Painted my engine cover

[Newlook]

Painted my engine cover red over the long weekend. Anyone in TM3 have done anything to it yet? I know Bluntman sharpied the letters.

http://gtabus.natransit.com/770/IMG_5885.jpg

I bought a can of high heat white (there\'s no white engine enamel, not at Walmart anyways), Ford red, and a can of clear coat. Found a can of silver high heat paint in the garage and I used that for my letters: Paints (http://gtabus.natransit.com/770/IMG_5892.jpg)

On a side note, not all Walmarts have high heat/engine enamel for sale. Oakville Walmart has none, South Common Walmart has them but no Ford red... A can of engine enamel (500F) at Walmart is $5.97 and high-heat paint (1200F) is $6.17. A can of engine enamel at Crappy Tire is $6.99....

I put 2 coats of white as base coat. I tried spraying red on the bottom to see if the colour shows. It doesn\'t show at all on the black cover. I think it\'ll eventrually show red instead of dark red after.... 5 coats?

The white coated very good even with 1 coat. If you wanna paint it white, you save a lot of steps!

http://gtabus.natransit.com/770/IMG_5886.jpg

Then 3 coats of red. Two coats would do well but I sucked at spray painting, so... 3!
http://gtabus.natransit.com/770/IMG_5887.jpg

Dabbed the letters with a small sponge. Not the one you use to wash your car, it\'s too soft. Found one that is used for packings and cut a corner out. Paper towel also work but beware of lints.
http://gtabus.natransit.com/770/IMG_5888.jpg
The small letters were A LOT easier to work on.....

Meanwhile I also did the DOHC letters (http://gtabus.natransit.com/770/IMG_5890.jpg) on the actual valve cover.

Then I did 3 coats of clear coats. 2 coats would be good enough but I screwed up the 2nd coat, so I did one more.

Here is my first mod!
http://gtabus.natransit.com/770/IMG_5896.jpg

[bluntman]

Excellent work, the sponge on the letters is a good idea!

[Xenon]

Damn, that looks good... I\'ll be doing mine blue eventually.

Very Very Very Nice.

How easy does the Mazda Emblum Come off?

[Newlook]

Originally posted by Xenon

How easy does the Mazda Emblum Come off?

Kinda hard... I used a knife to pop it off as instructed on M3F. Apply force from all sides, and expect it to bend a little....

[MajesticBlueNTO]

looks pimp :)

nice write up...love the pics. maybe some day i\'ll do mine blue to match the blue 4ga wire i have for the ETB grounding mod.

[Newlook]

Originally posted by MajesticBlueN

nice write up...love the pics. maybe some day i\'ll do mine blue to match the blue 4ga wire i have for the ETB grounding mod.

Navy blue or purple would look good on yours, if you want it to match the body colour....

[FLIPDADY]

Nice job on the cover!!

If anyone needs the paint codes let me know. You can take it to Sherwin Williams or Paint Circuit and have an exact color match made up for you. Having a nice engine cover with the exact same color as the car itself would look sweet!!

[civiclad]

Great job!

[miggiddy]

Looks good, nice job.

[Xenon]

with Newlook\'s help, I\'ve begun the process of painting my engine cover too. I\'ve just finished doing the base white coat.

I am using the \"Ford Blue\" paint to do my cover... the paint is a NEAR match to the Winning blue. The Ford blue is slightly lighter in colour. It\'s a close enough match for me though.

I think it will turn out well. I should have it done by the meet on Saturday.

[Newlook]

Thanks guys

[MZ3_GS]

Looks even better in person ;)

[Soulcrusher]

Ditto. Newlook - if you enjoyed painting the engine cover and would like to do it again, you should provide the service at a fee - I\'d be willing to pay you to do it as you\'ve shown you can do such a good job. Unfortunately, I\'m too worried/lazy to do it myself :D

[billyfo]

Anyone have photoshop? how about get one with yellow or orange? will it look weird with T Grey car?

[Xenon]

I think both yellow and orange would look good, but they yellow better be righ, I don\'t suggest a pastel colour. Something like the S2000 Yellow is good.

The \"Carrot\" orange that the MazdaSpeed Protege comes in would look good too.

