How to paint your valve cover

I painted my valve cover awhile back and in the process I took several pictures in mind of doing a DIY article on painting a valve cover. So, here we are.

First things first, you need to do one of the following...
1) Use a spare valve cover (recommended)
2) Remove your current valve cover from your DSM

Here is a picture of the valve cover I started with.


Step 1: Cleaning the VC
You will need to thoroughly clean all the oil and other debris off of the valve cover. I used Purple Power Degreaser and it worked great. You will need to clean the VC is several steps. Spray, scrub, wipe/dry. spray, scrub, wipe/dry, and so fourth.

Step 2: Sanding
Once your VC is extremely clean, you can now sand it. You will need to get down to bare metal. I used several things to sand my VC.
1) Dremmel with sanding tips- To get in the small cracks, edges, letters, etc.
2) Sander- A normal sander will allow you to get the base of the VC sanded down quickly.
3) Sand Paper and Hand- Sanded by hand to get all the other spots sanded down.

You will also need to use different grits. Start out with a coarse grit sand paper, then go finer. I used 4 different grits and finished using 2000grit. Make sure the entire VC is smooth as possible. The smoother the VC, the better the VC will look. Here is what mine looked like once I was finished sanding.





Step 3: Paint
The color you select will be a huge factor that will decide the base coat you do. PLEASE USE HI TEMP ENGINE PAINT. If you do not, the paint on the VC will have a much shorter life and will look like ass due to the extreme heat the VC absorbs.

I painted my VC purple. The first coat I did was 5 coats of dark grey engine primer. Using your very first coat in primer will extend the life of the paint on your VC.

Next, I did a black engine paint base. I did another 5 coats using the black.







Now, you can paint the VC the color you wanted it to be. I suggest 5+ coats of this as well. The more the better. Here is how mine turned out.







Finally, you are ready for the clear coat. Spray on at least 3 coats of clear paint. Once she is all dry, you can put it on your DSM. I decided to sand the letters on mine so it stood out more and had a silver/chrome looking letters. Get creative, experiment, and have fun. Here is the final look of my painted VC.