How to Paint Valve Cover and Exhaust Heatshield Manifold Part 1
*number* = note to read at bottom
directions = from view point of person standing in front looking into engine bay
Materials:
1. 6x9 Scotchbrite pad fine grit, cut a third to use. I used, maybe, half of this so find a friend and do this mod together! just remember, a smaller piece (ie: 1 x 3) is going to be easier to work around corners and small places.*1*
2. Engine Degreaser no residue
3. Brake Cleaner quick evaporating
4. Primer coating self-etching (note: remember to use a primer that is as near to your final color of choice)
5. Valve cover paint - 400 or better & high solids content
6. Exhaust manifold heat shield paint 1200 high heat ( you can use the same primer from the valve cover for this)
Equipment:
1. Socket wrench with 10mm, 14mm sockets
2. Water hose (yes it has to be attached to the faucet)
3. Compressed air hose not necessary, but extremely useful
4. Crate - or something to keep work off ground while spraying with water
5. 3 6mm x 60mm bolts
6. Tape
7. Paper *3*
8. Paper Towel
9. Old piece of clean carpet, or a towel, or a rag a bit bigger than the cover.
10. Counter space
11. Clean, dry place to work
12. Container for bolts, etc
13. Magnet/Claw in case you drop a bolt, not necessary, but VERY handy.
Valve Cover Process: *MAKE SURE YOUR ENGINE ISNT TOO HOT!!!*
1. Disassembly
a. There are 20 bolts to remove
Bigger Version
i. Youll need to remove the one on the right side holding the engine hoist bracket you can remove this if you arent planning an engine swap any time soon. (theres also one on the left front)
b. Unclip electrical connections there are 6
bigger version
i. The one attached to the AC unit just pulls off (feels hard to pull off)
ii. Also unclip the round plastic clip that clips the wire to the metal pipe (see above)
c. Unplug PVC valve plug (see pic2)
d. Unplug hose going to intake (see pic2)
e. Remove spark plugs *4* see
f. Remove oil cap
g. Okay, you should have everything unplugged, unbolted.
2. Tuck the various hoses up out of the way and make sure that they wont come flying back at you.
3. Remove the valve cover place upside down on work space keep that gasket clean!
4. Gently close the hood this step makes sure that nothing gets into your now open valve case. If you are very worried about stuff falling, blowing in cover it with a piece of plastic BUT ENGINE MUST BE COOL you dont want plastic melting all over your cam shafts!
5. Remove the gasket carefully place on clean paper towel
6. Remove the bolt gaskets
place with gasket
7. Spray Degreaser on valve cover. all over, inside and out. wait a couple of minutes
8. Rinse off with water
9. Dry air hose time
10. Place clean and dry cover on carpet/towel and get to work with that scotchbrite scouring pad. Use straight motions rather than circular. Start at one end and work towards the other that way youll know you got everything. Last thing you want is to miss a section and have it turn out crappy. This step took me about 10-15 min
11. RE-Degrease cover to get rid of any particles left after scouring
12. Rinse off cover
13. Dry more air hose
14. Spray Brake Cleaner on valve cover outer surface only, to make sure dry for priming
15. Optional if you are paranoid like me you can stuff the oil cap hole and pvc valve and use some dummy bolts to fill the various bolt holes => some of the other guys didnt do this and there was no problem at all so if you spray right you dont need this step. but if you are doing this for the first time, It might be worth the pre-caution.
