[Y2Kat]

I've decided I'm going to paint my engine cover the same DT Green as the Cat. I've found these Preval desposible spray guns at Home Depot. They seem like they will be a godsend to someone without the patience to have the car in the paint shop for a few days for a simple maint mod. Question is, what kind of prep do I need to do to the engine cover to insure a good finish. I know to degrease is, do I need to sand, prime or anything like that. Also will it hurt to drive the car without the cover in place

 

[Merc123]

All I did was run it under hot water and scrubbed it a little then just spray painted it. The paint chipped easily until it cured.

 

[Blackcoog]

I sanded it then put paint thinner on it and then primed it, let it dry, then sprayed it and, when dry of course, I put clear coat on it now it looks really good.

 

[Adidas02]

Go over it with laquer thinner after sanding. It will break down any oils in the plastic...and NO, it will not damage the cover as long as you just wipe it on with a rag.

 

[Blackcoog]

hmm that is what I said! Laquer thinner = Paint thinner.

 

[racerx]

Technically, NO, Paint thinner is not laquer thinner. Just go to any store and buy a gallon of paint thinner and smell it. Its Mineral spirits. Anyways, I sanded my cover heavily to remove a decent proportion of the texture, then I primed it with sandable primer (helps fill things in) then I sanded it baby smooth and painted it with the same Rio Red as my car. After a couple of coats of the red, I cleared it and wet sanded and buffed it. Looks sweet, glossy and smoooooth. One more thing, before the clear, I went over the letter that say DURATEC and such with white paint to bring the lettering out. Looks sweet.

 

[Crispy]

yup yup...... lightly sand that thing, run a rag with lacquer thinner over it... spray a few coats of sandable primer on it... then once dry spray 3 or 4 light coats of desired color --- take a paint marker in desired color and go over the embossed lettering... then clear coat that mo fo really good (3-4 coats) and then you can put it back on.... if you take your time with preppin and doing the light coats, it will look AWESOME!

 

[Y2Kat]

What can I use to mask off the lettering all together. I want to leave them chrome-ish to match the Weapon R

 

[Guest]

Just use a paint marker and go over the letters when your done...

 

[Y2Kat]

But, I want to leave the lettering the way it is now. I know they make a liquid mask, that actually turns into soap when water is applied. SOme of the body shops here use it. I also know Earl Shives used vasoline to mask off chrome, windows and such. I don't think I could tape it off properly.
Also, I was trying to decide which would look better. Painting it DT Green like the body, or painting it purple, which is what the StreetGlows, and any other accent pieces are going to be.

(accent pieces...OH MY GOD I sound like Martha Sterart...someone help me please!!!!)

 

[Guest]

purple works, I had that, got tired of it, went to white.

Silver would also look nice. also if you buy a silver paint pen, it'll look like you didn't paint the letters. I did a fellow member's cover in silver and black.

Cover

 

[Guest]

What if you rub wax or something on the letters? Something like that should work I'd think...

 

[Y2Kat]

***UPDATE****
I decided to go with purple. I was going to stop by the body shop and check out what he could mix up, but I was in Wal-Mart doing the weekly shopping. I decided to go ahead and pickup sandpaper, primer and everthing else I needed other than the color. I found model/hobby paint from of all people Boyds. CANDY PURPLE!!!! I was sold. I cleaned, sanded, cleaned, masked off the lettering, used this stuff that is supposed to help paint stick to plastic, primed really well and shot 3 coats of color tonight. It looks AWSOME!! SUnday morning I'll wake up, eat, run out and spay the coats of hi temp clearcoat and see what the final product is. If this stands up I'll be VERY VERY happy. I also decided to paint the fuse box cover the same color. If it doens't stand up, I'll get one of the Carbon Fiber ones being created (still I hope) or just paint the damn thing green like I was going to do in the first place.

Ill get some pix soon as it's all put back together

Complete. Check out the link in my sig. to check it out