Valve Cover Color Opinions

[Moonman8]

I might be shooting myself in the foot here by asking for opinions but I want to paint my valve cover.

First off, my P5 is laser blue but I definitely do not want to match my valve cover to the car. Also, I don't want black, polished, chromed or an ultra-glossy finish in whatever color. Powdercoating is also out of the question due to a lack of money.

My first preference would be a wrinkle yellow but I can't find any in existence.

I really like the look of the wrinkle finish plus it would be easy to repair if the paint started chipping or got scratched in some way.

I also really like the wrinkle red finish found on the Mazdaspeed Miata but I am hesitant to have my engine compartment looking like every K20-powered Honda on the planet. I might end up settling for red because it does look good with the laser blue and the paint can be found very easily for not much money.

So what do you guys think? If anybody knows where I can get a nice yellow (preferably wrinkle finish) that's not ultra glossy, let me know. Thanks in advance!

BTW, the attachment is what my engine looks like now:

 

[mountjonas]

wrinkle red FTW. i'd love to do my intake manifold in the same finish.

 

[Pretzellogic]

You could always paint in wrinkle red, and then cover over with high-temp yellow to retain the wrinkle effect. I've seen Honda guys do this and it looks pretty good.

I'm planning on doing wrinkle black, m'self, although wrinkle red keeps popping into my head.

 

[RaiderMS3]

I got a non wrinkly red, and it is sweet, months later it still looks new.

http://protege5.com/vbb230/showthread.php?t=123630754

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

I'm thinking a header would improve the looks under the hood there more than anything you could do to the valve cover based upon your color choices & how quick does your air filter dirty up right in front of the fan opening or am I seeing that wrong? Looks like it points straight down in front of fan.

 

[macklum]

Just polish it to a mirror finish ,it will match the other shinny bits undre the hood , The heat sheild on the exhaust wil also polish to a mirror finish .

 

[Moonman8]

my Thunder header should be here in the next few weeks so that heat shield is going bye-bye. It will probably get heat-wrapped with black DEI wrap.

yes, the AEM SRI for the manual trannies points down but my air filter isn't that dirty. I'm also contemplating wrapping the large elbow of the AEM piping with the same black DEI wrap but that will depend on how hot the pipe gets after I wrap the header (because right now it gets almost as hot as the exhaust heat shield).


Painting the valve cover in a wrinkle red and then covering with a yellow is a hell of an idea. I probably never would have thought of that. That would at least be worth experimenting with.

Thanks for all the responses guys.

 

[importcrazy]

wrinkle red??

 

[Moonman8]

wrinkle red??

I was waiting for that, lol!

 

[pluto316]

Red is the correct color for any valve cover.

 

[Moonman8]

I guess with red valve covers you either really love it and accept no substitute or it is the worst thing to do to your car.

I think I will buy a can of wrinkle red and a can of yellow engine enamel to experiment on a spare piece of metal. If the yellow over the wrinkle red doesn't achieve what I'm after, then wrinkle red FTW!

 

[Robot Romeo]

Wrinkle Red or (even though you said no black) Glossy Black......

 

[Pretzellogic]

I guess with red valve covers you either really love it and accept no substitute or it is the worst thing to do to your car.

I think I will buy a can of wrinkle red and a can of yellow engine enamel to experiment on a spare piece of metal. If the yellow over the wrinkle red doesn't achieve what I'm after, then wrinkle red FTW!

You'll need to find high-temp flat yellow for it to look good, I think.

 

[socommatthews]

i think red would look good.it would match your wires as well as your strut bar.i used a Krylon anodized red and this is how it turned out.

 

[rednecks_r_us]

I went with a black with blue mica that was custom mixed. Goes with the rest of the car.
You can get the paint code from a black STI the black 2005 STI has some blue metal flake in it.

Another suggestion would be to get the paint code from a red P5 (same paint as on the strut bar) and have that mixed into a spray can at any automotive paint store that mixes paint.

Then it always looks good to take a dremmel and polish the raised letters then apply the clear coat to the whole thing.

 

[Moonman8]

I went with a black with blue mica that was custom mixed. Goes with the rest of the car.
You can get the paint code from a black STI the black 2005 STI has some blue metal flake in it.

Another suggestion would be to get the paint code from a red P5 (same paint as on the strut bar) and have that mixed into a spray can at any automotive paint store that mixes paint.

great info!

 

[Diehonda]

I went with a black with blue mica that was custom mixed. Goes with the rest of the car.
You can get the paint code from a black STI the black 2005 STI has some blue metal flake in it.

Another suggestion would be to get the paint code from a red P5 (same paint as on the strut bar) and have that mixed into a spray can at any automotive paint store that mixes paint.

Then it always looks good to take a dremmel and polish the raised letters then apply the clear coat to the whole thing.

This sounds great but don't you have to mix with high temp paint? And what type of clear did you use and how is it holding up to the heat?

 

[rednecks_r_us]

No high temp paint for me. Its the exact paint and clear coats that is on my hood, roof & wing.

 

[Diehonda]

And it holds up? No flaking, cracking, or fading?

 

[rednecks_r_us]

I only painted it in April but I go to Phoenix quite regularly and it was 118 degrees in the shade not to long ago. But so far no cracking or chipping.

My valve cover was cleaned in an industrial parts washer under high temperature pressure washing with detergent for several hours. It was cleaner than when it was first installed on the car in Japan.