Re: [alfa] Engine cleaning (and detailing)

[George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, I've tried just about everything. Since Eastwood dropped their 
red wrinkle paint, I've had a rough time finding any at all, Finally 
found some "NOS" red wrinkle paint at a paint shop in Utah, and they 
sent me their two last cans via UPS. I don't know whether is was the 
paint's age or if it was supposed to look like this, but it went on a 
reddish-brown and dried-up a brick-red. The can cap showed a bright 
'Testa Rossa' red. I had these covers on my engine for a couple of 
years until I replaced the stock 2.5-liter engine with a 3-liter. The 
new engine came with the raised Alfa script rather than the block 
letters on the 2.5-liter's valve covers. (which I sanded -off to a 
brushed aluminum look against the 'red' covers). After about 8-coats, I 
finally got the paint from Utah to wrinkle, and the result was not 
unpleasing, if not exactly what I had in mind. I tried several 
alternatives and even talked with the people at Ferrari of America. 
They suggested doing what they do when they have to repaint red Ferrari 
valve covers or air plenums - do a coarse black wrinkle (which is still 
easy to find) and then when the paint is dried spray over it with a 
thin coat of red - taking care not to get too much build-up, or you 
will defeat the purpose by obscuring the wrinkle. And bake the paint in 
the oven at around 200 degrees.  This works, but not real well.

For my new engine, I took the valve covers to an industrial finishing 
factory which does custom POWDER COATING. They showed me their palette 
of available powder coat wrinkle finishes and a very red one was 
available. For $75 each, they took my valve covers, painted the raised 
lettering gloss black, and then came back and did the rest of the 
covers in the red-wrinkle. Since this is powder coat and not paint, and 
is literally baked onto the aluminum at high temperature, the finish is 
unlikely to be affected by either the engine heat or any chemicals 
which might spill (such as brake fluid). The result is very red and the 
only thing that I could have wished for would be a more coarse wrinkle. 
The powder coat gives a very fine wrinkle, which, while it doesn't look 
bad, is nowhere near as dramatic as the wrinkle on a real Ferrari 
'Testa Rossa's' valve covers.  I also took my air intake plenum in to 
this same shop and for $65 they black wrinkle painted it. I've had a 
lot of very positive comments about the result.

I recommend this approach over all the others I've either seen or 
tried. The aerosol can type of wrinkle finish, in whatever color you 
find it, is, at best, a hit-or-miss proposition. It takes both skill 
and luck for it to work properly. For instance, I black wrinkle painted 
my GTV-6's air cleaner box cover and my PCV breather using Eastwood's 
black wrinkle paint and both came out beautifully. Couldn't ask for 
better. But when I tried the same trick on my brake booster cylinder, 
it was a disaster. Ditto when I tried to black wrinkle finish my 
side-mirror covers -both using the same Eastwood paint. Either the 
paint didn't wrinkle at all (brake booster) or it wrinkled unevenly 
(mirrors). Also this type of paint seems to work best when it's fresh. 
If it's been sitting on the shelf too long, it won't wrinkle correctly, 
or if you use part of a can and let it sit partially empty for a time 
and then come back and try to use it again, it won't wrinkle correctly 
then, either. Leave the wrinkle finishing to the powder coat 
professionals. Then it will be right.

George Graves
'86 GTV-6 3.0'S'


On Monday, October 13, 2003, at 10:34 PM, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 11:56:17 -0700
> From: alfacybersite <acs@domain.elided>
> Subject: [alfa] Engine cleaning (and detailing)
>
> 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
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided