Painting between fins on valve covers?????

Same way you do car club plaques, mask the big areas you don't want paint on, spray, then wet sand the "high" spots, with like 320 paper, then 600, next 1000, 2000, last aluminum polish. You can stop at any time before hand, if you are not into the shiny look.

 

Fritz:
Some time ago I had to do a mural on an aluminum horse trailer with 1-Shot.The sign painter who had sub-contracted the job to me recommended scuffing the surface thoroughly and then applying a special etching primer.This stuff was a transparent purple and dried really fast.Smelled like lacquer.You had to paint over it within 6 hours or the paint wouldn't adhere.
I'll see if I can find out what the name of it was;the sign guy is out of business now and I haven't seen him in awhile.

 

I always wipe with vinegar, let it dry. Next tape off ends, and sides. Then spray paint fins,raised letters. Then let dry, wipe the top of fins etc. Using soft cloth with acetone. Works great.

 

I used "Bulldog Primer" first on the clean aluminum, then painted them, then wiped off the tops of the fins with a paper towel with lacquer thinner after each coat of paint. I masked everything else. Bulldog Primer sticks great to aluminum.

 

I used hardened alk enamal that I just brushed in the fins. Wiped out first with brake clean. Has held up for over 5 years and is not comming off.

 

I painted my hubcaps by masking off the biggest part of the cap. Then painted the ford lettering. After it dried used a rag wrapped around a paint stick sligthly dampened with thinner. Takes a couple of times but does a nice job.

 

This cover has been on the engine for quite a few years and it needs buffing pretty badly by now but it was painted by taping off the tops and carefully t******* the tape with a sharp, single-edged razor blade.

I've painted 40 or 50 pairs of valve covers using the "tape on the top of the fins" method and prefer it over the "drool down the edge sime coating" method. (which I gave up on years ago when the thinners attacked the top coating and made it run down the fins)

yea, the heads are off to get the improperly-sized, (they were oval) NEW last spring, valve guides replaced. 7-1/4 gallons of oil went down the guides lasdt summer. Yea, GALLONS.

 

I just finished up an older set of cals.I took them home one night grabbed a role of blue 3-m tape then applied it to the top of the finns pressed down has firm has i could Then i took a hair drier and heated the tape up let it cool off then used a strait edge razor to trim out the fins sprayed them out with rust olem and let that dry next day pulled the tape BAMMM they look great

 

I masked off the main areas, painted the fins with hi temp engine paint, then cleaned the top of the fins with laquer thinner before the paint dries. Never had a problem with the paint coming off, but it will fade after a few years.

 

I saw on an Mercedes-Benz site of all places an article on re-painting the centers of their hubcaps (stainless with painted center, but the three-pointed star is to be left SS). The "official" way to do it there is to use some stuff called Art Gummi. It's a latex product that you paint on what you want to mask, let dry, paint over it, then peel the stuff off. Haven't tried it yet but it sounds like a good idea. It is sold in art supply stores.

 

I just cleaned the valve cover and brushed the paint on,,,let it tack and used a paper towel soaked in lacquer thinner to remove the overlap on the fins,, HRP

 

Looks great HRP!