| Author | Message | ||
| Jorma Johansson (Jjfinland)
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They are plastic covers, and the colour is Rosso Corsa 300 / 9 ( F40 colour ) I used sandblasting ( fine sand ) and the yellow phosfor primer and normal painting, several layers. And finally fine file on the FERRARI text.  | ||
| Paul Newman (Newman)
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I really like the red covers, I may just do that to mine if I can find the right red. I have a friend that refinishes aluminum rims for a living with a cnc lathe and he powder coats them and bakes them. I could get the covers done by him and the finish would last forever. | ||
| Paul Newman (Newman)
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I think they are the red plastic plugs to keep nuts and bolts from winding up in the cylinders just like the ones in the exhaust ports. | ||
| TomD (Tifosi)
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this maybe a stupid question but what is the red color on top of the intake manifold. Are they gaskets or is it painted or am I seeing things | ||
| Eric Eiland (Eric308gtsiqv)
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I'd go for it, BretM -- your efforts and progress has been stellar thus far, might as well "go for the gold" and do some painting while everything is accessible. Been following your threads / photos with great interest -- can't wait to see pics of the finished project! | ||
| BretM (Bretm)
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Yeah really. I'm starting to feel that I'm morally obligated to repaint the engine now that it's out, as opposed to just cleaning it as I have done. I'm thinking about repainting the frame in the engine compartment (although I don't know if it's really necessary, maybe just a real good cleaning), so I guess the engine wouldn't be a bad idea. | ||
| Richelson (Richelson)
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Great Looking engine. | ||
| Eric Eiland (Eric308gtsiqv)
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WOW, Jorma...excellent job! Engine looks fabulous! | ||
| Jorma Johansson (Jjfinland)
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I love red!  | ||
| Scott Anderson (Srandrsn)
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I have used paint from the company/product line POR-15. They have many high temp engine paints and colors. I've been very happy with their use on my old corvettes and the ferrari. I've done exhuast on a couple of my cars in both cast iron color and aluminun and have had great results. When the time comes I plan to do the valve covers among other things on the 308 with the aluminun color from them. Good luck. | ||
| Paul Newman (Newman)
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Im going to glass bead blast the covers and see what they look like. I may clear them with a satin type finish so it keeps the fresh look without being too glossy. If they look like crap, Ill paint them to match the heads and block. The aluminum must be different than what they cast the heads from. With all the grease and dirt collected over the years, the frame rails and suspension is still black under it all, so I have no rust to contend with. Ill repaint it all and with the engine detailed, it should look like a million bucks. Ive taken pictures of the engine removal procedure but dont have a scanner yet. Ill be splitting the engine and trans soon. When I get a scanner, Ill post some shots. Thanks for the info, Paul. | ||
| Martin (Miami348ts)
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I think I remember someone sandblasting the engine and valve covers. I have two extra valve covers from a 308 that I wanted to try this one. I think they showed that on Autogarage on Speedvision. It looked just like brand new. | ||
| Frank Parker (Parkerfe)
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You can get the crinkle finish paint at most paint stores. T.Rutlands has it too. | ||
| Eric Eiland (Eric308gtsiqv)
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Thanks Paul for starting this thread...was wondering the same thing myself with regards to polishing the valve covers. I just got done refinishing the intake plenum and throttle body on my 308. The hard part was unbolting the plenum from the intakes! Afterwards, I coated both the plenum & body with paint stripper (from ACE) using a toothbrush (and rubber gloves!). The paint bubbled up and wiped off easily with paper towels after only 10 minutes. A small wire brush was handy for removing any remnants of paint flecks. Using a can of carb cleaner, I cleaned up all the grime inside the throttle bore, linkage, and plenum interior. Next, I masked all the holes, bolts, fittings, throttle linkage, etc. with masking tape and then wiped everything down real well with lacquer thinner. Now everything was ready to paint. After trying a couple of different paint sources (trying to find the ideal closest color), I ended up using a high temp engine enamel from Pep Boys simply called Plasti-Kote Universal Red No. 209. It didn't have the crinkle finish, but it matched the original Ferrari red almost perfectly (especially the red plug wires)! Applied several coats over a couple of days, and then removed all the masking. Decided to go for the "factory original" look, so I chose to try and restore the "bare metal" finish for the Ferrari, Quatrovalvole, and ribbed surfaces. For me, the easiest way accomplish this was to take a 100 grit sandpaper and cut narrow (1/2 inch) strips to make sanding more manageable. Using these strips, I sanded these surfaces only until metal began to show on the edges of the surfaces only. Then I simply used a razor blade (or Xacto blade) to "peel" off the remainder of the paint. I was amazed at how well it turned out -- my wife thought I had gone out and purchased a new plenum. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get everything reassembled as of yet (was waiting on a few gaskets from the dealer); but spent the better part of Saturday detailing the engine (sure wished I was at Cavallino instead!). Which got me to wondering also -- what is the best way to polish up the valve covers? I tried extra-fine steel wool (which seemed to work the best), Griot's mag wheel cleaner, Simple Green, WD-40, Brasso, and just about anything else I could find in the garage. Has anyone tried a product called Auto-Wenol (not sure how to spell it)? Anyone had success with other cleaners / techniques? It's beginning to look like I'll have to send the air box cover off to ItalianCarParts for the refurbish / silk screen. Once I get the engine all put back together, I'll post some pics in the tech. section. | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
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Rob, someone had their air-box re-decaled. Italian Car Parts does the service for $$. As well, I remember someone else doing the intake plenum in situ. Look back in the archives... | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
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One of my projects over the next month is to do an "engine in" clean up and restore. I'll let you know how it goes. Already planned are... WD-40 spark cables to get the red back. I'm going to re-crinkle paint the intake covers. Or is that called the heads? I've got the paint and I just plan on tapeing everything up, then painting it and then sanding the top after dry. I also plan on exchanging the airbox. My lettering is almost all gone. Any other ideas or advice? | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
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I painted the valve and timing belt covers, the water pump and the cross-over manifold (that connects the two heads). I left everything else as the aluminum was preserved under a thick layer of grime, cleaning it off revealed a beautiful lustre.  My A/C pump is silver (and un-painted), in this photo, it is hidden in shadow and only looks black. | ||
| Paul Newman (Newman)
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Thanks Peter, It really looks sharp. Did you paint everything including the timing covers? I noticed the a/c compressor is black. Mine is silver. | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
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I painted my valve covers silver. I think only the GT4's had wrinkle black covers (and very few of them to begin with. Mine used to before I repainted silver and Mitchell's car are the only ones I know of that have had black). I used VHT brand aluminum engine enamel. Looks brilliant.  Euro, unshielded headers would've been natural metal. I don't know how long exhaust manifold paint would last on the 308 headers. You can have them ceramic-coated, that stuff is amazing. At a local race, a guy had a 2 litre Vauxhall engine shoe-horned into this tube-framed Mini, he had his headers ceramic-coated. He had the engine running and he grabbed a pipe with his BARE hand! He invited me to do the same! It felt just slightly warm. But how long would that last if these 308 headers would decide to crack? | ||
| Paul Newman (Newman)
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Before I reinstall my engine in my 79 308, I want to detail it as nicely as possible as well as being correct in appearance. Has anyone painted their engine? The valve covers are a darker casting than the block and heads and I would like them to look the same. Are the headers left natural or did they come with some kind of coating on them. The heat shields are long gone so the pipes are quite visible. Ive heard of some people painting the valve covers black crinkle. Did the newer 308s come that way? Thanks, Paul. |