Powder coating TIII valve covers

[iTurbo]

I have a few sets of TIII valve covers I'm working on powder coating with my basic gun from Eastwood. I don't have a blast cabinet unfortunately, so that makes things a little harder as far as getting them clean.

One thing I'm trying to figure out is wether or not it is worth the time (1.5 hours+) to tape off the letters on the valve cover, or to just coat the whole thing and sand them down later. I'm doing one set with taped letters and on one set I'm just going to coat the whole thing and sand them later. I will sand the powder coating off with a oscillating tool (Fein Multi-Master with sanding head), and then wet sand the letters down to try and get a brushed aluminum look.

Here is the first set which I plan to do in black semi-gloss. What a pain taping those letters off!!

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[harley04]

Well first if you want a quality job find a blast cabinet, the easy way to do the letters is to powder coat the covers your color of choice. Then find a machine shop to fly cut the letters back to silver, taping the letters will look ok but cutting them looks better. pm if you have more questions.

[iTurbo]

And here is the other setup I plan to do. Not sure what color yet, but probably wrinkle blue. I will be coating everything on this setup and sanding down later, as opposed to taping off letters.

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[iTurbo]

Well first if you want a quality job find a blast cabinet, the easy way to do the letters is to powder coat the covers your color of choice. Then find a machine shop to fly cut the letters back to silver, taping the letters will look ok but cutting them looks better. pm if you have more questions.

I admit I wish that I had a blast cabinet. But I have been pretty darn happy with everything I've coated thus far without it available. I used to think I *needed* a blast cabinet, but that is not the case. I will post pics of the final product for sure.

[Hairy Kyle]

I powder the whole thing them have the letters milled for an amazing shine.

[wallace]

Have you done aluminum engine parts before? If so did you have any outgassing?

[iTurbo]

^ Yes, lots of aluminum engine parts. For cast aluminum I usually put them in the oven at 300'F for about 1/2 hour before giving them a final cleaning prior to coating. Haven't ever had problems with outgassing on aluminum yet.

[HSKR]

Coat the whole thing then sand down. The valve covers on my truck are done that way. You can also use that method to make the letters/fins a different color, just have to be careful to only sand down through the top coat and not the base coat you want the letters to be.
http://media8.dropshots.com/photos/629366/20090627/b_201845.jpg

[HSKR]

I used a sanding block and manual labor to sand them down.

[iTurbo]

^ Looks great! That is a relief to know I won't be taping letters off again. Might save me some sanding time but not worth it overall.

[iTurbo]

I got the first set of covers done tonight in semi gloss black. I have not done any sanding yet.

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[iTurbo]

Well I have the other set of covers cooking in the oven right now to outgas them. After that I will do a quick scrub-down and coat them. I still don't know if I'll do wrinkle blue or wrinkle black.

Speaking or wrinkle powders specifically....I have not been all that happy with the wrinkle powders I have used thus far. Does anybody out there have any tips as far as getting a good 'wrinkle' going on? I've used wrinkle powders from Eastwood and Rosey's and they are 'OK', but not exactly great. They come out as more of a 'textured' finish rather than 'wrinkle' like stock. I'm worried that I might be happier with VHT rattle-can wrinkle, but that would be like giving up.

These covers are very clean and have a nice glass-bead blasted finish to start with, so I think that oughta help. I've heard that it helps to apply the powder fairly thick, so I will do that too. The bake schedule for the blue wrinkle I have is 400'F for 10 minutes or 350'F for 15 minutes. I assume that means after the part has reached temp and powder flows out.

[HSKR]

Yes, the bake times are always for after the part has reached temp and powder starts to flow. Also, you want to outgas the parts at least 50-100 degrees hotter than the temp you will be baking the powder on at.

[iTurbo]

Ok, thanks....I will turn the oven up to help the outgassing.


edit: getting kind of smelly in my apartment now. Surprising considering how clean the parts are..

[iTurbo]

I wet sanded the letters out today and am pretty happy with it. I started with 400 grit and ended with 1200 grit. I was going to get 800 grit, but the store I went to was out of it. I'm pretty happy with them. Unfortunately there is a small flaw just above the 2nd 'D' on Dodge but it's barely noticeable. It's a couple tiny pinholes, probably from outgassing. I did outgas these covers, but only at 300'F. I have outgassed the 2nd set already at 425'F, so hopefully that won't happen again.

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[GLHNSLHT2]

The powder coating place that did my Shelby VC and intake used DuPont black wrinkle. It turned out just like factory but brand new.

[iTurbo]

I've tried to find DuPont powders but so far have been unable to find them. I even tried the local Sherwin-Williams because they carry DuPont, but don't carry the powders and can't order them. I'm sure I can find them online somewhere.

The black covers pictured above are semi-gloss black, but the next set will probably be wrinkle black now that I've sold the '87 CSX.