[Newlook]

Originally posted by Soulcrusher


Ditto. Newlook - if you enjoyed painting the engine cover and would like to do it again, you should provide the service at a fee - I\'d be willing to pay you to do it as you\'ve shown you can do such a good job. Unfortunately, I\'m too worried/lazy to do it myself :D

We can make a deal... but no quality guarantee though.

[Whosit]

Anyone have any pictures of their completed cover? The links above don't seem to work.

[Pereira11]

pics are down, i would like to see this too

[DumpInfo]

pics are down, i would like to see this too

+1

[sicsol]

+2

[mit-gee-mui]

http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showpost.php?p=373540&postcount=3


:)

[3_SoMe]

Here's my cover on a Snowflake White Pearl.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w210/3_SoMe/IMG_2501.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w210/3_SoMe/IMG_2503.jpg

Thanks to Bubba I now have a Vibrant Strut bar where I painted the mounts blue to match the rest of the engine.

[Newlook]

Holy cow, who dug this up from the grave?! :chuckle

Let me repost this with the pictures:
So from August 2004.... :chuckle


Painted my engine cover red over the long weekend. Anyone in TM3 have done anything to it yet? I know Bluntman sharpied the letters.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtabus/IMG_5885.jpg

I bought a can of high heat white (there\'s no white engine enamel, not at Walmart anyways), Ford red, and a can of clear coat. Found a can of silver high heat paint in the garage and I used that for my letters: Paints (http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtabus/IMG_5892.jpg)

On a side note, not all Walmarts have high heat/engine enamel for sale. Oakville Walmart has none, South Common Walmart has them but no Ford red... A can of engine enamel (500F) at Walmart is $5.97 and high-heat paint (1200F) is $6.17. A can of engine enamel at Crappy Tire is $6.99....

I put 2 coats of white as base coat. I tried spraying red on the bottom to see if the colour shows. It doesn\'t show at all on the black cover. I think it\'ll eventrually show red instead of dark red after.... 5 coats?

The white coated very good even with 1 coat. If you wanna paint it white, you save a lot of steps!

http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtabus/IMG_5886.jpg

Then 3 coats of red. Two coats would do well but I sucked at spray painting, so... 3!
http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtabus/IMG_5887.jpg

Dabbed the letters with a small sponge. Not the one you use to wash your car, it\'s too soft. Found one that is used for packings and cut a corner out. Paper towel also work but beware of lints.
http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtabus/IMG_5888.jpg
The small letters were A LOT easier to work on.....

Meanwhile I also did the DOHC letters (http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtabus/IMG_5890.jpg) on the actual valve cover.

Then I did 3 coats of clear coats. 2 coats would be good enough but I screwed up the 2nd coat, so I did one more.

Here is my first mod!
http://www3.sympatico.ca/gtabus/IMG_5896.jpg

Man, it looked so good 4 years ago.
PS: you probably don't need high heat paint for that... It doesn't heat up much I figured after. You can remove it after a long drive and it's warm to touch.

[Thrizzl3]

excellent job newlook!:)

[Hives]

Looks excellent!

[JordanAndrew]

Damn that looks soo clean. probably another project for me for upcoming summers.

[Hives]

How long did it take you to complete the entire process?
I've always wanted to paint mines, buh I was always too lazy. Maybe after exams lolll

[mazdathree]

Nice work Newlook! I feel like painting mine as well in the summers...and yah how long did it take you?

[aris]

looks good

[bluemazda3]

nice job.. looks hawt..

[Newlook]

Thanks guys!

All it takes was one hot summer afternoon! I did that when my car was new... that thing was very clean, I just need to briefly wash it. Paint dries really fast when it's hot out. It would take longer if you do it in the evening or in cooler temperature.

I even dabbed the "DOHC 16-VALVE" on the engine block silver when I was waiting for other stuff to dry.

[PKock]

It only looked good 4 years ago? You change your mind on what you think of it?
PK

[Newlook]

double post :bang

[Newlook]

No it's still red.... just not as good as when it was freshly painted :)
Dirt, oil dripped on it... argh

And then you have other dirt in the engine bay...