Hey Guys,

Alright so my valve covers look HORRIBLE, everything about the car is great till i open the hood and its like yuck, so im thinking abou tpainting the valve covers, air firlter, master cylinder cap, alternator, and and distributor/coil cover in a shiny jet black with green pinstripe and writing stingray on the air filter, wha do u think about the color combo and do u have any reccomendatioons?? Thanks a bunch

Collin

 

Based on the car's description in your profile it's "stock" except for the wheels. I would suggest to detail and restore the under hood and valve covers to "factory". I'd pass on the black and green theme. Different isn't always "better". In the end it's your car and you need to do what makes you happy not what me or anyone else for that matter suggests.

 

I agree....original just looks so cool.

 

True.... I do love the originality of my car, and to be honest im torn between original and something far out, anyway ill just talk to some people and see, thanks for the input though!

 

Changing valve covers in an attempt to 'clean up' the engine bay will be somewhat counter-productive...if you don't do anything else. The 'new' covers will stick out like the proverbial "sore thumb" against the remainder of a dingy, dirty engine compartment. It is much more beneficial to buy some heavy-duty, spray-on, grease and grime remover and take the car to the quarter-car wash; shoot the spray 'juice' to the engine compartment, let it soak a while, then use the hi-pressure hose to blow the crud out. Once you do that, you can just paint your existing valve covers [if they aren't beat all to he!!] and the air cleaner, and the compartment will look pretty decent. You can clean off all the wiring and hoses (vacuum, coolant, A/C, etc.) with a rag and lacquer thinner [lots of fresh air, please] and then coat them with a polymer protectant like Nu-Vinyl and they will look like they are factory-new. It's a "dirty" job....but somebody's got to do it!

 

Yes, it was my plan to do exactly as you said there, everythin gis relatively clean, but im going to completely shine everything up, make it all look great=) im just thinking id like some far out covers and such

 

When I first got my vette, the engine bay responded really well to a good cleaning (masking off the carb and distributor). But now it is time for much more. At some point I am going to have to repaint everything but I will try to keep it as stock looking as possible. Winter project... sometime in the next 5 years.

 

I wouldn't paint anything that couldn't be easily stripped and returned to factory. If it's easy to put it back to factory and you like it, then go for it.

 

A good engine compartment redo is all 'relative'. Relative to what level of originality you want to make it...relative to how you want it to look...and relative to how long you want it to look good.

You can make it exactly like factory, with all the correct paints, etc. and all the specific 'bare' metal surfaces back to clean-as-new condition. Guess what? A month from then it's rusty again!

Decide how you want it to look; then decide why you want it to look that way. With that info, you can then decide by what method you are going to reach your goal.

I chose to make mine "appear" to be factory correct, but with ZERO bare metal and with readily available [and inexpensive] paint/coatings; all bare surfaces are coated with either an equivalent color of paint or with a clear coat, so that the bare surfaces will not oxidize. Is that 'kosher' with NCRS? No. Do I care? No. Because I never plan to subject it to NCRS scrutiny: not because they don't do a fine service for helping us maintain the "Corvette experience"; but because I just want my car to look as-good-as-new and stay looking as-good-as-new for as long as possible and with as little effort as possible to keep it that way.

You might have totally different objectives and methods for achieving them. But you have to think about what you want before you can decide how to do it. The folks on this Forum can advise you of some of those methods once you specify what you intend to do with your C3. Good luck on your project.

 

Of course, everyone to their own tastes but doing the paint/stripes as you described is not what I would do but if you like it, go for it. My '69 is beautiful black/black. Looked great till you raised the hood. I waited to do anything with the engine compartment until I pulled the engine and sent it off for total rebuild. (It is a matching numbers base 350) Doing the engine compartment was then very (relatively) easy.

I have pondered about replacing the stock steel and painted valve covers with finned but have decided not to do that. I want to keep it as original looking as possible. It will never be an NCRS car but it satisfies my needs and wants.

That's what makes classic/collector/vintage cars so interesting, everyone has a different idea about what they want. Makes the shows interesting.

On edit. In case someone local sees my '69 and calls me out on my "original" statement: Yes, it does have aftermarket wheels, for now. I have Centerline Autodrag wheels with BFG radial TA's. When the rubber gets thin I intend to put the original rally wheels back on.

 

Related question- do you paint "bare metal" parts? If so what do you use? I have over spray on my hood prop. I don't know if I should sand blast it or just sand it down and paint it with some metal-looking paint

 

You can do a number of things to 'bare' metal parts. If you want an original-looking finish, you can't really blast a metal surface [except maybe using soda blasting] as it will change the appearance. For the hood strut (which came completely bare, I believe), your best solution would be to use chemical stripper to remove any paint/residue, wash and dry it thoroughly then shoot a clear coat over it to keep it from oxydizing again. Alternatives would be to paint it with a "stainless steel" colored paint, have it cadmium plated, or just leave it bare and put a coat of metal polish on it.

For cast iron parts, I've chosen to paint them with a "cast iron" colored paint. For parts that get engine heat, I use a hi-temp engine enamel; for exhaust manifolds I use Seymour "Cast Blast" heat-curing paint that bakes onto the metal surface once you run the engine for about 30 minutes. They really look just like cast iron...but without the rust.

Get creative and come up with the least expensive way to have it look like you want. Use good quality paints that will last, rather than the really low-dollar stuff. Krylon is a decent paint; their new stuff takes longer to dry, but it still looks good and lasts fairly well. Dupli-color engine enamel paints are good for parts that see engine heat levels; but you need to prime pieces before you paint with it to assure good adhesion.

VHT makes a good line of paints which are heat tolerant and they are made in metal-finish colors: aluminum, cast iron, silver and a 'satin' clear coat. All are very useful on bare metal parts.