Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Painting the valve cover

[Nate]

I was wondering if anyone has done this? I searched and came up emtpy.



I have a grey cover that's yellowing (clear coat I guess??) I was thinking of sanding it down a bit and painting it.

 

[Mhannink]

yeah it can be done i have seen many pics on here that show custom valve covers

 

[Cummins724]

I was wondering if anyone has done this? I searched and came up emtpy.



I have a grey cover that's yellowing (clear coat I guess??) I was thinking of sanding it down a bit and painting it.

You gotta strip off the yellow clear & clean it real well with wax & grease remover. Then you need to spray it with adhesion promoter then clear coat it. I just spray them with engine paint clear in cans & they turn out nice. I put on light coats & wait 10 minutes between coats & bake it when I'm done. I don't have a paint booth..... I just put it near my furnace. I painted mine red metallic & polished the lettering before painting it & it looks awesome.

 

[AndyMan]

Is the cover aluminum? After handling mine a week ago (valve adj) I noticed it's pretty lightweight. Figure it was either alum or plastic... I didn't pay a lot of attention.



If it's alum (or some other metal), I'd say you could use an "aircraft stripper" to strip it and then paint it.



I may try such at some point soon. You can also buy a factory powdercoated one from Cummins that'll fit. They look nice. Part numbers are around here somewhere.

 

[Turbo Tim 1]

I believe the silver ones are straight aluminum and the black ones are a magnesium alloy, anyways the aluminum ones tend to polish real nice, I still haven't gotten around to finishing mine but here is a picture. My wife says I wrote the book on procrastination. :-laf



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[Bob Wagner]

the lighweight valve covers are magnesium. The older 10 lb covers are aluminum

 

[AndyMan]

OOH that does look good Tim. Now that you all have got me thinking about this, I might strip mine and paint it red. Polish paint off letters and then clear coat it.



I suppose VHT hi-temp paint would work okay?



Might do intake horn and compressor housing while I'm at it.

 

[VHolloway]

What Are The Black Ones Made Of. And Do I Need To Clear Coat It

Thanks

 

[AndyMan]

Not sure of the material.



Clear coating is not neccessary... I've just got clear coat on the brain... I'm stripping and polishing a set of 01 alloy wheels and am applying my process for them to the valve cover.



If I strip and paint the valve cover, and sand paint off the letters, exposing the bare metal, a clear coat would probably help keep the letters shiny and free from tarnish. I'm not sure if there is a clear that will withstand engine heat though.

 

[Grizzly]

I was wondering if anyone has done this? I searched and came up emtpy.



I have a grey cover that's yellowing (clear coat I guess??) I was thinking of sanding it down a bit and painting it.

Nate, see kdbvulcan's thread on the subject.

 

[Nate]

My truck is a 3nd gen with a metal cover. His truck is a 3rd gen with a plastic cover

 

[Nate]

Well, here's the pics.



It was the grey one before, sorry no pics but the clear coat was flaking off and yellowed in places.



I sanded it all down and ground the edge by where the seal is to smooth out all the casting excess.



Then a coat of metal etch primer followed by 2 coats of black.

Then I painted the letters and bars with some red paint by hand with a little brush. 3 coats of that. It took a fairly steady hand.

Then 2 coats of clear.

Just rattle can, nothing fancy.



Finished it up around 3 this morning.



The letters do look a bit orange in some light for whatever reason. I just used some red enamel model paint with a bit of black to darken it. I wanted to match the truck, but the paint store would only mix a pint, which was WAY more than I needed.



I might pull the air horn off sometime and repaint that and clear coat it as well so it matches better.

 

[AndyMan]

Looks fantastic Nate!

 

[OL RATLR]

Looks fantastic Nate!

Looking Good. Oo.

 

[isb360]

Great looking cover Nate!



I wonder what drove the change from Al to Mg on the cover? Weight savings? Mg is more expensive and harder to cast... it would seem there are other places to save a few ounces on a 1000lb+ engine than the valve cover!



Tim

 

[Nate]

I want to say it was for noise?? I remember reading that somewheres.

 

[qkoop]

What is that line coming from the oil filler cap? Just a crankcase vent!

 

[Nate]

Oil in from a bypass filter

 

[GOT-Torque]

You could just buy one of these from cummins...



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[Nate]

How much did that cost?