MR2 Owners Club Forum banner

VHT Wrinkle finish paint

1.7K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  chall  
#1 ·
Just getting ready to tear into my old motor... needing to repaint the valvecover and I'm wanting to do a black crinkle coat on it (fell in love with it after seeing my friend's H22).

I've been recommended the VHT brand. The price is OK and I am willing to do it a few times to get it right, but the company says it's safe to use at up to 350 deg F. Does the valvecover ever get that hot? Specifically a 3S-GTE in a cramped engine bay?

Any other tips before I buy? (already did a search)

Thanks,

Ben
 
#6 ·
Sure!

Materials required:
Parts washer or Castrol Super Clean and washtub
Various scrub pads, wire brushes, toothbrush, etc.
*Zinc chromate* primer, aka self etching primer - the baby poop yellow stuff
Oven, propane torch, or heat gun
Dry weather or indoor spray room
VHT or PJ1 wrinkle paint

1) Clean the hell out of everything. Get some solvent or Super Clean and get every little bit of foreign material off the part. Sandblast it if you can.

2) Heat part in oven or with torch and then clean the part again, just to be sure there is absolutely no oil or grease on it.

3) If the surface is not rough, rough it up with a wire brush, sandpaper, sandblaster, etc.

4) Heat the part a second time. While you are doing that, heat your primer in a pan of warm water for ten minutes or so. The water should not be too hot to put your hand in.

5) Shake the primer for a couple of minutes and then spray the warm primer onto the warm, dry, clean part in a warm, dry, clean environment. Follow the directions on the primer can to the letter!

6) Once the primer has dried, warm the paint in the same way. Apply the paint as evenly as possible. I like to spray a thin coat from one direction, then the opposite direction, than at a 90-degree angle to the first direction, then at the oppsite direction to the angle you just sprayed at (for example, from 12:00, 6:00, 9:00, and 3:00 positions). The key is to apply it absolutely evenly with no runs and no thin spots to get evenly wrinkled coverage.

7) Return the part to a warm environment, preferably one heated evenly. Spotlights, heat lamps, heat guns, etc tend to produce uneven wrinkling, heavier near the heat and smoother away from it. Popping the part in an oven pre-heated to maybe 160 degrees would probably produce the best results.

NOTE! WARNING! DANGER! CAUTION! If you are dumb enough to put aerosol cans into boiling water, or to play with spray paint near intense heat or open flames, or to breathe concentrated paint fumes, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. Use common sense.
 
#8 ·
I have a can in front of me, and it doesn't say anything about requiring a primer or not. In my experience, I get much better results with zinc chromate primer than with any other, or with no primer at all, especially on nonferrous metals (aluminum). I'm going to keep using it. The only downside is that if you like to file off the top edge of letters etc, you can expose a thin outline of primer. This can be prevented by painting a thin coat of the final color and and filing or sanding the letters before you apply the final color.