[alfa] Engine cleaning (and detailing)

[alfacybersite <acs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Anthony White asks about doing red crinkle / wrinkle paint for his cam
covers.

I purchased the paint from Eastwood at the time. Unfortunately they
don't offer red anymore. It's a shame since I've never found a better
wrinkle paint - and I've tried a lot. They still offer black - the color
choice of most.

Wonder what the Ferrari (Testa Rosa) guys use?

Not sure if you were having fun or really want to know regarding the,
"Is it something I could do in my shed at home, or do I need some tricky
equipment?", but I'll tell you anyway - assuming you can find red
somewhere.

Should you / someone have a collection of cam covers, this is a great
time to get rid of the one with those bloody holes for the broken clips
(I've never seen a cam cover with the clips in one piece). Remove pop
rivets, clean, (for best results) have bead or sand blasted, fill holes
with JB Weld (or the NZ equivalent) and sand smooth.

Preferably on a warm day set in the sun on a piece of cardboard, shake
the heck out of the can and put on two fairly heavy coats about 3
minutes apart. The nice thing about Eastwoods wrinkle is it doesn't sag
as readily as some (most) wrinkle paints. Even on warm days I've helped
the process along using a heat gun on low.

After it's thoroughly dry I use a small coarse 'buffing' disc (designed
for stripping off dried gasket gunk which I never use it for) on an
electric drill and 'grind' off the paint on Alfa Romeo logo. On the sent
out powder coated cam cover I had them polish the logo. They must have
used some type of flat buffer since the very top was polished without
disturbing any of the other coating.

I've seen samples of 'wrinkle' powder coating, but wasn't impressed.

Biba
Irwindale, CA USA
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