Who has customized their own coil covers?

[iwannacobra5]

it's hard to say in a title, but who has done the work themselves?

i thought it'd be a fun DIY to paint/polish my coil covers, but i've never done it before. does anybody have any tips or tricks you used when doing your own? what tools will i need?

i'd like to paint them kona blue, but i'm unsure as to where to find that color (or one similar). if you painted yours, where did you get your supplies? i'd have to find it in a spray since i don't have a spray gun. i'd love to powder coat them, but i don't have the supplies.

post some pics if you have them!

thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[zporta]

Why do it yourself when BlkGT500nCa does such great work?!

 

[evasive]

If you want the challenge, that's cool. You'll spend quite a bit in time and money but they'll have your stamp on them.

I know my own personal limits so I had BlkGT500nCA do mine. He helped me come up with some ideas and made sure the original Shelby coil covers came out great. I was quite surprised at the quality - he really does do exceptional work.

 

[iwannacobra5]

i agree he does AWESOME work, but i look at it as a fun project. if it looks like it's going to be over my head where i have to invest in a bunch of tools that i'll use once, then i'll just go to brian.

 

[JeremyAlan]

Here is what I did to my 2004 Cobra

 

[blkGT500nCA]

Let me know if I can help. I've done TONS of them.

I acid wash off the factory coating before I media blast them. If painted, they get sealed, base coat, then clear coated. All powder coated ones get finished in powdered clears too.

 

[fullboogie]

I got into this thread thinking "who the hell wants to paint or polish their coil overs?"

 

[E.Marquez]

Brian's look better, but mine were entertaining.
http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/svt-shelby-gt500-150/843986-motel-mods.html

 

[Black Sex]

I used the Plasti-Kote wrinkle paint. Not the best job but the texture matches the blower and valve covers. I might add some red paint to the SVT letters.

 

[99cobraUgotbit]

^^Yea paint the Red SVT letters. Looks good

My car is white with red stripes and was thinking of a red or white coil covers on mine. Not a bad idea to do yourslef.

 

[Imatk]

Don't have pictures of mine, but I painted them tungsten gray and satin silver for the fins and lettering.

If you're doing one color it's dead-ass easy. The sanding is time consuming, but other than that it's simple.

Use whatever color you want, and then you can clear it with some high-temp engine clear. That's what I did.

If you paint the fins and letters a different color... THAT is where it gets interesting

The way i did it was to paint the base color, let that dry for a day (or overnight) and then tape off the letters and fins.

Taping off the fins and letters take a long time. Especially on the insides of those letters... it can be a royal pain.

Once they're taped off then you spray your second color and let that sit for maybe 30 mins or so... just enough that it's slightly dry, then pull your tape. If you leave the tape on after it fully dries, then you may lift some of the paint with it... I did that the first time and it was a real pisser!

After all that, just clear it. To get a nice gloss with the clear shoot it fairly "wet" meaning, don't shoot it like you would the paint (which should be more of a fan and even stroke). You want the clear to be pretty wet looking before it dries. You'll be shooting down so you don't have to worry much with runs.

I watched several youtube vids on how to spray paint and clear... I would recommend it because there's definitely a technique to it.

Good luck! I had fun doing mine, but I like doing stuff like that anyway

 

[Eds01Lightning]

Ordered a set of custom coil covers from Brian in the hydrodipped carbon fiber with grabber blue stripes/lettering. Going to look so much better on my black cam covers (2010) than the silver which do not match anything in the engine bay. Can't wait to get them...will post pics on here when changed out. Thanks, Brian!

 

[Black Sex]

Don't have pictures of mine, but I painted them tungsten gray and satin silver for the fins and lettering.

If you're doing one color it's dead-ass easy. The sanding is time consuming, but other than that it's simple.

Use whatever color you want, and then you can clear it with some high-temp engine clear. That's what I did.

If you paint the fins and letters a different color... THAT is where it gets interesting

The way i did it was to paint the base color, let that dry for a day (or overnight) and then tape off the letters and fins.

Taping off the fins and letters take a long time. Especially on the insides of those letters... it can be a royal pain.

Once they're taped off then you spray your second color and let that sit for maybe 30 mins or so... just enough that it's slightly dry, then pull your tape. If you leave the tape on after it fully dries, then you may lift some of the paint with it... I did that the first time and it was a real pisser!

After all that, just clear it. To get a nice gloss with the clear shoot it fairly "wet" meaning, don't shoot it like you would the paint (which should be more of a fan and even stroke). You want the clear to be pretty wet looking before it dries. You'll be shooting down so you don't have to worry much with runs.

I watched several youtube vids on how to spray paint and clear... I would recommend it because there's definitely a technique to it.

Good luck! I had fun doing mine, but I like doing stuff like that anyway

one thing to try with the letters and I've done this on my '04 Cobra front calipers and when I worked for a side dumper trailer company we used to wipe Vasoline on anything we didn't want to get painted (mainly where the bucket pivots on the frame).
I used a Q-tip on my calipers and just dabbed the vasoline one the face of the letters. Spray your paint like normal. After the paint dries wipe the vasoline off. It even works with WD-40. It sounds crude but it works. And its cheap/easy to practice with.

 

[Imatk]

one thing to try with the letters and I've done this on my '04 Cobra front calipers and when I worked for a side dumper trailer company we used to wipe Vasoline on anything we didn't want to get painted (mainly where the bucket pivots on the frame).
I used a Q-tip on my calipers and just dabbed the vasoline one the face of the letters. Spray your paint like normal. After the paint dries wipe the vasoline off. It even works with WD-40. It sounds crude but it works. And its cheap/easy to practice with.

Nice

 

[iwannacobra5]

thanks for the tips guys. any idea where you can get OEM spray paint (don't have a paint gun)? i'm thinking that nobody will make it and i'd have to try to find something similar.

 

[Imatk]

thanks for the tips guys. any idea where you can get OEM spray paint (don't have a paint gun)? i'm thinking that nobody will make it and i'd have to try to find something similar.

I found mine on Ebay. You could probably fine yours on Ebay as well.

They have OEM paints at places like Pep Boys too, but they might not have the newer paints.

 

[Black Sex]

Any local automotive parts store that mixes paint should be able to put it in a spray can. One local to me even has alittle machine they put on the paint and retrieves the paint code that way.

 

[iwannacobra5]

I found mine on Ebay. You could probably fine yours on Ebay as well.

They have OEM paints at places like Pep Boys too, but they might not have the newer paints.

yea, i think i can get them on the web from several sites.... hhmm