Considering painting my fuel rail covers....

[Jughead]

I want to add a little class to the open hood presentation of my Ruby during car shows. I remember seeing some posts in the past on this subject and think a little underhood painting and some well placed polished aluminum or stainless steel will really set my engine compartment off. Is there any special prep work for painting the fuel rails covers, ASR cover and air breather box? The only painted fuel rail covers that I have actually laid my eyes on were some smooth finshed ones on C5 LS1's at various shows. Does anyone have any pics of the textured covers ours C4's have with paint on them? I don't particularly want to try to "smooth" them out before painting? I'm looking for ideas open to suggestions....Thanks.

 

[Vettelt193]

If you don't smooth them, i suggest matte finish paint. gloss will look pretty bad unless they are smooth.


On a side note, If you clean them up good, and do a quick sand, they will probably be mostly smooth. a couple coats of primer then sand will get them perfect for high gloss paint.

 

[c4cruiser]

I sanded the covers from my 92 to get them smooth so I could paint them body color. It took a fair amount of work using 150 and 220 grit paper to get them smooth. AFter the sanding, I used 4 or 5 coats of a sandable primer to get the covers to where I thought it would work. I used 600-grit as the final sanding before applying the color coat.


I also smoothed out the ASR cover and the air intake box.

 

[Jughead]

Since my idea was to go with the Ruby red to match the exterior... maybe I should consider your suggestion. I just wish I had some way to compare before I take them to have them painted. My local paint guy says he has done similar things on custom cars but really is hesitant to influence either way. He thinks it's just a matter of taste. By the way c4cruiser...great looking engine bay...I think we are headed for the same effect. Thanks for your input!

 

[Ken]

Just FYI, you know they can chrome just about anything nowadays. This is just one of the many places: Spectra Chrome.

 

[nyernga]

Mothers wheel polish, (in the small red jar) will make your refrigerant lines, upper and lower control arms shine like chrome. It's pretty amazing the change it makes.


Len

 

[Jughead]

This just keeps getting better! I'm looking for ideas to set my Ruby apart and this is all great info. I'm looking for class with the right amount of flash. All the C4's in my area look the same(plai) under the hood. Thanks for the polish info Len and the chrome link Ken.

 

[Blu ByU]

Wow, yours look great C4Cruiser! My original covers were kinda rough, so I bought a new set and painted them to match my exterior. This isn't the best pic, but you get the idea.

 

[Jughead]

Hey Blu ByU... I can't tell from the pic but did you smooth or sand yours out before painting?

 

[C4Tom]

Mothers wheel polish, (in the small red jar) will make your refrigerant lines, upper and lower control arms shine like chrome. It's pretty amazing the change it makes.


Len

I used a product by Eagle1 that looks like raw cotton wetted by a chemical. Just use some elbow grease on those metal parts(control arms, A/C lines, etc.) and they shine like chrome. I can't remember the name offhand, but ask at parts store.

The problem is... the more shine ya got, the more detailing you gotta do. :ugh

c4cruiser.... awesome!

 

[Blu ByU]

Hey Blu ByU... I can't tell from the pic but did you smooth or sand yours out before painting?

No, I didn't even think about it. I have a buddy in a body shop and he painted them for me. They came out pretty nice anyway though

 

[Jughead]

No, I didn't even think about it. I have a buddy in a body shop and he painted them for me. They came out pretty nice anyway though

From what I can see they look great. Going with the original textured finish is what I had initially planned anyway. Guess now I just have to decide...textured or smooth. Thanks for the pic.