# Alfa Romeo - Wrinkle Paint on cam cover



## amclean

Been wanting to do this job for a while, and finally got time to get it done this weekend. I decided the cam covers on my Alfa Romeo 156 GTA were badly tarnished and rather than try and polish them I decided to paint them. The alloy has not been anodised and corrodes too easily in this country. I've seen various finishes on the cam covers on the V6 156, painted, polished and chromed. But I decided on painting the coil cover in red wrinkle paint, and the cam cover in black wrinkle paint. Might be a bit of a Maserati rip off and not to everyones taste, but I like it, decide for yourself…..

I went out and purchased the following:-

Assorted polishing tools from Toolstation suitable for DIY drill
1 can of black Hycote wrinkle paint
1 can of red VHT wrinkle paint
Tub of Meguiars Metal Polish

Here's the engine bay before I started, front cover is a bit grubby…..










I started by making a bracket out of plywood to hold the coil cover while it was being polished back…..










Then fitted the coil cover to the plywood using a couple of wood screws










Here's a shot of the polishing tools, under a tenner from Toolstation










Couple of shots during the polishing stage



















Then it was time to paint it. A word of caution, to get the wrinkle effect, it has to be warm, and you need to apply 3 coats in quick succession, say 5-10 minutes apart. I was doing this in the shed and left it overnight, for my first attempt nothing happened. So I then decided to use a heater in the shed, and accelerate the drying with the mrs hairdryer, mind you it's got some overspray at the back of it now, hope she doesn't notice. The hairdryer worked well, and after 3 coats I put it in the oven, well seeing the mrs was at a safe distance in New York for the weekend.










I'm no Nick Nairn but I'd say that is cooking nicely...










Just out the oven….










And on to the cam cover itself, a good part is hidden by the top coil cover so it wasn't necessary to fully prepare the complete surface. 50/50 shot….



















Threaded holes masked off…..










Same process applied….










And finished



















Now the most difficult part, to wet sand the Alfa Romeo logo back and then polish it, without damaging the finish. For this I masked off around the badge and used 2000 grit soaked in water for 10 minutes. Carefully rubbed back using a cork sanding block, this is better than a flexible Meguiars type, as you are not trying to follow contours, a hard flat surface is needed.

50/50 shot…..










Finished and ready for polishing….










And the hard part, trying to keep the black stains away from the paint…










So after about 7 or 8 hours work, excluding refitting as I've not had a chance yet to do that, here's the final result, enjoy :argie:….





































Once I get the parts refitted, I'll update the post. I'm away to watch Top Gear now.

Thanks for looking
Alan

*Update from 1st December:*

Got the parts refitted today, as a reminder, here's the before and some afters. Granted it shows up the plenum chamber now, but I still don't think I want it all in red, so I need to see what to do next with that part. Overall very pleased with the result.


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## alan_mcc

That's stunning. :argie:


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## ChrisST

That looks fantastic.:thumb: Gorgeous Gta by the way.:argie:


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## RyanJon

WOW!!!!!

11/10 for that :thumb:

Ryan


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## Spoony

Absolutely awesome job there, its the little things that make the biggest difference


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## adam87

Thats gonna look the dogs danglies in the car! 

You need to do the top cover next 

Loving the polished lettering. Great job :thumb:


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## Needs a clean

Looks sweet bud! :thumb::thumb:

As said before, do the top cover too to set it all off.


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## amclean

adam87 said:


> Thats gonna look the dogs danglies in the car!
> 
> You need to do the top cover next
> 
> Loving the polished lettering. Great job :thumb:





Needs a clean said:


> Looks sweet bud! :thumb::thumb:
> 
> As said before, do the top cover too to set it all off.


Thanks for all the positive comments.

I'll see how it looks when it goes back on and then consider doing the top cover. Trouble is it's my daily driver and I only really got the chance to do this as the mrs was away allowing me to use her car. Hopefully get it rebuilt tomorrow before I collect her from the airport.


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## Bendee

looks good mate ive just done my rocker cover in the vht wrinkle red its such a easy paint to use and cool that in a blink of a eye the wrinkle apear with a heat gun pointed at it.


