Firstly im not sure if i should keep the natural casting effect on the rocker cover or sand the whole thing down and get it nice and smooth. . .

Secondly . . . Paint - Normal paint or crinkle paint?
Does anyone have a close up photo of the effect that crinkle paint has? it doesnt have to be a photo of a rocker cover.

Cheers

Mario

Hey Mario,

Remember my rocker cover, that was just cleaned and sprayed with high temp paint and I got the original finish I was looking for! I'm about to do two more if you want to see anything!

Mr C (Ps how's the car coming along?)

Mine with high temp paint...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v60/puntoruss/18012009356.jpg

Since given it another coating in Speed Red Fiat paint as i wasn't happy with the finish. It also marked very easily.

the high temp pate is very powdery for some reason, i found my self priming, sanding, more primer, more sanding, then when i sprayed the high temp paint, i did lots of small coats and had to sand it back very finely .
once i was happy with the finish then used about 8 coats of lacer which made the color much deeper, to start of with it was all very orange

i had the same problem with the high temp stuff...
its really powery and looks like you could rub it off!
i done the nearly the same as samsite!
i primed it with 2 coats, applied 3 coats of red high temp and 2 coasts of lacer and i was happy...untill my cat decided to knock an empty spray can on to the cover...

Did you have to use a special lacquer for this ??

i presume the primer and lacqure also have to be heat resistant otherwise the primer will come off or the lacquer will bubble . . . im gna have a look in halfords today and maybe try some other places

I just used ordinary spray paint for mine and then halfords own petrol resistant lacquer. must be a couple of years ago now and still look good

The rocker cover does not go out of normal paints operating temps.

I wanted to paint mine with high temp and was advised against it by a friend (sprayer) due to the poor durability and finsh of it compared to proper paint (can't remember what its called).

no, i just used the normal stuff mate!

Mario, i again used normal halfords lacquer mate! come up shiney and looks top notch!

so you recon the rocker cover and coil pack cover will be fine with normal paint?

i just went to halfords and the guy said to me the normal primer and lacquer would crack as the engine got hot?
he recommended i go on the net and find all heat resistant paint . . .

he also advised me not to bother using a primer and just give it a few extra coats of red???

ordinary paint

very nice

i bought halfords own primer,paint and laquer and it turned out very well no problems at all

top job came2dance

i second that

to be fair i didnt use spray can stuff mine was body shop paint/laquer

cool well i will give it a go then :o)

Cheers

Mario

I used normal paint on my MR2 Turbo and it lasted for a couple of months but the heat made it shrink and split after that.

I re-painted my Civic VTi cam cover with VHT Wrinkle Plus paint and it looked great, just like a new one from Honda, but again after a year the paint had gone very hard and was starting to flake off in a few areas (just like the original ones all do!). Quite tricky stuff to use mind, the texture depends on how thick you apply the coats and the temperature you cure it at, so can be difficult to get a good even finish.

http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq120/marco20vturbo/Engine.jpg

this is mine with normal laquer not had any problems at all.

tell the guy at halfords to shh, it will be mine Mario!

Normal paint from halfords

Mario: ever had a look under a plus or a le's bonnet?
Testa Rossa is what you'll see
(red wrinkle paint)

Have a look at this forum page and you'll learn how to do the trick properly: clicky

thanks alesi , i'm gonna have ago at a spare rocker cover that chris ( mr c ) has this weekend but i'm still not sure what finish i should go for vht red wrinkle paint , vht red paint or just normal red halfords paint with a laquer finish ? . i like the look of the plus rocker cover but they always look dirty with oil stains so was thinking the laquer finish would be easyer to clean . whats other peoples thorts on this ?

Hycote do the wrinkle paint.

Lots of info on the Honda Forums

As mentioned, normal paint is ok to use as operating temperatures never reach to the point it warrants hi-temp paint.

However, I would try to atleast cover it with a hardier lacquer such as petrol resistant ones as oil spillage is most likely to happen at some point or another and this wears normal lacquer off.

As with any form of finising, the surface must always be kept clean. Whether its the original fiat crinkle paint or one thats coated with petrol resistant stuff, flaking, cracking, peeling will inevitably happen if its dirty for a long time or spilt oil left unwiped.

well had ago at the rocker cover with MR C ( chris ) today , so we started off with some high temp red paint from halfords and i have to say i didn't like the colour we ended up with , so back to halfords for some standard speed red paint and that has done the job , i'm very happy with the finish and colour so i'm leaving it to dry tonight and i'll laquer it in the morning but leave chris's one un-laquered to see the difference in colour and finish . will post some pic's when done of each colour stage and final finish when fitted to the car .

yes VHT from halfords would look really good but only if you lacquer it afterwards cos i found that the VHT looks chalky or Matt but the colour darkens and gleams really nice with lacquer

the finish was very chalky with the vht red paint so thats why i went and got some normal speed red paint as i wasen't happy with the colour but atleast it has a nice undercoat now for the speed red paint . i'll get some pic's up today of both colours .

Just had my Speed red rocker cover fitted this week. Picture below for inspiration:

Rocker Cover

looks pukka rush , hope to have mine fitted tomorrow so i'll get some pic's up .