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DIY engine cover paint job??

14K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  Jake 
#1 ·
has anyone tried removing the engine cover on their own and painting it??
are there any thread available??
any thread of DIY engine cover paint jobs?
 
#2 ·
Hamann330ci,


Yes I myself have posted the DIY a few times, way back you may want to look in the archives, Its a very easy process the hardest part you have to do is decide on the color and be SURE TO BUY HEAT resistant spray paint.

Here are a few pics of mine....its easy to do so GO FOR IT, if you have any ??? let me know if you can find it..

<img src="http://www.e46fanatics.com/members/Jake/Engine3.jpg">
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<img src="http://www.e46fanatics.com/members/Jake/Engine2.jpg">
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<img src="http://www.e46fanatics.com/members/Jake/Valve1.jpg">
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<img src="http://www.e46fanatics.com/members/Jake/Valve2.jpg">
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<img src="http://www.e46fanatics.com/members/Jake/Valve3.jpg">
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#3 ·
hey Jake i tried looking for threads on the board but i could find one on DIY engine cover paint............i just need to know how to take the engine cover off and how to put it back after...........is it a hard process??...........and also how did u manage to paint the cover with getting the silver lines on the engine cover??
 
#5 ·
wow, that paint job looks hella nice! and there i went and bought a carbon fiber one, damn, i should have painted it!:lmao: no, but seriously, the paint job looks hella nice!:thumbup:
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the compliments guys....

As far as taking the covers off you have 4 plastic tabs you have to remove use a small flat head screw driver (Then use a ratchet to un-screw the bolts..), if you look on your covers you will easily see the 4 tabs two in the front and two in the back (Sort of hidden but you can see them..) if you look at the pics closely you can see the round tabs in the 1st, 3rd and 5th pics...

as far as taping the lines yes I just used regular masking tape (The thin stuff...) I will repost the step by step DIY when I get home from work..(I can only surf but so many hours.. :dunno: )

You can buy the spary paint from pep boys, autozone, a paint shop etc.. etc...just MAKE SURE its heat resistant.

and yes you tape the lines up B4 you paint, so then they come out looking good... Again I will post the DIY when I get home...:thumbup:
 
#9 ·
As promised here you go....

This should cover everything i did to paint my engine covers. Hope this helps everyone

***How to paint your engine covers***

Parts needed:

1200 grit wet sand paper
2-3 cans of heat resistant paint
1-2 can of heat resistant clear coat
1 can of paint thinner
1 roll of pin stripe tape (your color choice)
1 Paint marker (your color choice)

1) Start by taking off the panels you want to paint. For the valve covers, there are 2 round plastic covers that hides a 10mm bolt. 2 valve cover = 4 bolts total. Every other panel should be pretty self explanatory on how it comes off.

2) After taking them off, clean them thoroughly with soap and water. After it is 100% clean, free of dirt, oil etc……. use the 1200 grit wet sand paper and sand it down. Use a lot of water to help you do this process (hence wet sanding). Lightly sand it down until the surface feels nice and smooth. All your doing in this process is 1) cleaning the surface and getting rid of any imperfections and 2) taking off any clear coat/waxy substance that will cause the paint to not stick properly so take you time!! 3) your microscopically “scratching” up the surface giving the paint more surface area to bite. I can’t say enough how important prepping the surface is. If you take short cuts then risk the whole job coming out like crap. Oil, dirt, etc….don’t mix well with paint.

3) Ok, after your completely done cleaning all the parts you need to make sure they are 100% dry. Shake it, use a blow dryer etc… whatever it takes. The main idea here is 1) Zero water on the panels and 2) keeping the surface clean. Obviously if your hands is all greased up and dirty, you shouldn’t touch the parts to be painted. Word of advice, although you may not see the water it doesn’t mean its not there. It maybe trapped in some corner and when you use the compressed spray can to paint, BOOM! Water comes out of nowhere ruining it. If that’s the case. You’ll have to start all over with that piece so make sure its COMPLETELY DRY!!!

4) As a added precaution, I even used a clean cloth and wiped it down with paint thinner to make sure it’s clean and completely dry (paint thinner dries quick!) After that, I used a hair dryer to blow off any lint that maybe stuck on the surface.

5) Now all your parts should be ready to be painted. On the valve covers, the “BMW” and the stripes, you can either use the roll of pin stripe tape to mask it off or just paint it, then use the pin stripe tape to color it back after your done. I painted all my covers silver and then it was dry, I used black pin stripe tape for the stripes and a black paint marker to color it back in for the contrast. This part I leave up to your own imagination as to what you want.

6) Things that needs to be masked is masked so now painting. Find a nice open area to place all your panel at. You can either do one at a time, all at a time, the choice is yours. I did mines in two “sessions” Make sure the area isn’t dirty, dusty or has anything that might fall on the wet paint.

7) Shake the can following the manufactures directions. Now your ready for the fun part! Spray the color paint about 6-10 inches away from the panel in a fluid back and forth sweeping motion with a VERY LIGHT MIST COAT!!!. If your really new at this, buy an extra can of paint and spray it even further way like 10-12 inches. The key is the first coat is a very very very light coat of paint. It should only cover the panel like a light mist of color. Let that first base coat dry for 10 mins. Now for the second coat. Keep the same fluid back and forth motion and gradually add more coats leaving about 5mins in-between coats. You figure to break it up into 15% at a time while gradually covering 100% of the panel. Remember, its a lot safer and better to do a lot of coats so don’t be too aggressive and try to cover the panel all up in paint one shot. I don’t work that way. The paint will drip and look like a mess if you apply too thick of a coat. You hand should NEVER stay at one spot!!! Always should be moving back and forth. If you notice the paint looks a little thick and wants to drip, HIT the BRAKES and stop! Give it a 10-15min wait and be very careful with that particular area. Uniform light coats is the key here.

8) After all your panels are painted, give it about 20-30mins to dry then apply the clear coat. 2-3 coats of the clear coat is enough. Its not as hard as spraying the paint. Again, allow about 10mins in-between coats and as always with painting, light fluid side-to-side movements at all time or it will drip.

9) Allow it to dry for a few hours and when its completely dry to touch, use some car polish and buff it up real good and it will look all nice and shiny =)
 
#10 ·
Jake, thanks for posting the DIY. You make it look easy. Now all I need to do is find high temp paint to match a Dakar Yellow car.
 
#12 ·
Buddha 330CiC said:
Now all I need to do is find high temp paint to match a Dakar Yellow car.
That's going to be tuff - unless you go to a specialized place where they can create the color of choice. If you just head out to AutoZone, Pep Boys, etc., you'll probably not find a good color fit.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for the detail DIY .... I agree yours turn out great :thumbup: :thumbup:
Now come the hard part to figure what color I want to go with my black ride :dunno:
 
#19 ·
Danielwu8, IRT the bolts in the back you can get to them so long as you have a SMALL ratchet head that is all you need.

Well let me help out a few of you on the paint choices....if you want customized Spary paint, go to www.towerpaint.com, they will customized any color you want, this is where I got my paint from all I did was give them my paint color code (372) and they matched it exact.

So if you have a color in mind just get the paint code and they will put it in a can for you great svc, I think each can only cost like $14.00 I am not sure but go to there site and send them a E-mail, they will do you right.
 
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