Painting a Valve Cover

Before.

After.

Honda valvecover.

One of the most simple ways to dress up a boring engine bay is to paint your engine’s valve cover. Remember, the most important step in painting anything is good prep work before you start.

Supplies

• Some degreaser to remove dirt and oil
• 1 can of high heat engine primer
• 1 can of high heat engine paint in your choice of color
• 1 can of high heat clear coat *
• Masking tape

Procedure

1. You will want to first start by removing your valve cover and with paper towels or an old rag wipe off all the oil and as much of the dirt and gunk build up as possible.
2. Then using a good degreaser thoroughly clean the surface to be painted and wipe dry.
3. After you have cleaned the cover you will want to cover any holes such as where the bolts and oil cap will go, this is easily done by cutting masking tape to the correct shape/size.
4. The next step will be spraying 2-3 thin coats of primer on the valve cover. Once the primer has fully dried move onto spraying the color paint you wish your valve color to be. You will again want to spray 2-3 coats of paint. The next step is optional for personal preference.
5. If your valve cover has any lines or letters on the surface you may want to use a flat metal file or sand paper to carefully strip the paint off the raised lines/ letters.
6. After removing the paint from the raised metal spray 1-2 coats of clear coat over the exposed metal, this will protect it from corrosion in the future.
7. Now its time to put the freshly painted valve cover back onto your engine and see how it looks. You will want to put a new valve cover gasket on when installing the valve cover to prevent any oil from leaking.