Painting Valve Covers

I want to paint mine, i dont know what color yet, I have seen other Rivi's with them painted and i was wondering what type of paint, or brand is generally being used?

Any help would be appreciated.

I've painted a few with a number of colors. Pretty much any good rattle can will stick, its really the color itself that decides on how good it looks.

I found that the only color that really stands up in the engine bay and wont look like crap in a month is black. Black spray pickup truck bed liner is my preferred method now. It sticks to everything, its very strong, its thick, its a wrinkle finish, its oil resistant, and even when dirty looks good.

Thats a good Idea. Have you ever tried the brush on bed liner? are the valve covers the only things you have painted? Thanks for the assist andrew.

Any engine, brake caliper, wheel, or other high-temp paint will work. Valve covers don't get very hot. The key is in the the prep. You must get all the dirt and oil off, then scuff up the plastic with 220-340 grit sand paper, or bead blast the surfaces to be painted. Clean everything with a prep spray or some other solvent, rub down with a tack rag. You can also use a primer for plastics to ensure the paint will stick for a long time, or just shoot the paint on the covers. It'll prob work fine.

do these same principals apply to the SC? I'd imagine it reaches higher temperatures?

Some people don't like to paint the SC, they feel it holds in heat. I have no issue painting the m90, which is bare alumn anyway. I've also painted the m62, and don't really feel it impacts that much. Maybe if I'm building an all out race engine and want every last .2 HP out of it.....

Any high temp paint works. I've painted with high temp: M90s. m62s, LIMs, strut tower bars, fuel rails, coil packs, boost actuators, and valve covers. Also for the spray on truck bed liner, i currently have my fuel rail, strut tower brace, valve covers, and boost actuator painted with it.

Cleaning and prep work is vital. No grease or oil, scuff the surface, and if painting the fuel rail, make sure to strip it down to metal and use primer.

For metals, powder coating is the ultimate way to coat a surface - you send out the part for this service. But I don't think the plastic valve covers would survive the temperatures needed to cure the parts. Maybe there is someone out there that can do it, though.

Don't say that to loud AA, I was pratically ridiculed for the thought of getting my SC done.
I won't mention any names, but apparently painting extremely hot surfaces is the better route to go for a long lasting quality finish. (note the sarcasm)

My personal take on the matter... you paint only if you can't afford Powder coating.

I myself am kind of nitpicky when it comes to quality, and the cosmetic appearance of something I have thousand of dollars invested in. Call me krazy.

So many options to choose from, I talked with some buddies who do custom paint work and basically got all the same answers you guys dropped on me. I had a buddy suggest spray on chrome, which is sweet however i only know one guy who does it in the area, He's WAY TOO overpriced as well.
And besides in my opinion, i dont think the Rivi would look good with chromed vavle covers or SC.
However you can shoot that stuff in any color under the sun...
Ahh decisions decisions.

Hometown Hero wrote:

Don't say that to loud AA, I was pratically ridiculed for the thought of getting my SC done.
I won't mention any names, but apparently painting extremely hot surfaces is the better route to go for a long lasting quality finish. (note the sarcasm)

My personal take on the matter... you paint only if you can't afford Powder coating.

I myself am kind of nitpicky when it comes to quality, and the cosmetic appearance of something I have thousand of dollars invested in. Call me krazy.

I don't know if i was part of the group that 'practically ridiculed' you when mentioning powder coating the SC or not.
But I can tell you from Experience that powder coating requires the powder to be applied and then baked in an oven to 400*F. It's the 400*F that causes a problem with a machined aluminum part. The SC Housing has been machined to very tight tolerances to enable the rotors to run inside within thousanth's of inch of each other to seal the air being pushed into the LIM.
The 400* bake CAN distort the housing during the baking process which will cause you a problem not only during reassembly but when operating the SC.

I have used Powder Coating extensively on many motorcycle projects. Not only my own but customers bikes as well.
I have used the 'Best' Powder Coater known in the area for producing parts that are on Show Bikes and Cars.

On my personal bike i had some pieces done that involved the engine and have certain tolerances that must be maintained. After talking with the 'Expert Powder coater" he assured me he had done many and there was nothing to worry about, as I signed the work order with small print that said they are not responsible for distortion on critical parts.
Well the pieces I was concerned about, indeed did come out warped just enough (several thousandth's of an inch) so that they would not fit back on with out me bringing them to a machine shop and having some intricate work done to them before I could use them again. Needless to say the powder coating job just got much more expensive and the machine shop wasn't happy about trying to bring these parts back into spec whilst not damaging the new powder coating. (more money)

My word of caution on an Eaton SC is that there is no where that I know of that you can send the outer housing to have the large bores inside re-machined to accept the rotors if the case were to become warped or distorted by even a couple thousandths of an inch.
It is recommended to scrap the housings and buy new.

With that said, I have seen SC's that have been powder coated and everything worked out good for them.
But I am not willing to chance it, even using a facility with the best equipment that maintains the bake temp constant throughout the process.
Hope you understand the apprehension on some peoples part and take that into consideration when making your decision.

Quote :

With that said, I have seen SC's that have been powder coated and everything worked out good for them.

How is this possible? Maybe they used a low-temp UV cure process, which I read is being used with some plastics now. It's just hard to believe there's no way to powdercoat aluminum parts without damaging them. Look into it; somebody out there knows a way to do it right.

AA wrote:

Quote :

With that said, I have seen SC's that have been powder coated and everything worked out good for them.

How is this possible? Maybe they used a low-temp UV cure process, which I read is being used with some plastics now. It's just hard to believe there's no way to powdercoat aluminum parts without damaging them. Look into it; somebody out there knows a way to do it right.

I've seen the powder coated SC's on other 3800 sites, recommended by people on this site. And they had no problems. They got lucky in my opinion.
That still doesn't mean I'm taking my chances, I'll spray paint it if I want some color.

The housing of an SC is not flat, obviously, so it would be less prone to distortion. It is essentially round with some inherent strength cast into it. But, 400* is 400*...........
and that is way outside it's normal operating temp, that's why I wouldn't chance it.

I wonder if anyone has had their blower housing anodized? I don't think it requires any heat for this process.

AA wrote:

Quote :

With that said, I have seen SC's that have been powder coated and everything worked out good for them.

How is this possible? Maybe they used a low-temp UV cure process, which I read is being used with some plastics now. It's just hard to believe there's no way to powdercoat aluminum parts without damaging them. Look into it; somebody out there knows a way to do it right.

I might chance it and see if all goes to hell on me i will just buy a new SC from ZZP, and AA, I've never heard of the "Low tem UV cure Process" however i will take a look into that. It might just be the ticket.

Thanks Guys

Info on anodizing the blower housing:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/engine-bay-f19/group-buy-anodized-blower-aluminum-parts-t7362.htm#113316

I did the valve covers on my Supra with spray-on bedliner - they looked pretty slick and it laster really well. They are aluminum on that car, so a sanded and polished the raised edges, so it looked like edelbrocks or something. A full coat would probably look good on the plastic.

Bed liner will hold in a lot of heat right?

Engine enamel is what I plan on using to do mine this week (to match new SC). I think bed liner would be pretty thick in that situation. Starting the top end rip and tear down today, after a hearty Easter meal and a good Canadian beer.

Good canadian beer.I like me some Molson Golden!

10W30. Seriously thats its name. One of the best Canadian beers out there. Good stuff, made in Neustadt.

And on topic, my VC's are truck bed liner spray on coated. Works great, looks good. Though I've got a set of aluminum ones I'm polishing up. ( BIG HINT TO THE 95 GUYS: You can find the aluminum VC's off the 3800 Camero and they go right on.)

Really? Hmmmm... I will see if i can scoop some 3.8L Camero VC's.

The valve cover came in the mail today. Yesterday, I bought some black paint for it, but here is what it looks like... no paint needed! It's like GMPartsDirect could read my mind or something...





I assumed it would be the old stock white/grey/yellowish color that they all once came in but this was entirely black plastic (fiberglass?) right out of the box  . Getting it on the car now

Wow, that's pretty awesome, and tempting. How much was it?

Hey AA, it was 44.13 for the part + 12.95 shipping and it looks like part # is 12590363.

I took it out of the box and was like wtf... no way... why didn't they all come like this? haha (personal taste of course)

They used the same valve covers in other 3800s, including Pontiacs. Maybe they found black is more popular as a replacement part. I'd get a pair, except my beige ones were recently cleaned and are in perfect shape. Just a tad much for a cosmetic change.

Nice find, though. Good to know.