valve covers.

[CyborgGT]

Does it open with a push? I wonder how hard it would be to custom-make one.

[lucifer1]

To open, you press down, then it pops up so you can grab and unscrew.

[DCB7]

Can I use engine degreaser to clean the inside of the valve cover, or maybe mean green?

Will it affect the engine?

[cb9love]

my contribution too this awesome thread.
i wanted the brushed aluminium look but after really looking at the full polish ones its a hard call now.

any good de-greaser can be used too clean your valve cover, just rinse it with water and let it dry before you put it back on.
brush finished as suggested by steelbluesleeper.

[Cb7_Qc]

here is mine before clearcoat and after clearcoat/installed

[DCB7]

Thnx cb9love. I had som gunk heavy duty, its probly fine to use but I just used some seafoam instead. I just wiped it when I did mine, but this one from the junkyard was black on the inside
I would say brushed aluminium for the cover... or polished lol...or both(brushed aluminium on valve cover, and polished centre piece)

Cb7_Qc, you're skilled with that airbrush

[steelbluesleepR]

i wanted the brushed aluminium look but after really looking at the full polish ones its a hard call now.

If you go for the brushed look, use a scotch-brite pad and only pull it one way. it will look way more uniform and clean. this is what Delorean owners use to get their stainless bodies back to factory finish.

[F20A CB7]

Nice work all. What's easier to do. A sohc or dohc cover?

[DCB7]

before clear


after


@f20, these are the only 2 valve covers I ever did, but I would love to do a DOHC with the larger flat surface

[CyborgGT]

A cover I did for a friend. Came out pretty well for a rattle can. YR-505M, Cashmere Silver Metallic.




You can see the mistake on the near corner here. I tried using some 3M pinstriping masking tape to mimic the the stripes on the car and while adjusting the tape it peeled some paint off. I had already run out of the factory paint at this point, so it had to stay; I gave up for fear of risking more damage.

[deevergote]

Well I'm pretty sure boss man forgot about this...... Don't really want to bug him about it, I'm not to good at setting things like this up, so we are just waiting on the contest to be setup.

Life has been chaotic for me over the past few months, but it's calming down a bit now. I do still want to get the contest going, if you're still up for it!

[KeeleDesign]

[KeeleDesign]

Sha-bam!

It doesn't flow quite as well as I was hoping, but still, it's much better than stock.









...and on the K. I wish the H's cap was wrapped so tightly by the body of the valve cover.

The cap doesn't look bad, I think the shaved awesome cover makes the cap look bad, lol.
I'm sure you can cut the threaded part off the oem cap and epoxy your own shape and design together to make a real smooth custom piece that fits the contour and flows with the cover, I'd make it out of sheetmetal steal, for that complete shaved look, I wish I had known it wouldn't fit right. I could have modified that area.

[CyborgGT]

Here's a cover I'm working on myself. Still needs the letter paint sanded off and some clear, but I wanted to share my work in progress:


As I found it in the junkyard. Crappy wrinkle red.


Aircraft remover


Sanding it smooth. Did a thorough job on the letters with a sanding block, so removing the paint later on should be easier.


High-temp primer, then wet-sanded with 600-grit


High-temp white, then again with the 600 wet. This coat actually came out so perfect, I was tempted to leave it white. I did a white base hoping the final color would come out brighter.



BMW's Monaco Blue Metallic (A35). Sprayed on one coat, wet sanded with 800 then 1500, then sprayed another coat of blue. Some imperfections came out on the second coat, mainly some puddling or bubbling above the 'D' and to the right of that, at the corner of the plug dish. But I'm not going to risk further sanding just to have that show up in the clear coat.

After the first coat, it wasn't as blue as I was hoping, but the second coat really helped. I'm expecting the gloss clear to bring a bit more of it out. Definitely my best work yet though; I'm proud of it.





Going to get an OE silver plug cover and OE non-shaved wire cover to go with it. I at least want three covers for my engine; in the factory black, blue, and red options. The black was a stealth job (^thanks again!), this blue covers a custom-but-OE-inspired take on the factory "blue top," and I want an unmodified red-top Type-S cover.

[XCRN]

Cyborg, that is beautiful! I do think it would look nice with silver lettering and the silver cap. I would love to do something similar to my BMW but a bit darker.