# Valve cover? Paint? Aftermarket?



## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

Okay peeps.... looking to do something to my valve cover. I trying to dress up my engine bay a little and figure the cover is a good place to start. Wanting to go red with my engine bay... maybe red/chrome.... I have the GA16 with the plastic valve cover..... so can I paint it somehow or do I need to buy a new one? If I need to buy an aftermarket one... then where can I find them??


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

With the plastic one you can paint it. 
Unscrew, clean, and paint.

Seth


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## Katana200sx (May 13, 2002)

seth has a painted valve cover thread in the members rides section iirc. check it out for different ideas if you want. i used regular spray paint on my valve cover. if you have the metal one you would want to use high temp paint


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## 10SwiTcH200 (Feb 10, 2003)

Or you can get a b13 cover and have it polished or get it chrome plated, for some nice bling, bling!!


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## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

Hm...... bling bling sounds nice  . 

But if I decide to paint (which I'm seriously considering beings I'm painting other stuff in my engine bay as we speak) then how hard is it to remove the cover? I scoped it out.... buncha bolts around it all the way. Is it that simple to unscrew those bolts, remove wires, and pull away?


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## Katana200sx (May 13, 2002)

yea...you might have to use a screwdriver or something like that to pry it off


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## StevenLK (Jul 15, 2002)

but you can't just paint it. you'd have to use the heat resisted paint. at auto stores. that have chrome cans with an engine picture on it. and chrome gets hot and stays hot for awhile dont it? ... maybe the red would be best? -my opinion


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Step one) remove spark plug wires. Just pull out.
Step two) unscrew phillips screws around the VC.
Step 3) pull off
step 4) remove gasket
step 5) paint
step 6) replace in reverse order, don't forget to tighten the screw in the special pattern

Seth


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## rkeith (Jan 12, 2003)

'special pattern'?


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## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

Umm.... yea.... special pattern????

Just reinstalled the VC and it's done and all. Haven't cranked it yet. Started raining on me while I was trying to install my new plug wires. So lemme know here if I've royally screwed up before I get my wires installed and crank my car egh.


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## go4broke44 (Jan 14, 2003)

they haynes manual tells you in what order you should torque down the bolts holding it down. i think everyone should get a haynes manual for their car, especially those who are determined to do everything on it themselves, since the manual basically tells you how to take apart the whole car


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## Rama (Mar 8, 2003)

very much agreed with go4broke44 said you can save yourself some money on somethings as well that you didnt realize you could do yourself.


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## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

Yea, well I've removed valve covers on many of my past cars and I've always had a haynes manual for my cars but haven't gotten around to buying one for the 200. None of my previous cars had a specific bolt pattern to bolt the VC back down.. never heard of that... so didn't figure I needed the manual beings I've done this before on previous cars. Can anyone tell me the pattern b/c I won't have the money to buy a manual until next week and I want to make sure my VC is on there correctly and I'm going out of town in the morn too long drive =\


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## JustMe (Jan 24, 2003)

on the plastic VC its not *that* big a deal to tighten it in the proper order, the idea is just not to warp the cover by tightening one corner super tight then tightening the extreme opposite corner and letting it sit like that for a few hours in the sun before doing the rest  Just use common sence and tighten them alternating from top to bottom first snug then go around again and cinch them all up in reverse direction. Now if you were putting the head back on that is a little diff


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Right,
Just do a star pattern. I'll scan in the 'pattern' tomorrow.

Seth


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## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

Alright, awesome.... thanks alot guys. Feel a little better about it now hehe. Been worried about it and haven't been able to enjoy the fact that the VC looks SOOOOOOOOOOOO damn good 

I'll get some pics up of my engine bay hopefullly by tomorrow night so all you peeps can see the results of my 6 hours of spray paint ralley


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Well,
As promised:










Seth


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## AnthMC (Jan 4, 2003)

The borring plastic valve cover I do want to get rid of too and I have seen one on e-bay that was for the b14 chromed, was that just the b13 one? I was thinking of going with blue, but my K&N filter is the normal orange color, so still trying to decide..... anyways, I agree those Haynes books are great, everything and anything you need to know about your car.


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## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

Thanks alot sethwas, appreciate that man. Going to redo those bolts sunday when I have the time to do it. I been watching it so far though since I've done the project and checking for leaks and all and it's all clean. Going to go ahead and do it as it should have been done to start with just to be on the safe side. Thanks again yo.


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## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

Oh, and btw I get my pics back on monday so by that night I'll have them up of the finished job for you guys to scope out. Peace.


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## ThisFlyGuy (Jul 9, 2003)

when i painted my engine covers all i did was sand it down, and used duplicolor high temp paint...spray, let dry and add clear coat....turned out perfect.......


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

No problem.

Seth


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## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

Hehe, my job was easier than that. Sanding isn't required on the plastic valve covers... just go get some adhesive agent from a paint shop.... it comes in an aresol can and it's made by Bulldog. Spray a few coats of that on the VC, let dry... paint with your choice of paint (I used high temp engine enamel). I was going to add clear after like 5 coats of enamel but it started raining and getting dark and had to have my car ready first thing the next morn so I just slapped it on there w/o the clear but it still looks good and shines. I'm happy with it and didn't have to sand


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## himilefrontier (Jan 21, 2003)

You could even color match it to your car.Just get some Deltron 2000 mixed in the same color and use that .It is heat and solvent resistant enough to do the job.


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## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

my car is black


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## rkeith (Jan 12, 2003)

then all you would of had to do is clear coat


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## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

Well.... as promised here's the pics! 
http://members.cardomain.com/xpress200sx 
First pic is my engine bay before I started the VC/cleanup project. Tell me what you guys think!


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## sethwas (Apr 30, 2002)

Nice,
Now all you need is a nice oil cap.

Seth


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## sentra_hilo (Apr 23, 2003)

nice job it looks good


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## holy200sx (Jan 8, 2003)

WHA, A REDTOP GA16DE.. NO WAY, THAT MUST MAKE MONSTER POWER!! im never going to race you man!!!.. .. get used to hearing that dude.. haha


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## holy200sx (Jan 8, 2003)

i say paint the 16 valve nissan letters white


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## LaRon (Aug 22, 2002)

Yea..... going to paint them eventually.... probably chrome though, I dunno.


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