painting chrome

[joehalford01]

Hey guys,

1. I'm thinking about painting the chrome edelbrock valve covers on my truck. I want them to be flat black. Will the paint stick? I was thinking, clean them really good with some dish soap first. then hit them with a wire wheel? or sandpaper? is that even necessary? Or can i just use some bulldog, primer, paint, flat clear?

2. Do I need a pcv valve? Can I just pop a breather in place of it? Any negative aspects of doing this?

as always, thanks for the help.

 

[hillbillychopper]

crome paint

They sell spray paint to do that
In the 80s and 90s they painted the car trim flat black to give it the Ero look

 

[Gastrick]

Joe, if you sand, or sandblast chrome, paint will stick well enough but it's not optimal. I think the paint would still be sensitive to scratching. On something like valve covers you may not have much of a problem. But on anything like bumpers or external chrome, most likely the paint will eventually chip and flake no matter what you do.

As for the pcv, most will say that you do in fact need some sort of pcv to effectively evacuate pressure from the crankcase. That being said, I don't have one on either of my hot rods. I just run breathers. I have not suffered any negative efffects from doing so. The main issue that people seem to have when running sans a pcv, is oil seeping from the breathers at cruising rpm, but that's not always the case. I

 

[FlatBroke]

I would say to clean them real well, scuff in one way or another, wipe it with a tac cloth and prime the mess out of it before you stray. If you are not going to gloss it then layer the HAIL out of the paint itself.

Still may be prone to chipping, maybe not as bad.

 

[joehalford01]

so, is the vacum from the carb supposed to suck the crankcase pressure out via the pcv? making it go in a kinda sorta loop? i might just skip the sandblasting then and paint them, see how they turn out, i think i will be replacing them with the stock style chevrolet script covers later, which have no option for breathers or pcv......thoughts on that?

 

[FlatBroke]

Put breathers on both sides and don't worry bout it.

You may have to clean the valve covers every soo often.

 

[Gastrick]

Like this Joe? I added an aluminum side breather on each valve cover and used a breather cap on the fill tube in the intake manifold. No problems.

 

[donsrods]

Gastrick said it, it is almost impossible to get rid of really GOOD chrome. On valvecovers that are essentially "flash chromed" you might be able to sandblast them and get by, but it still is going to be dicey.

I just went through this. My rear radius rods were chromed........really GOOD chrome. Someone spent a few bucks to do them well. I wanted to paint them to match the front ones, so I sandblasted them, and it barely touched the chrome, so I took 40 grit sandpaper and scuffed the heck out of them. I finally got them sort of cleaned off, but I bet I am going to have problems down the road with paint sticking to them.

The right way is to have a chrome shop reverse the process, and dip them to remove the chrome, down to the original metal. I may have to pull them off if they start scratching off, and have that process done.

But generally valve covers are cheaply chromed, so you should be able to get some tooth and adhesion.

Don

 

[joehalford01]

that makes sense don, these are the cheapo auto zone/pep boys/kragens edelbrock valve covers the po put on. I want a different look. Gastrick, how did you do that? did you just cut a hole in the side to mount it in?

 

[Gastrick]

Joe, I drilled a couple of small holes for the breather and two mounting holes. I also built a small baffle on the inside of the covers to prevent oil from splashing into the breathers although I probably didn't need to.

 

[joehalford01]

cool. that sounds easy enough, i just may have to watch ebay for a set of those valve covers, thanks guys!

 

[Gastrick]

That's where I got those valve covers from, ebay. The same thing could be done with the steel Chevrolet script covers. I have some of those too that I run on there sometimes.

 

[DaJoker]

Actually, something I can contribute since I've done before! Go me! You can paint over chrome, but it's a couple step process.

1. Scuff the hell out of it with either 80 or 100 grit sandpaper, and then go over it with a scotchbrite pad
2. Completely wash the part with soap/water, let air dry
3. Spray an adhesion promotor (several on the market these days, can be picked up in rattle can from most auto parts stores even)
4. Prime
5. Paint

This is how I did my chromed grill on my HHR and it's been about a year now and it's held up fine for the most part, even with rocks, bugs, etc. You get the normal minor chipping you would with rocks of course, but I would think with a part like the covers which won't see road debris all that often if ever, it would be just fine and last a good long time.

 

[Gastrick]

Joker, is that grill plastic or metal? That makes a difference.

 

[DaJoker]

Ah, I hadn't even thought of that, yeah, it's hardened ABS. The chrome on the ABS is probably completely different. Brain fart.

 

[FlatBroke]

wats dat smell in here.......

 

[joehalford01]

well, here they are, what do you think? i didn't scuff them, i hit them with bulldog adhesion promoter, two coats of primer, 4 coats of high heat low gloss black. i went ahead and did the air cleaner for it too for now. we'll see how it holds up.

 

[joehalford01]

oh yeah, thanks for all the help

 

[chop509]

Joe, looks like the parts turned out good.

Another thing that works good that I use to take the shine off new chrome parts, is to sand them in one direction using a scotch-brite pad and wd-40. Gives the piece a brushed aluminum look and is easier to keep clean than brite chrome.

Jeff

 

[Gastrick]

Looks good Joe. A tip o the hat to ya.