[Ant GTR]

In the middle of an engine rebuild and the covers had flaking paint and looked tatty. Decided to paint them in an anthracite color.
They turned out ok. Was thinking about doing the cam covers in the same color but you can't see much of them when it's together.

Has anyone else painted these?

 

[WideRide]

I think others probably have. Mine are powder coated wrinkle black

 

[Ant GTR]

I think others probably have. Mine are powder coated wrinkle black

Nice. You got photo of what it looks like in the engine bay?

 

[JohnnyTSi]

I rattle-canned mine VHT Wrinkle Black over an etching primer, came out nice enough as the wrinkle tends to hide imperfections:

 

[Ant GTR]

Cool. What mine should look like when complete.
I primed and painted with 2K enamel acrylic. Good for 250°C. Not as high as VHT but good enough.

 

[richj92]

They didn’t upload in the order I wanted but still. Benefits of working in aerospace manufacturing lol. Sand blast everything, chemfilm, mask, powder wrinkle black for the main timing cover and lower plenum (along with other bits and brackets) and super chrome followed by “Purple Glaze” for the cam covers, valve covers and intake manifold. Manganese phosphate all of the bolts too.

 

[bigc]

^ looks nice!

Interesting that not many folks in the GT-R community go with a polished theme - timing cover, cam cover, intake plenum, etc. Its popular in the G/Z/Q community, but not so much over here ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[WideRide]

Nice. You got photo of what it looks like in the engine bay?

 

[Ant GTR]

They didn’t upload in the order I wanted but still. Benefits of working in aerospace manufacturing lol. Sand blast everything, chemfilm, mask, powder wrinkle black for the main timing cover and lower plenum (along with other bits and brackets) and super chrome followed by “Purple Glaze” for the cam covers, valve covers and intake manifold. Manganese phosphate all of the bolts too.

View attachment 404071

Nice. I just had a rattle can and masking tape 🤣

 

[Despawned]

They didn’t upload in the order I wanted but still. Benefits of working in aerospace manufacturing lol. Sand blast everything, chemfilm, mask, powder wrinkle black for the main timing cover and lower plenum (along with other bits and brackets) and super chrome followed by “Purple Glaze” for the cam covers, valve covers and intake manifold. Manganese phosphate all of the bolts too.

View attachment 404066
View attachment 404069
View attachment 404071
View attachment 404070
View attachment 404068
View attachment 404067
View attachment 404065
View attachment 404063
View attachment 404064

Was it difficult pulling the valve cover with the motor still in the car?

 

[richj92]

Once the intake manifold is off the rest is actually really easy. You can get it down to the top of the block without any issues. The entire front timing cover can come on and off while the engine is still in too. Obviously if it’s within your skills/ease to do it outside of the car it’s easier; but not necessary by any means. My engine has never been out of the car since it was put in and I got all of it done.
Disregard the arrow as I took the picture this week for a different reason. But this is what it looks like as soon as you get the intake manifold and TB’s off. Valve cover immediately become available. This is how you can access the injectors and spark plugs easily too.

 

[richj92]

I should follow that up with “easy” is relative. I’ve been messing with cars by this point for probably 5 years (never professionally) and have a good understanding of how an engine is laid out. Have fully disassembled and reassembled an LS2 engine (not major. That engine is incredibly user friendly).
Point being, not a ton of specific knowledge on engines or building them but a decent understanding and hands on a few times prior and I was able to disassemble all of the covers and plenum without issue. I could easily go further than that too but had no reason to. So if you have similar or better experience than that listed, it is very easy.

 

[Despawned]

I should follow that up with “easy” is relative. I’ve been messing with cars by this point for probably 5 years (never professionally) and have a good understanding of how an engine is laid out. Have fully disassembled and reassembled an LS2 engine (not major. That engine is incredibly user friendly).
Point being, not a ton of specific knowledge on engines or building them but a decent understanding and hands on a few times prior and I was able to disassemble all of the covers and plenum without issue. I could easily go further than that too but had no reason to. So if you have similar or better experience than that listed, it is very easy.

Yeah I have quite a extensive history of working on cars, I think I'm gonna end up pulling my motor so I can check turbo oil / coolant gaskets and install a billet front differential should be a fun project!

 

[gtrbillet]

They didn’t upload in the order I wanted but still. Benefits of working in aerospace manufacturing lol. Sand blast everything, chemfilm, mask, powder wrinkle black for the main timing cover and lower plenum (along with other bits and brackets) and super chrome followed by “Purple Glaze” for the cam covers, valve covers and intake manifold. Manganese phosphate all of the bolts too.

Looks great. Did you blast the cam covers?

 

[russelh15]

Once the intake manifold is off the rest is actually really easy. You can get it down to the top of the block without any issues. The entire front timing cover can come on and off while the engine is still in too. Obviously if it’s within your skills/ease to do it outside of the car it’s easier; but not necessary by any means. My engine has never been out of the car since it was put in and I got all of it done.
Disregard the arrow as I took the picture this week for a different reason. But this is what it looks like as soon as you get the intake manifold and TB’s off. Valve cover immediately become available. This is how you can access the injectors and spark plugs easily too.
View attachment 404093

Engine looks great!
Where did you get the carbon trim from?

 

[richj92]

Looks great. Did you blast the cam covers?

Thanks. I blasted everything before powder. Used aluminum oxide media. Then I chemfilmed it to MIL-C-5541, mask, powder. Anodizing is all MIL-STD-171 type III class 2.

Engine looks great!
Where did you get the carbon trim from?

I appreciate it. That’s the Titek cooling plate. Took 2 years to find since they don’t make it anymore (so they say though it’s still for sale). I made the purchase through Vivid Racing. They were very reluctant to sell it to me because of the widely known figment issues and I promised them I wouldn’t return it so they sold it to me lol. It takes a lot of shaving/sanding to make it fit and then there’s nothing to hold it down since the plastic push clips are too short. So I got T nuts from McMaster Carr, had to use resin to make them stick to the Cora on fiber composite frame there and bolts/washers from the top. All of the holes have to be drilled larger since they don’t align with any of the factory locations. It’s a mess lol

 

[kholdstare]

compared to my s14a not much so far 😀

 

[Uniphyed_GTR]

Anybody that powder coated their valve covers did your powder coaters sand blast first? How did you clean them afterwords to make sure all the contaminants are gone, especially in the baffles?

thanks.

 

[kholdstare]

never ever sand blast valve covers. use dry ice blasting.

 

[gtrbillet]

Anybody that powder coated their valve covers did your powder coaters sand blast first? How did you clean them afterwords to make sure all the contaminants are gone, especially in the baffles?

thanks.

I have a powder coating business and get lots of engine parts to coat. We never blast anything with any kind of baffling or any place that the media can be trapped. There is no way to know if you have gotten it all out. There have been stories on here and elsewhere of engines failing from the blasting media getting into the oil after assembly.