My valve covers need painting. I plan on removing them, sandblasting them down to bare metal, priming and painting inside and out with high heat engine enamel. I will allow several days dry time. Is painting the inside recommended? Will the paint hold up if done as explained above or will the paint come off and go into the engine? Any suggestions.

 

JUST paint from the outside!

 

why would you want to paint the inside???

Whether is would hold up or not.. why worry about it?

 

Most of the high temp paints i have used for various projects state not to use primer because the primer is not meant for high temp situations and will burn off. Ruining the bond of paint to metal. Unless you are using a high temp primer, which im not sure they make such stuff for the hobbiest. I would skip the priming.

I have had no problems with my painting procedure: sandblast the part, wiping the part down with thiner, (waiting a while), warming the part up by a woodstove, then painting it (away from woodstove) bringing it back awhile later and letting it "bake" by the wood stove.

I'm not sure if it is the routine or just my mind, but the paint seems glossier, and more durable when I "bake" it. Just my opinion.

 

By the way, I personally wouldn't bother painting anything on the inside, paint is mainly for looks and corrosion protection. You can't see the inside of the valve covers, and oil solves the rust problem.

 

no need to even sand blast the inside, there is so much oil being thrown around in there, you could even leave it bare, and it SHOULD never rust. if you were dedicated to coating the inside, I would have it powder coated, or HPC coated, this way it WON'T come off.

the valve covers should never get hot enough to cook paint. so just clean the inside really well, and blast, prime and paint the outside. then cover it all with some high temp clear, this will bring out some shine you cannot achieve with just paint.

 

Glyptal paint is used for block interiors, but I don't know if it's suitable for sheet metal.

Steve

 

Thanks for the help. I'll just sandblast inside and out and then paint the outside.