painting finned valve covers

What is the best or easiest way to paint finned valve covers? Do you mask the fins and logo or wipe with thinner after painting any input would be appreciated.

 

You could probably take 1/4 masking tape and mask the top of the fins and paint.

 

I taped off the outside fins and the area of the covers I didn't want paint on... then painted them, while the paint was fresh I got a rag and used thinner to wipe the fins clean. Easy enough!

 

That's what I do with all kinds of trim and chrome stuff. Tape the easy part and wipe the difficult part. Much easier and cleaner than tape.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366701

 

Do you intend to polish the face of the ribs or do you want a machined look if you want the later paint the whole thing then run a wide fine flat acrossed it or use a flat hard sanding block with some 180 on it but only in one direction < >.
W W

 

I used my DA sander on old M/Ts I wrinkle finished.

 

rub vasoline on anything you don't want painted,then wipe it off when paint is tacked.

 

Hmmmm... I never thought of that!! probably pretty easy huh!!

 

I paint the entire cover then I use a mill file to clean the fins and the logo as it gives it that machined look >>>>.

 

yeah,used vasoline on my plymouth script on dash,just don't get it on anything you want painted, easy.

 

Mask the inside and top of the fins, one at a time and paint the grooves with a small brush.Gets kind of tedious buy only takes about an hour each.Pull the tape and your done..no mess.Mine turned out perfect.

 

Cherry flavored chap stick....

I've spent hours masking the fins and the old Corvette logo using Xacto knives with mixed results.

Some one on the net suggested cherry flavored chap stick. The small tube makes it very easy to control. Cherry flavor because it is tinted red which makes it very easier to see what you have covered. It's harder to see the non flavored type. It takes no time to do a set of valve covers and I've had great success. Try it you'll like it.

I've tried the paint and then wipe technique but I always found away to screw up the fresh paint some way.

 

ive done it every way you can think of.
the easiest is 1-shot with a good brush.
make sure the covers are polished out first no matter how you decide to do it.

 

What a cool idea! I'm going to try it.

 

I've always just masked around the fins,spray it and then scuff it with steel wool.Pretty quick and easy.

 

i have used rubber glue on different things to block off areas i didnt want the paint to stick.