At my school I'm in independent metals... basicaly I'm the best in my school and I get to sit in a freshman class and help and do whatever the hell I want. So seeing the mass amount of machines and tools at my hand I figure I can put my class time to use for my Civic.

As many do, I want to paint my valve cover since I have yet to do it. As most know, to do it the right way you sand.... a lot. Now I have access to the sandblaster at school, would I be better off just doing that instead of hand sanding? And would I still need to sand after?

 

I would sand-blast it to get the majority of the dirt/paint/oxidation/whatever off it, but I'd definitely wet-sand it to make sure it's ready for paint before actually painting it.


Also, make sure it's perfectly clean before putting it back on the car. Sandblasting media + valvetrain = x.x (potentially)

*edit: not sure if you're aware of this trick, so I'll put it out there anyway. If you want to keep the lettering polished after the paint is on the valve cover, polish it before spraying any paint. Then, take some chap stick/lip gloss and coat the lettering (and anything else you don't want the paint to stick to) with it. Then, spray the paint. After the paint is dry, wipe off the chap stick and you still have a perfectly polished finish! It beats the hell out of painting a valve cover and then polishing the lettering and accidentally slipping with the sandpaper and ruining the paint on your nice, new black valve cover (which I'm guilty of).

 

Damn Reaper - going oldschool with that post. I only see the older crowd doing this trick. Maybe, just maybe you know what your talking about. =P

Anyway- back on topic. There should be no problem sandblasting. As reaper was kinda hinting at, make damn well and sure its clean. I can only imagine what that sand will do to the top end.

 

I just use aviation paint stripper and then clean it really well before I paint them. Always worked just fine with a smooth finish.

 

well i would ask what kinda sand is in the cabnet! to ruff id think it could chew into the metal.
but all depends how bad your valve cover is first before you decide to blast or not.

if your cover is smooth i would just hand sand it or if its only minor ruff spots id just hand sand it.
now if its pitted all over hell ya blast it but just be carefull.


not all sandblasting is the same. you have different grits that make all the difference!!!!!!
i believe walnut shells are best for aluminum.

 

yeah if it is not to bad wet sanding will work out fine. It may not look all shiny but as long as its smooth it will look good. Here are a few pictures of mine. You can also look in my project thread to see how i did them.

 

i used a cheap palm sander from walmart when i sanded mine. that thing does wonders!!!!!! made it a hell of alot easier and faster sanding still hand sanding with the power sander but 5times faster!

 

(cronin's post) MMMM.... wrinkle black. Y8 VC? And what color is on the Z6 VC? Looks like a nice shade of blue. Almost looks like Electron Blue Pearl.

Addiction, given the fact that he said he's the best in the school, I'd assume he knows what media to use for paint stripping on an aluminum VC. But I'd think walnut shells, plastic media, or pumice would all do just fine with aluminum.

 

I forget what color the blue is, im at college and the spray paint is back home so im not sure. But yes that wrinkle black is from my old Y8 and is currently sitting in sfgiants engine bay

 

When you go back home on your next break, you should definitely pm me the paint brand/color. When I get another civic here soon, I'm thinking about doing a few different valve covers for it, and I want a graffiti one, and I'm thinking that blue would make a good background color for it.