incomplete

i'm rebuilding (not for concours, just for my own personal satisfaction) a 1986 951, and have been cleaning up bits and pieces of the engine bay to give it back some of the character that had been hidden under layers of grime and corrosion.

my question regards touching up my valve cover. it's red, which i like, and the letters/highlights are the base aluminum (i also like):





i'd like to keep this color scheme, but i'm unsure exactly how to go about masking and repainting it. i don't think i need to strip the paint -- my other parts i've been working on turn out great w/a good clean and touchup spray (see: http://picasaweb.google.com/incomple...50673052139330) or sanding and painting w/hi-temp generic spray paint (only on non-critical stuff that hopefully won't be subjected to insane temps, see: http://picasaweb.google.com/incomple...49357757293138).

what paint would be the easiest and more effective for the cost? i would think a good high-temp spray, with proper prep and curing, would be fine for my purposes, but i'm open to suggestions.

also, how might i go about properly, and cleanly, masking the valve cover? painter's tape, or pinstriping tape worries me as the texture of the aluminum might cause seepage. is there another product or method i'm not aware of?

thanks in advance!

shane

teamcrossworks

Is the paint really in that bad of condition? If you can get in there with a scrub brush and some cleaner you may be able to get the paint looking good and then use a sanding block with 400, 600, 1200, 2500, 3000 & polish to get the letters up to snuff.

Other then that I would remove it and have it powder coated.

I would post pictures of mine but my car is surrounded by someone else's furniture (don't ask).

ltc

^ + 1
Before removing it for repaint/powdercoat, I would try a brush and some Xenit.
The paint actually looks pretty good.
Once the Xenit cleans everything up (and it should), then get a flat aluminum "T" bar sander (available thru hobby shops), attach some extra fine sandpaper and go back and forth across the tops of the letters to polish them back up a bit.

From the pictures, it looks like that should clean up rather nicely with minimal effort.

incomplete

good points. the intake manny needed touchups, so i just projected that on to the cover as well. i think you both are right, i'll try just cleaning it up and polishing the letters/trim before doing anything drastic. plus, this means i don't have to pull the cover off of the car. less work == happier me

as for powder coating -- i like the painted look better.

IXLR8

I once painted the cylinder barrels and heads of my motorcycle. The one thing I wanted was tough paint; one that was not affected by gas and oil.

I tested a few brands of high heat gloss paints that were sprayed onto aluminum rods, all equally cured and including in an oven. Each sample was then tested by rubbing a white cotton cloth with kerosene, gas and even lacquer thinner.

I settled for Randolf's aircraft engine enamel. I could not get lacquer thinner to rub the black paint onto the white cotton cloth.

BTW, I would glass bead the cover, but that is the way I do things. More work, I know. Run a flat piece of metal with wet sandpaper to clean up the letters. Then apply high temperature clear coat.

incomplete

last week i scrubbed the heck out of the cam cover and did some heavy paint scuffing w/some paper and wheels on my drill. after that, two coats engine primer, three coats of red and a week to cure and harden:



then i sanded down the porsche script, up to 2000 grit wet/dry. after that, a couple of rounds of buffing compound:





next up, VHT clear 1200... of course, now i realize that i should have taken all the parts off of the tower earlier as i don't want to leave the plastic stuff and gaskets on when i bake the cover.

got a bunch of other stuff i'm getting ready to clear coat as well... i'll be doing a minimal amount of curing on non-essential stuff (strut brace), but for the rest a full curing cycle (within reason).

everything has been cleaned/stripped/scuffed/prepped/primered/multi-coated and curing for over a week.







my goal is to make things look nice, and make sure that the nice look lasts. i'm not aiming to win a concourse. it's gonna look nice when it's done!

teamcrossworks

Looking good...nice job!

MoeMistry

Looks really good. If I could make one suggestion: rough up the PORSCHE letters. By that, I mean it should have a uniform brushed aluminum look. Take some sandpaper and run it on top in the same direction. Do this until the desired look is achieved. I assume you're going for a clean factory look. But it's personal taste. As long as you like, that's all that matters.

Einsteiger

Lookin' GOOD. You have a lot more patience that I do!! Great job.

incomplete

well, i'm in no (real) rush to finish the car, especially all of the suspension upgrades and maintenance i'm performing. my money pit is gonna have a SLEW of new parts.

this means i tried to get the parts that wanted paint off first, as once they're done i can continue and start putting it back together.

every time i am bored, or have any excuse to head in to the garage, i would spend 10-15 minutes on something. wire drill wheel, another pass of 2000 grit w/d paper, a final coat of lacquer, etc. this wasn't done in a weekend, let me tell you.

thanks for the compliments, i'm really happy with how everything has turned out so far. i'm really not looking forward to lacquering and baking. time to start checking craigslist for free used electric ovens...