16. Prime
a. Take cover and put on paper
b. Lightly dust the surface with the primer
c. Spray at an angle with short sweeping bursts
d. DONT SPRAY STRAIGHT ON or youll get uneven results (angle, angle, angle!)
e. We ended up doing about 3 coats of primer on my cover.
f. It ends up looking like this
17. Let Primer sit and dry - about 10-15 min
18. Let the Painting begin.
a. Same motions as priming
b. We did 2 at first and did one more after wards for a total of 3 coats
this red one is someone elses - to show a little contrast
*number* = note to read at bottom
directions = from view point of person standing in front looking into engine bay
Materials:
1. 6x9 Scotchbrite pad fine grit, cut a third to use. I used, maybe, half of this so find a friend and do this mod together! just remember, a smaller piece (ie: 1 x 3) is going to be easier to work around corners and small places.*1*
2. Engine Degreaser no residue
3. Brake Cleaner quick evaporating
4. Primer coating self-etching (note: remember to use a primer that is as near to your final color of choice)
5. Valve cover paint - 400 or better & high solids content
6. Exhaust manifold heat shield paint 1200 high heat ( you can use the same primer from the valve cover for this)
Equipment:
1. Socket wrench with 10mm, 14mm sockets
2. Water hose (yes it has to be attached to the faucet)
3. Compressed air hose not necessary, but extremely useful
4. Crate - or something to keep work off ground while spraying with water
5. 3 6mm x 60mm bolts
6. Tape
7. Paper *3*
8. Paper Towel
9. Old piece of clean carpet, or a towel, or a rag a bit bigger than the cover.
10. Counter space
11. Clean, dry place to work
12. Container for bolts, etc
13. Magnet/Claw in case you drop a bolt, not necessary, but VERY handy.
Valve Cover Process: *MAKE SURE YOUR ENGINE ISNT TOO HOT!!!*
1. Disassembly
a. There are 20 bolts to remove
i. Youll need to remove the one on the right side holding the engine hoist bracket you can remove this if you arent planning an engine swap any time soon. (theres also one on the left front)
b. Unclip electrical connections there are 6
i. The one attached to the AC unit just pulls off (feels hard to pull off)
ii. Also unclip the round plastic clip that clips the wire to the metal pipe (see above)
c. Unplug PVC valve plug (see pic2)
d. Unplug hose going to intake (see pic2)
e. Remove spark plugs *4* see
f. Remove oil cap
g. Okay, you should have everything unplugged, unbolted.
2. Tuck the various hoses up out of the way and make sure that they wont come flying back at you.
3. Remove the valve cover place upside down on work space keep that gasket clean!
4. Gently close the hood this step makes sure that nothing gets into your now open valve case. If you are very worried about stuff falling, blowing in cover it with a piece of plastic BUT ENGINE MUST BE COOL you dont want plastic melting all over your cam shafts!
5. Remove the gasket carefully place on clean paper towel
6. Remove the bolt gaskets
7. Spray Degreaser on valve cover. all over, inside and out. wait a couple of minutes
8. Rinse off with water
9. Dry air hose time
10. Place clean and dry cover on carpet/towel and get to work with that scotchbrite scouring pad. Use straight motions rather than circular. Start at one end and work towards the other that way youll know you got everything. Last thing you want is to miss a section and have it turn out crappy. This step took me about 10-15 min
11. RE-Degrease cover to get rid of any particles left after scouring
12. Rinse off cover
13. Dry more air hose
14. Spray Brake Cleaner on valve cover outer surface only, to make sure dry for priming
15. Optional if you are paranoid like me you can stuff the oil cap hole and pvc valve and use some dummy bolts to fill the various bolt holes => some of the other guys didnt do this and there was no problem at all so if you spray right you dont need this step. but if you are doing this for the first time, It might be worth the pre-caution.
16. Prime
a. Take cover and put on paper
b. Lightly dust the surface with the primer
c. Spray at an angle with short sweeping bursts
d. DONT SPRAY STRAIGHT ON or youll get uneven results (angle, angle, angle!)
e. We ended up doing about 3 coats of primer on my cover.
f. It ends up looking like this
17. Let Primer sit and dry - about 10-15 min
18. Let the Painting begin.
a. Same motions as priming
b. We did 2 at first and did one more after wards for a total of 3 coats
this red one is someone elses - to show a little contrast
