Howdy,
Just showing you what I did and how I prepped and painted a cam cover and sump. Painting the cam cover is one very very easy way to dress up your engine bay and make it look a little more attractive. If you do plan on going out ripping off your cam cover to do this right now, well you'd obviously need to replace the gasket as they are most probably perished, and don't forget the spark plug gaskets.
It doesn't matter what it is you are painting generally the same rules apply. Clean, scrub, clean and clean.
Stuff needed:
Plenty of degreaser
Wire brush and or wire brush on the grinder
Thinners or Metho
clean rags
Parts washer brush, or cheap paint brush's TIP: Chop off half the bristles to make it stiffer.
A sump oil pan or large tub to catch the degreaser
Flat surface that you can paint on
Heat proof paint
OK, so with the sump. CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN !!!
Degrease the hell out of it, this is where the chopped off stiff bristled paint brush comes in handy, mainly because dirt, oil and grease get into the smallest areas that your fat fingers can't reach with a rag. And it's easier. While your already cleaning, turn it over and remove any left over gasket sealant or goo.
After you've degreased it, hose it down to help remove any dirt or oil that it may still have then once it's dry hit it with a wire brush to remove any flaking paint and to rough up the surface.
Place it on something flat then clean it again with a rag and metho or thinners. With spray paint shake the hell out of it until your arm get's tired, then switch hands and keep shaking. Don't forget to put the sump plug in, you don't want paint to spray inside the sump.
To ge tthe best results, be patient. Just do 1 very light coat and leave it for 5 mins, then another light coat and leave for 10-15mins now you can do a medium / heavy coat and leave it for about an hour before you go and do a final coat.
With the cam cover, same as above, clean, clean, clean. Light coat, light coat, medium coat, final coat.
The only difference is that you have to mask up a couple of things before you start painting. In particular the filler hole sealing surface and the outlet pipes that hose's may attach to.
And that's about it.
Enjoy