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## alexf

looks stunning! 

:doublesho


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## Bratwurst

That's terrific man!


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## Yoghurtman

Great little project, get the pics on the car posted please :thumb:


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## amclean

Yoghurtman said:


> Great little project, get the pics on the car posted please :thumb:


Will do tomorrow, need to get it rebuilt in daylight. Only finished it last night at 8pm. Will update the post. And thanks for +ve feedback.

Cheers

Alan


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## andyd73

Better hope the missus doesn't find out about the things you were cooking in her oven while she's away in New York. Don't worry your secret's safe with me


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## amclean

Haha. Seeing as neither of us will be at the works dance Andy, all should be safe. Cheers mate.


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## 123quackers

Stunning work there :thumb:

was it not possible to polish first mask up and paint? just wondering

crackle finish looks real good


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## amclean

123quackers said:


> Stunning work there :thumb:
> 
> was it not possible to polish first mask up and paint? just wondering
> 
> crackle finish looks real good


Not sure to be honest, thought the shape was too complex too mask off. I actually polished it before painting and applied some light grease to the letters to try and reduced adhesion but it never worked. You don't need much effort to polish after sanding with 2000 grit anyway, the main thing is to be very patient when wet sanding.

*Update from 1st December:*

I've updated the original post as well as posted the photos here. Got the parts refitted today, as a reminder, here's the before and some afters. Granted it shows up the plenum chamber now, but I still don't think I want it all in red, so I need to see what to do next with that part.














































Cheers
Alan


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## KennyC

Excellent work


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## Jody 4444

What a great turn around mate :thumb:


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## 123quackers

looking good :thumb:

I used a normal masking tape and a new stanley blade to do a similar job which worked well although it took time to cut out properly but was happy with result... 

Love the V6 Alfa engine... Best sounding V6 IMO ever made...

Shame its gone for good now..


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## pdv40

Looks absolutely fantastic! Very OEM as well, I would have thought that was factory finish if I didn't know any better :thumb:


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## No_Fear

very nice,big diference.


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## Miglior

that looks fantastic, great job!


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## Chrisjk

Really good job, wanting too give this a go on a spare inlet of mine.


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## Mike Hunt

Looks the business, it's probably better to leave the plenum well alone. As mentioned earlier one of the best V6's of all time.


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## packard

you the man! - that could be a business on its own!


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## S-X-I

That looks amazing now, great work!


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## Han5y

Woow, nice work, and pretty nice car! I want to have the 3.2 v6 in my 155


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## amclean

Han5y said:


> Woow, nice work, and pretty nice car! I want to have the 3.2 v6 in my 155


Thanks Han5y. That looks like a special car you have as well. Yes the 3.2 is a great motor, it'll be very difficult for me to think about replacing it, so I'm considering preserving the underbody now in order that I can run the car as long as possible.


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## 03OKH

Looks really good mate. And a nice write up for others to learn from. :thumb:

Tony


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## Streeto

wow, that looks the ******'s good work dude


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## Shredder

Big improvement, looks good. :thumb:


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## Janitor

I can only echo what others have said - stunning effort that! Absolutely top class :thumb:


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## Supercool

That looks absolutely stunning, great post :thumb:

I'm no paint expert but aren't some paints poisonous? I hope you gave your oven a good detail after


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## Mini 360

Love it! The Minis getting a new look now......


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## Lopez

That looks fantastic. I did my Civic a few years ago with some VHT wrinkle paint I got from Frost:










Good work.


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## MHTexPete

looks brilliant, well worth the effort


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## wrxmania

Brilliant work.


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## AshD

Looks excellent, if you're still considering the inlet, what about black with red lettering?


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## Sparrow'90

Dude...that's outstanging !!! ... I like ur style :Þ


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## FALCONGTHO

Excellent work and the photos step by step was great for us out there who pla to do the same thing...dont know bout using the oven though....thanks mate


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## Gstraw

That looks amazing dude! im planning on doing this on my celica but didnt know how the finish would end up.

how is it looking now after running it for a good few months?

You have PM


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