Painting Engine Cover

[Candyman]

Ive painted my interior parts but I want to paint my engine cover now. Do you have to sand the cover down? Do you have to use special paint that can deal with the heat? Please give me steps on how to do this. I would like to paint it white. Not the smartest color, but the rest of my interior is white and it looks good. Thanks for the help!!

[Evanrude]

The surface *should* be sanded for proper bonding. And it should be cleaned as well. As the engine cover most likely has has bits of oil or grease on it, any place those have sat on it will not allow the paint to stick unless cleaned & treated properly.

Here is mine all done in color matched yellow.










I had started to do my own work , but mine had some oil and silicone in the surface so paint would not stick to it at all. So I took it to my local body shop and they deep cleaned the surface and got it all done. The only mistake they made, was not using a heat resistant epoxy to fill the section where the old "turbo" logo used to be.

[72SuperBeetle]

Wow. I'm not usually a fan of painted engine covers, but that one is beautiful!

[bftghostworks]

You do not need to sand the cover for proper bonding if you do not want to. I liked the rough finish and let stay (more oem look). The trick is to clean/ clean/ clean again. 90% IPA will remove almost everything. Wetting the part down with distilled water will show most if not all the trouble spots for you. For the last few tough spots your local paint shop will have the proper chemicals to get them off. I painted mine before they had paint that would directly bond to the plastic so I had to use a pre-treat (bonding) spray. I also used regular temp paint and have not had a peeling problem yet. My dipstick on the other hand is another story.