Fryguy22

So I think I'm gonna paint my valve covers. I'm not set on the color scheme yet but I'm thinking silver and keeping the lines on top black. Similar to this:

Has anyone done this? Any tips on how to tape off those lines to get a nice crisp edge?

BraMas

what it looks like they did was first lay down the white with no tape. than thin fine line tape where you want the white and paint the primary color remove the tape and clear coat the whole piece

03greyGT

I painted my buddys stock valve covers on his 96 GT last year. I painted them silver and then wet sanded the ribs back down to the black plastic. Then I just went over the ribs with some tire shine to make the black deep since the wet sanding kinda dulls the plastic...

Fryguy22

Thanks for the advice. Have any pics of the valve covers you did for your friend? What type of paint do you think I should use. The valve covers are plastic so do you think I'm better off with krylon fusion or with a high-temp engine enamel?

Zoie_daGT

I painted my valve covers a while back. I did a black and red combo to match my car. I started by fixing any damage on the valve covers. I used JB weld to fill in any gouges and scratches. Amazingly enough, I took my time on this and I was pretty impressed with the results. I had some deep gouging from dropping my engine into my car previously. After building up the gouges, I sanded it all down smooth. This is done to your taste but, I wanted them smooth. Then, over several nights after work I put some primer on it in several coats, the black in several coats, and finally the red. The red was custom mixed by NAPA to match the color code on my engine. I carefully taped off the lines on the valve cover and cut it back with a razor blade. Then I taped off the rest of the cover and painted that good. Finally, I clear coated it(I think). It has held up good on my car and I like the personal touch. My engine bay is stockish so I am really the only one who notices it but, I like the results. As a side note, I took the stickers off the valve cover that were already on it and taped them to paper and filed them in my mustang binder for future reference. You don't really have to do that but, I have started to try to keep any numbers or anything that I have on my cars. Hope this helps you out some.

caaraa

Really good thread!

Fryguy22

Thanks for the advice Zoie. I would love to be able to pick up a set for cheap and work on them slowly on the side. My car is my daily driver but I also do live close to public transportation and could always use that to get to work if need be. Do you remember what kind of paint you used and how have they held up?