket seal from the bottom.

Painting:
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Step 1: Find something clean and flat that you can paint on. Its best to do it inside, as the wind WILL dirt on the over while the paint is still wet.

Step 2: Just sit the valve cover flat and go to town! DO NOT LIFT THE COVER OFF ITS BASE WHILE PAINTING. This will help keep paint off the inside.

NOTE: If you dont want to paint the mivec or mitsu logos, be sure to wipe the paint off those parts right away. Be careful though, its not easy. I decided I will just paint them another color later, instead of trying to keep cleaning.

http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0647.jpg

Step 3: Let it sit and try according to the directions and repeat to get as many coats as you want.

Step 4: Let the final job sit as long as possible.

Reinstalling:
---------------
After the paint is dry and you are happy with the results, just take off the masking tape and see how you did!
http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0648.jpg

If you had any overspray or leakage, try lightly using some 800-2000gt sadpaper to clean it up. You may want to lightly sand the finish with a 1500-2000gt paper, depending on the texture you want.

Just reverse the install steps, pretty much. Use a torque wrench to torque the 6 seal bolts to 10 ft-lbs. If 10lbs is one of the lowest settings on your wrench (like mine), you MAY NOT feel the click. I didnt feel it and I snapped a bolt. Just be careful. If you try this without a wrench, just dont tighten to the point where you have to put any weight into it at all. Incase you do this, its a 6mm 1.0thread. Make sure you get hardened steal. Dont over-tighten anything, as this is a pretty stationary part of the car. It just has to be able to handle the vibrations.

Enjoy!

Mine isnt done yet, as I am going to paint the emblemns and a bit more. Here it is so far.

http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0664.jpg

http://uranium.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason...e/HPIM0663.jpg

Sweet. do the logos in black

:lol::lol:




:crap:
It didn't come off.





"Jiggling", maybe? :p


Nice job, BTW. Now just do the logos in black, as he said before me.

the ralliart has the ugliest valve cover EVER! looks much better painted red, but the overall shape is just hideous.

Its not that bad dood

i like the shape, myself. btw, here is a pic after it set for a few weeks. no black logo's yet. Still trying to find a good brush-on paint to use. ANy suggestions? It has the new ground kit in, too! (yea, i know I need to buy some zipties)

http://www.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason/ral...nd/ground2.jpg



http://www.vaxpower.org/%7Ejason/ralliart/engine.jpg

NICE! I'm thinking about doin' mine too....only i'd do a transparent red....kinda like a candy apple red (more in in line w/ the EVO style).

Looks nice w/ the ground cables too!

OK, who the hell stole my idea..............LOL...i post my pic of valve cover a while back and now everyone is doing it, damm i'm in the wrong buisness. :lol: :rolleyes:

see other pics here:http://www.cardomain.com/id/ralliartracer04

So who/how did your hood? How much?

Yeah, do tell the hood story. I'd love the vent - its the only reason I was interested in a CF hood - I love the evo hood.

Well it was a tough dessicion, to cut a hole in my factory hood, but i was very careful and took all the proper mesurements (i am a licenced body man,that also helps), it's made from a piece of 3/4 wide flat steel bar,wich was bent with a torch to my specs as needed,then welded 8, 1/2" studs to hold it down to the hood, then painted it black and inserted a mesh grill simillar to the Evo, as well as a louverd vent under the mesh to prevent debris from directly getting into the engine bay, the next step will be to form a little hump around the vent just like the evo, wich will be very soon. i will post more pics when it is complet,thanks for asking {thumbup} :mitsu:


All cost in, it was aprox:$80.00 for material

Isnt it hard to reseal your valve cover?

i had no probs. after i put the bolts back in, just applied a good bit a pressure to the top. its been on for almost 2 months now and no issues. with the mitsu's, its so easy if you just dont take the gasket off the cover. if you are still worried, try a brush-on paint kit. that way you dont even ahve to unbolt the cover! G2 has a new one out thats really high quallity and epoxy-based. same as their caliper paint, which I used. i am actually thinking about striping my cover and using this system caus I love how the calipers turned out so much. Could do more of a detailed job /w the mivec and mitsu logos too.

Are those ground wires touching the manifold cover? or.. that big silver metal plate over the headers? Won't they melt?

Pictures, Anyone?
 

Does anyone have photos of the painted covers? Seems that the previous links are no good.

look in migureralliarts thread on his p&p head , he painted his red.....

Pics dont work!

Well the thread is 3 years old, lol

something must be wrong with my computer, not one of the pics works:mad:

i painted me valve covers this week and the results were great
its really easy to do

wen u go to remove it do you have to remove the oil or ne thing?

nice bump to an old thread

just from the cover itself. the oil in the engine isnt gonna overflow or fall out or anything when you remove it. but you'll have to clean the valve cover itself.

you may want to buy a new gasket as well in case the old one doesnt give a good seal after the cover is taken off

really? ive had no problem. ive done a valve lash adjustment about 30k ago.

Which is why i said in case. I personally have never had experiences with taking the cover off but I heard that you should never reuse a used gasket as it wont give as good a seal as a new one

What kind of paint did everyone use?

nice job...love it... ;)

{thumbup}I like it, looks nice. Your filling my head with ideas. Was just thinking how cool it would be to do my valve cover and strut bar in a burnt orange color similar to the one mits used on the eclipse a few years ago. or maybe a color that fades from orange to red. Two thumbs, WAY UP!!{thumbup}{thumbup}


{pcfreak} <--- this guys fiddling with sumthin

Thanks for the great write up! Made it very easy to do mine. Did it a little different, but I like it a lot.

On the subject of painting valve cover we now offer 2 colors.

http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/t...g?t=1275587804

Seen those in person...VERY SEXY.
Any one looking to add to the look of the engine bay NEEDS TO PICK ONE UP, also goes good with carbontrix engine cover.
My valve cover.
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...054_medium.jpg

^^^ that looks sick. The RRM blue valve cover looks sweet as well. I recently painted mine a teal blue colour - I'll try to get some picks up in time.

not bad

thumbs up

i just finished my valve cover earlier this week. its the same as kaoscage's except instead of blue mine is red. pictures will be up once its on the car or something