Ok guys, while digging around the garage today I found a set of stock fuel rail covers still in the bubble wrap. They had instructions from "LS1howto" on how to paint them. I already have another set of identical covers & my guess is Dad had planned to paint a set. I've looked at a few previous threads on this topic for ideas already.

Does anybody have any pointers or tips on getting the best results? Such as types of paint ect. My feeling is since I have some used covers I will try to paint them first and if it comes out horribly wrong I still have a stock set I could fall back to.

Car color is black & doesn't really have any fancy engine dress up, yet...

 

Doesn't the "LS1howto" give any of that information?

Do a search on painting fuel rail covers. You'll get tons of information. In my experience I get better results choosing the advanced search and sorting results by relevancy.

 

I've got some Word files that talks about painting the underhood components. If you want a copy of them, just PM me your e-mail address.

 

My C5 came with the covers already painted (Electron Blue) but I did a DYI job on the covers on my '92 LT1 engine.

The covers are a rough finish so lots of sanding will be necessary to get a smooth finish. I started out with 100 grit paper and got the covers smooth to where they were fairly smooth. I changed to 220 grit and sanded some more. After that, I used 400 grit wet paper and got the covers smooth.

My old '92 was Polo Green Metallic so that was the color choice. Fortunately that particular color was also a Cadillac color and I found some 8 oz DupliColor spray cans at a local parts store. I stated with a Krylon fillable primer and applied 3 medium coats sanding with 400 grit wet paper between each coat. After that I applied 3 thin coats of the color and sanded with 1500 grit wet paper between each coat. The final coat was applied fairly heavy and allowed to dry for a couple days.

I finished up with a Griot's Garage polish using a Porter Cable orbital polisher and foam pad.

When I bought my C5, the covers were already painted but not the overflow and washer fluid tanks. I wound up removing both and sanded them like I did my '92 covers but I had a body shop do the painting. They mixed the EB color and used a base coat/clear coat paint.

It's possible to get just about any OEM paint color made up in spray cans and you can get the DupliColor spray cans in all sorts of colors (doesn't have to be a GM color).

 

there have been a number of detailed How To threads -- will try and search . . .

I tried it and opted to buy a nice finished set from RPI . . . my work didn't measure up.

 

So how do you get the covers off without scuffinf up the paint job you put on them? Seems like the driver's side with the braided fuel line going through it would be an issue.

 

I put 'painters tape' on both the FRCs as well as the braided line . .

 

It's not too hard to place some tape around the gap in the covers. With the tape in place, the covers can be removed or installed but you do have to go slowly. I have used the green Scotch auto painting tape and it works really well. The key is to be careful

 

I primed mine with a filler primer and then sanded them, I used a rustolium paint made for plastics, then clear coated with a matt finish.
No problem with engine heat so far.

 

That's one spiffy clean engine!

 

Awesome bays guys! The instructions I had were pretty basic stufflike sand, prime, sand, prime, paint, cover letters, paint some more.

All this feedback has helped. I'll try and get some pics when I finish! It's a biscuit sanding this hard plastic tho!