Engine Cover - Painted and Lacquered

[digitalsaint]

Hey everyone,

I got really bored last friday, and decided I'd see how easy it was to do a proper bit of spray painting, but not as you'd expect on the bumpers of my megane, but somewhere that if I'd bodged up, no one would notice, so I primered, sprayed, and lacquered the engine cover, heres the finished result:


Thats the finished article


Bit of a close up


It might not be everyones cup of tea, and admittedly only I will know its there, but I think it looks rather tidy.

While I'm showing this off, I have a question, I bought some Old 'New' stock lexus rear lights from Ktec racing, but because they are chrome I dont think they really look quite right considering my car is black, so I want to tint them myself, I found this stuff at Halfords, anyone know if this is the right stuff, and would work? (only reason im not buying it online is Im impatient and want to get it in the week)

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_173967_langId_-1_categoryId_165495#dtab

[mattyc25]

tell you one thing..

that looks brilliant for a DIY job.

very nice mate!

Matt

[Paddy]

Not a bad job lad,

However if you add a few more layers of the clear coat. Then buff it with the likes of a DA and 3M fast cut.

You will bring it to a brilliant shine. Rather than a dull look.

P

[digitalsaint]

Cheers guys, Paddy thats not a bad idea at all, may nip out and get some supplies tomorrow

[digitalsaint]

Managed to get the battery cover done as well, I think over all it looks rather tidy:



And another one:



I thought it might be a bit over the top, but if it really looks terrible I can always buy another battery cover, but I reckon its alright.

[Paddy]

Thats looking well lad,

A bit more of a shine required all the same.

[kishan12]

I have a Megane MK1 facelift. I want to paint my engine cover, how do you do it? or does it come ready made to buy?
If it needs to be painted can anyone recommend the correct paints to buy please?

[ikhan]

While I'm showing this off, I have a question, I bought some Old 'New' stock lexus rear lights from Ktec racing, but because they are chrome I dont think they really look quite right considering my car is black, so I want to tint them myself, I found this stuff at Halfords, anyone know if this is the right stuff, and would work? (only reason im not buying it online is Im impatient and want to get it in the week)

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_173967_langId_-1_categoryId_165495#dtab

Thats not the right stuff to tint your lights with. There are specific sprays for tinting your lights and Halfords use to stock them, but I couldn't find it just now on their website.

You could get hold of some scraps of tinting paper and use that (I tried that and it looked pretty damn good, but being a bit of a perfectionist, I didn't like the slight imperfections that only I could see). I then had them professionally tinted at a body shop (clear lacquer with a bit of smoked tint), as the tinting sprays sold in shops like Halfords have a dull / matt finish and I wanted mine to look original and shiny.

[pfeek114]

you could always cheat and take your lights out and wrap a pair of tights round them, then you can easily take them off ready for MOT or if you get pulled by plod, as they are technically illegal to tint your lights

in reply to 'kishan12', I recently sprayed my door bullets so can say roughly what i did, but with most surfaces (metal or plastic) you can get a away with buying rattle cans, engine cover would probably need 2 primers, 2 paints and a clear lacquer also a sheet of wet and dry paper

Key the surface 1st trying to keep it even, and wipe it down with a damp cloth so you get rid of all the excess bits
make sure you spray in a well, ventilated area with all areas not to be painted covered to protect yourself from over spray, take your time and go side to side and then up and down when spraying
for the 1st coat dont worry about the corners, just lightly cover it 1st then as you build up layers you can start getting into the corners

i put on roughly 4 coats of primer (bullets are the size of a hand), 4 or 5 coats of paint and 2 or 3 coats of lacquer
a couple of tips, once i had applied the paint before i applied the lacquer, i took a hint from the pros set the kitchen oven to roughly 70 - 80 degrees and put the bullets for about 10 mins, i then left them out to dry naturally
for the lacquer i done the same thing but left them in the oven for a bit longer, or until i couldn't smell the vapour of the lacquer
once everything was dry, before i put them back on the car, i applied a coat of autoglym super resin polish to harden the paint

hope that helps mate

[ikhan]

... as they are technically illegal to tint your lights

Not illegal at all (within reason of course). As long as you don't go too dark and the lights light up in the correct colour and are visible, then you're ok. The only part of the light you MUST not tint is the reflector - that is a legal requirement as I understand it.

[pfeek114]

^^^^ yer not too dark, thanks for correcting me, i remember my mate about 5 years ago trying to get round this on his mk3 fiesta, placed some round stickers over the bulbs and reflectors and sprayed the lights the colour of the body, ive only ever black tinted the lights (now i think about it, ive never moted a car that ive done this mod too lol)