I have a few ideas for painting the valve covers and the intake manifold on a 3.4L DOHC engine. I just wanted to get some "expert" opinions on what would be the best choice....

my first idea was to go with a "candy" style paint on the intake manifold (96' engine) with a clear coat. the color would be something similiar to the gold finish found on modern wheels (or even the fiero stock wheels). Than, i was going to do the same treatment to the valve covers, only in a red. the block is going to be black, and the heads are going to be cleaned up (bare alloy or painted in an aluminum color).

i recall looking at several other "finishes" and i thought about the finish on honda valves covers... you know, the stuff that looks like "rhino lining". I thought this would be pretty cool in a red and gold combination as well. The problem is, i have no idea how well either finish is going to hold up against heat?

i would be open to anadizing the items, but how much is the cost for this? and will it hold up? I know powder coating is also an option, so i might also look into it, but again i have no idea what the cost would be? I have also seen a limited number of colors available for thermal coating as well! No idea cost or full color range?

i went to the local paint supply place but they didn't really know how well it would hold up, or for that matter, i didn't really specifiy the application. I did also see a "3-stage" paint that looked KILLER! the finish was a "deep gloss" with heavy flake and a beautiful red... again no idea the durability of this in an engine application.

I guess i just want something that would look totally "show car" without having to treat it like a complete trailer queen. the car will be a daily driver, but i want a little bit of a shock value when i pop the deck lid. I want a "rich" finish (if i go with something other than the rhino-lining look) or a "racing" look with the "rhino-lining" approach.

what do you guys think? any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Just MHO, I had the valve cover (steel) on my '84 Iron Duke powder coated, they matched the color of my car and put a powder coat of clear over the pigment, has held up very well, had been to a lot of car shows and seen the painted ones that had problems, either by way of heat and/or hot motor oil. If I remember correctly they can do a metalic or candy. I also had the entire Air Intake/Air Filter container done at the same time. I didn't think the cost was out of line. I knew I had a pic someplace.

[This message has been edited by Bruno Mid Engine (edited 12-30-2007).]

thanks a lot for the info. i think i will look into the powder coat or thermal coat (if colors are available) and anadyzing (this is like a dye, not actually paint).

the cost of actually doing Rhino lining is kind of high. They wanted roughly $150 for the intake and covers... that's in black. if i want color (other than black) that alone will cost an additional $250. Only because they usually don't do projects so small, and the color additive comes in large amounts at $250 per color! So i guess that idea is out.

Duplicolor does made an ' anodised ' gold finish thats similar to candy and its made for engine parts. You spray on a ' cast ' color base, then the gold, followed by clearcoat. Real candyapple prob wont hold up to the heat because the thickness is built up so much. On my Coronet, I did the valve covers to look like older Hemis with Krylon Wrinkle Finish. It looks nice and covers all kinds of dings and scratches. YOu just put on a thick, wet multilayer of it and in a couple of hours it dries to a rough, texured finish that looks great. Its also made for engines.

I've seen several Fieros with the stock V-6 intake and valve covers painted to match the car and they were holding up very well. I don't know how long those cars had the paint on them but they were driven to the shows and were daily drivers as I understood it. They were painted with base/clear systems.

i sincerely appreciate the feedback guys! the powdercoat looks awesome!

i think i will try out the Duplicolor products and even the Krylon product, both sound very appealing and an affordable way to try it out. If they don't last, than i can look into more "exotic" methods (powder coat, or anadyze, etc).

thanks again!