Painting my valve cover... - Honda Prelude Forum

rogera04 · 08-16-2003, 05:31 PM

Hey guys, I bought my 1992 Prelude Si not too long ago and the valve cover looks terrible so I am going to repaint it to match the tube of my intake and my hood pins (which are going to be put in shortly.). I was wondering if anyone had any tips for me before I do this. From reading stuff all over the internet this is what I have come up with:

Make sure valve cover is cooled. (?? How cool does it have to be? Should I not drive it for a day or so before I paint ??)
Remove valve cover and place garbage bag over the exposed valves.
Pressure wash the remaining paint off.
Sand it down so the new paint will stick better. (What grit? Start low and work my way higher?)
(?? Do I need to put a heat-resistant clear coat ??)
Paint using at least 500 degree heat-resistant paint.
Wait 10 minutes for each coat. Apply about 4-5 coats.
Let it completely dry. (?? How long does this take ??)
Put valve cover back on.

If someone who has done this could look over that and tell me if I am doing something wrong or have left something out completely that would be very much appreciated. Any corrections to my list is very much appreciated. If you guys want, when I get all the instructions and am sure about what I'm doing I'll make a write up and post it on here so others can do this too.
Thanks!

92 SI Ludester · 08-16-2003, 08:55 PM

cant answer all of them but by letting it cool if means a few hours...kinda common sense, wait long enough so that its not hot anymore...about the sand grit...depends on you...if you want a smooth cover get a high grit...i wanted to try to keep the oem texture so i used a low grit paper but i am not sure what number exact it was...the paint should take about 30-45 mins to cure...i did it and let it dry over night just to make sure though

Lucke · 08-16-2003, 08:57 PM

i painted my cover a while ago and now it looks like ass...

if you can, powdercoat it... a compitent shop should be able to color match the powdercoating with the intake anodized color.

Broken Devil · 08-16-2003, 10:06 PM

The finished surface depends more on the paint than anything. I work at sherwin williams and we have a paint called silver brite that will withstand temps of up to 700 degrees farenheit. if nothing else, go to a commercial paint store and look for the industrial coatings. an industrial enamel is tintable to any color and might work but i dont know about the temperature resisitance on it.

ViZ · 08-17-2003, 09:18 PM

i just painted mine a dark bronze color... i left the texture because i liked it... i just cleaned it really well and used some paint thinner to get any oil and grease off it then i used very thin coats without getting carried away till i got the propper color..

ill post pics when i get a chance to take them

ViZ · 08-17-2003, 09:18 PM

remember to cover the bottome and stuff towels in the holes especially the pcv hole bbecause you dont want paint and **** to get into the baffle undernieth

Lucke · 08-17-2003, 11:19 PM

oh yeah... i hope you're not doing this while its on the car...

its much easier to do it and get all the angles while its off.

PatrickC1026 · 08-18-2003, 04:07 PM

I'm going to paint my '92 Si valve cover soon too. Since it will be hard to get a matching paint with my car color (Milano Red), I'm thinking about polished color. Also, it will match my Cold Air Intake tube which is polished. Is it pretty much same procedure? I'm not familiar with polished stuff. What do I do to get the polished finish?

XLerate9 · 08-19-2003, 11:43 AM

you will be much better off getting it powdercoated... send an email to Rudelude92@aol.com and tell him I sent you... he'll do a good job.

-Ryan

Mark94 · 08-19-2003, 07:50 PM

Skip painting it... get it chromed

Mark

L-U-R-C-H · 08-19-2003, 08:00 PM

Hell yeah mark! That's what I am doing!

PatrickC1026 · 08-20-2003, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mark94
Skip painting it... get it chromed

Mark

How much does it cost to get chromed and who should I contact? Does it last longer than the paint or polished finish?

Mark94 · 08-20-2003, 11:25 AM

I had two covers done so I'm not sure what the exact breakdown is. I approximate between $200 and $250 for a triple coated process. It will last a lifetime with virtually no maintanence (just a coat of wax every now and then.)

This is my cover two years more than two years after having it done.

Add .org.jpg for larger size.

Had it done at a Harley Davidson shop.

That's the way to go L-U-R-C-H!

Mark

jgcpn33 · 08-20-2003, 07:42 PM

how much does it cost to get it powdercoated??

rogera04 · 08-21-2003, 12:23 AM

Mark94: Yours is beautiful..... *stares in awe*

PatrickC1026 · 08-21-2003, 10:24 AM

That looks awsome Mark.

What kind of spark plug wires did you use? My lude is also red, so I'd like to get some red plug wires next time when I replace the existing ones.

Mark94 · 08-21-2003, 08:18 PM

Thanks fellas.

Pat, I have Nology Hotwires. They provide no HP increase whatsoever but I was willing to fork out the extra money for them because they are the exact color that I wanted. I think they were $120 - $130 for the set including the coil wire.

Mark