Alfa Romeo - Wrinkle Paint on cam cover

amclean · Nov 29, 2009

Been wanting to do this job for a while, and finally got time to get it done this weekend. I decided the cam covers on my Alfa Romeo 156 GTA were badly tarnished and rather than try and polish them I decided to paint them. The alloy has not been anodised and corrodes too easily in this country. I've seen various finishes on the cam covers on the V6 156, painted, polished and chromed. But I decided on painting the coil cover in red wrinkle paint, and the cam cover in black wrinkle paint. Might be a bit of a Maserati rip off and not to everyones taste, but I like it, decide for yourself…..

I went out and purchased the following:-

Assorted polishing tools from Toolstation suitable for DIY drill
1 can of black Hycote wrinkle paint
1 can of red VHT wrinkle paint
Tub of Meguiars Metal Polish

Here's the engine bay before I started, front cover is a bit grubby…..

I started by making a bracket out of plywood to hold the coil cover while it was being polished back…..

Then fitted the coil cover to the plywood using a couple of wood screws

Here's a shot of the polishing tools, under a tenner from Toolstation

Couple of shots during the polishing stage

Then it was time to paint it. A word of caution, to get the wrinkle effect, it has to be warm, and you need to apply 3 coats in quick succession, say 5-10 minutes apart. I was doing this in the shed and left it overnight, for my first attempt nothing happened. So I then decided to use a heater in the shed, and accelerate the drying with the mrs hairdryer, mind you it's got some overspray at the back of it now, hope she doesn't notice.

The hairdryer worked well, and after 3 coats I put it in the oven, well seeing the mrs was at a safe distance in New York for the weekend.

I'm no Nick Nairn but I'd say that is cooking nicely...

Just out the oven….

And on to the cam cover itself, a good part is hidden by the top coil cover so it wasn't necessary to fully prepare the complete surface. 50/50 shot….

Threaded holes masked off…..

Same process applied….

And finished

Now the most difficult part, to wet sand the Alfa Romeo logo back and then polish it, without damaging the finish. For this I masked off around the badge and used 2000 grit soaked in water for 10 minutes. Carefully rubbed back using a cork sanding block, this is better than a flexible Meguiars type, as you are not trying to follow contours, a hard flat surface is needed.

50/50 shot…..

Finished and ready for polishing….

And the hard part, trying to keep the black stains away from the paint…

So after about 7 or 8 hours work, excluding refitting as I've not had a chance yet to do that, here's the final result, enjoy :argie:….

Once I get the parts refitted, I'll update the post. I'm away to watch Top Gear now.

Thanks for looking
Alan

Update from 1st December:

Got the parts refitted today, as a reminder, here's the before and some afters. Granted it shows up the plenum chamber now, but I still don't think I want it all in red, so I need to see what to do next with that part. Overall very pleased with the result.

alan_mcc · Nov 29, 2009

That's stunning. :argie:

ChrisST · Nov 29, 2009

That looks fantastic.:thumb: Gorgeous Gta by the way.:argie:

RyanJon · Nov 29, 2009

WOW!!!!!

11/10 for that :thumb:

Ryan

Spoony · Nov 29, 2009

Absolutely awesome job there, its the little things that make the biggest difference

adam87 · Nov 30, 2009

Thats gonna look the dogs danglies in the car!

You need to do the top cover next

Loving the polished lettering. Great job :thumb:

amclean · Nov 30, 2009

adam87 said:
Thats gonna look the dogs danglies in the car!

You need to do the top cover next

Loving the polished lettering. Great job :thumb:

Needs a clean said:
Looks sweet bud! :thumb::thumb:

As said before, do the top cover too to set it all off.

Thanks for all the positive comments.

I'll see how it looks when it goes back on and then consider doing the top cover. Trouble is it's my daily driver and I only really got the chance to do this as the mrs was away allowing me to use her car. Hopefully get it rebuilt tomorrow before I collect her from the airport.

Needs a clean · Nov 30, 2009

Looks sweet bud! :thumb::thumb:

As said before, do the top cover too to set it all off.

Bendee · Nov 30, 2009

looks good mate ive just done my rocker cover in the vht wrinkle red its such a easy paint to use and cool that in a blink of a eye the wrinkle apear with a heat gun pointed at it.

alexf · Nov 30, 2009

looks stunning!

:doublesho

Bratwurst · Nov 30, 2009

That's terrific man!

Yoghurtman · Nov 30, 2009

Great little project, get the pics on the car posted please :thumb:

amclean · Nov 30, 2009

Will do tomorrow, need to get it rebuilt in daylight. Only finished it last night at 8pm. Will update the post. And thanks for +ve feedback.

Cheers

Alan

andyd73 · Nov 30, 2009

Better hope the missus doesn't find out about the things you were cooking in her oven while she's away in New York. Don't worry your secret's safe with me

amclean · Nov 30, 2009

Haha. Seeing as neither of us will be at the works dance Andy, all should be safe. Cheers mate.

123quackers · Dec 1, 2009

Stunning work there :thumb:

was it not possible to polish first mask up and paint? just wondering

crackle finish looks real good

amclean · Dec 1, 2009

Not sure to be honest, thought the shape was too complex too mask off. I actually polished it before painting and applied some light grease to the letters to try and reduced adhesion but it never worked. You don't need much effort to polish after sanding with 2000 grit anyway, the main thing is to be very patient when wet sanding.

Update from 1st December:

I've updated the original post as well as posted the photos here. Got the parts refitted today, as a reminder, here's the before and some afters. Granted it shows up the plenum chamber now, but I still don't think I want it all in red, so I need to see what to do next with that part.

Cheers
Alan

KennyC · Dec 1, 2009

Excellent work

Jody 4444 · Dec 1, 2009

What a great turn around mate :thumb:

123quackers · Dec 2, 2009

looking good :thumb:

I used a normal masking tape and a new stanley blade to do a similar job which worked well although it took time to cut out properly but was happy with result...

Love the V6 Alfa engine... Best sounding V6 IMO ever made...

Shame its gone for good now..

pdv40 · Dec 2, 2009

Looks absolutely fantastic! Very OEM as well, I would have thought that was factory finish if I didn't know any better :thumb:

No_Fear · Dec 2, 2009

very nice,big diference.

Miglior · Dec 2, 2009

that looks fantastic, great job!

Chrisjk · Jan 9, 2010

Really good job, wanting too give this a go on a spare inlet of mine.

Mike Hunt · Jan 15, 2010

Looks the business, it's probably better to leave the plenum well alone. As mentioned earlier one of the best V6's of all time.

packard · Jan 15, 2010

you the man! - that could be a business on its own!

S-X-I · Jan 15, 2010

That looks amazing now, great work!

Han5y · Jan 16, 2010

Woow, nice work, and pretty nice car! I want to have the 3.2 v6 in my 155

amclean · Jan 16, 2010

Thanks Han5y. That looks like a special car you have as well. Yes the 3.2 is a great motor, it'll be very difficult for me to think about replacing it, so I'm considering preserving the underbody now in order that I can run the car as long as possible.

03OKH · Jan 16, 2010

Looks really good mate. And a nice write up for others to learn from. :thumb:

Tony

Alfa Romeo - Wrinkle Paint on cam cover

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