GEDaggett

So I am putting my top end back together but My valve cover is flaking and pealing so I am going to paint it. Any suggestions or even pics of what looks good or not would be great. I thought about gloss Black? Any thoughts

Thanks

Gary

ZedStyle

same color as the exterior? not sure how it would look with your color though... otherwise black is cool!

GEDaggett

I've got the light tan.

190E 16V

signal red is dramatic and complements the silver and black components under the hood.

ps2cho

Black or Grey to match the rest of the engine bay? You can always go Red for a little more extravagant look.

berti_00

you can do black for the cover and red on top the little plasitc piece? know what i mean

GEDaggett

I know what you mean and I got an idea from your suggestion. I will take pics when I am done.

TheGerman

The red of austrian belzer- screwdrivers.

ds190

Does it need to be high temp paint? And/or should it be primed after stripping, and then multiple coats of regular paint? My 300TE cover has been flaking forever

Thanks.

GEDaggett

If you want to do it right; strip, lightly scuff, prime then two or three coats engine enamel.

YNVDIZW124

I should do that...I have an extra valve cover just sitting in my storage room.

treiberg

Gary, make sure to post some pics of your results. I think just about every one of us would like to eliminate that ugly flaking and can learn from your experience.

GEDaggett

So here is the valve cover all stripped down and ready for Primer. I should get to the primer tomorrow. I realized that Benz uses a very heavy primer that also fills in the pits and valleys from the molding process. I am going to use a similar sandable primer because there is a good number of pits in the casting. post more later

pifcat2

Is it too rough to polish and shoot a clear?

GEDaggett

That definitely crossed my mind. It is very pitted. The molding is very rough and benz uses the prime and paint to fill in the voids so it would take about 5 hours of work to get it where it would look good for keeping polished with a clear coat. It would look pretty wicked though.

treiberg

Was it difficult to strip? What did you use to remove the old paint?

GEDaggett

It took about three hours. My Dad is a salesman and has some wicked gasket remover that bubled the paint up pretty well. I don't know if you can get something as strong as I have at the parts store. Laquer thinner and steel wool is effective aswell. After the gasket remover took effect I scraped it off and then took a paint removing abrasive wheel that I got from the hardware store to polish off the majority of the remaining residue and primer. I then took 220 and hit all bends and nooks. A very small flathead srew driver is nice for knocking off the excess chips of paint.

Saijin_Naib

****, I thought that was just a plastic piece for looks sake.

GEDaggett

The center piece?

Saijin_Naib

Is the center piece the only plastic part? The whole thing kinda felt like plastic.

GEDaggett

The whole thing other than the front cover (not shown in the picture) is cast in aluminum. There are no plastic parts on the valve cover or the top center cover that hides the wires and coils. All alum.

pifcat2

the M103 valve cover is magnesium alloy, probably the same for M104

GEDaggett

Here is the work I did last night at the shop.

I used High temp engine enamel from Duplicolor


I am lucky I have a spray booth at work so I took full advantage of it.


First thing is to make sure that all the parts are cleaned and prepped. Nothing like cleaning high gloss of of threads and rubber



Primer is done in three coats. First two coats are done very lightly and are meant to create a bonding layer or a base. The third coat is a medium coat and is what will fill in the primer nicely. The goal is to have a consistent coating of primer so that the paint will bond well to the pieces. If you go to thick you run the risk of it chipping to easily or getting runs. Coats should be done in ten minute intervals and all coats including paint should be done within 1 hour of completing first coat. Otherwise you have to wait 5-7 days for paint to completely cure in order to recoat. If you do it outside those parameters you will get blistering and flaking. the paint will be trying to pull the moisture from the first coats and will screw it all up.



When doing the top coat repeat the process for the primer. Also you need it to be between 60F and 90F and humidity less then 60% so don't do this on a rainy day unless you are in an automotive climate controlled booth. If you have done the first two coats and primer correctly it will allow you to do a little heavier top coat that will have a great shine.


When complete it must set for 1 hour before you can touch the surface and three hours before handling.



The little Benz insignia you see was cut out on our laser cutter. I am batting around the idea of stenciling something in red across the top of the Valve cover but am not sure what to put other than "Mercedes - Benz" any suggestions?

ps2cho

looks sick

GEDaggett

Thanks.