Valve cover finishes

Lots of people do a lot of polishing & powder coating to valve covers on 308s, did various model years have different finishes, or were they always the textured bare aluminum?
I understand that other finishes offer varying benefits in terms of cleanliness, nostalgia and plain old "owners taste", I'm just wondering as I ponder cleaning my parts up.

 

When they went with the cast-in torque brace on the rear valve covers, it was a completely new casting so my front and rear covers never really matched in color, finish or texture. No matter how much I cleaned, they were different. In my opinion, the newer rear casting was not as well done as the earlier front casting. So I just powder coated mine. If you look closely you can still see the differences, but its much less apparent now. Original, no... but I like it.

Rick
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They look great Rick.

 

Some of the early carbed cars came with black crinkle cam covers, but probably nobody knows if they all did. I am not sure if any 308's ever came with red cam covers, but they do look nice. None came polished.

 

Mine were Cadmium color, but that's all but flaked off.

 

None of the 308/328s came with red cam covers, but it's a great mod (provided it's not a concours car.)

If you want to do red cam covers, you can simply buy Red Wrinkle paint from NAPA. A $5.99 rattle can is enough for both cam covers and timing covers for three or four cars.
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Sammy, how does the Napa rattle can stuff hold up though to heat, solvents, cleaners, etc.?

If good, would it work well on the QV's F.i. plenums too?

 

well, in my experience, if you do that, polish the ribs and bits, and then go over it with VHT engine clearcoat, normal solvents and fuels will not affect the finish, and the polished bits stay shiny.

 

I used VHT red on my plenum and it has held up well for several years now- just be sure to prep with wax-grease remover and sand any old paint etc.
The PO painted the valve covers red too. The "Ferrari" lettering really POPS against the red background, I love it.
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Just had the cam covers for my '85 QV powder coated locally.
Thought about VHT red-wrinkle paint, but also thought the wrinkles would collect smutz and $100 to PC the cam and belt covers, motor mounts, sway bar, coolant tank, and dogbone (last ones black) sounded like a good deal. The red is 'textured' rather than 'wrinkled', almost like a 100 grit sandpaper but of course not 'sharp' feeling.
They did a good job with taping, only thing is they forgot to do the dog-bone bushing so had to sand that off before reinstallation.

After painting some lettering on the plenum with testors red, painted that, the TB, some coolant pipes and intake runners with VHT clear.

Media blasting everything first is pretty much a given I think.
Before blasting I tried cleaning the cam covers with zylene, brake cleaner, disp soap etc (tried on a small area) and nothing got the aluminum clean until the blast cabinet.

Second photo is next to a 599's motor. Photo is by Blackberry so not the greatest color balance, but mine looked surprisingly close in color and texture to the new car's.
cheers
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That looks really good. Wasn't sure if red cam covers and red plenum would be too much color but it doesn't look like it at all.
cheers

 

I powder coated mine. In retrospect, just a good cleaning on the original finish would have been good. but either way, it works.
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They did not. All came bare aluminum. Early on many didi not like the bare aluminum and they got painted but they did not come that way on production cars.

 

US rear covers are sand cast. All other covers are die cast.

 

Certainly you have had your nose under these cars long enough to have good knowledge. Blame Kieth Blummell and others for handing out false information, but my understanding was some cars up through early 77 came with black covers, all bare thereafter. In any case none ever came red or polished. Or is that also not factual?

While on the subject of finishes, it appears to me that Ferrari never went much for anything highly polished or overly glossy. Even their paints often appear more of a satin gloss than super gloss, excepting in later times. Many parts, engines, trims, bumpers, grills, interiors, etc., appear a satiny non glare finish when new. Too often people mistakenly polish up parts of the car or go for high gloss effects, and in a few cases it loses its touch. JMHO.

 

You are correct in every other way. Ferrari has always toned down the looks of the mechanical aspect of the car while owners often seem to want to go the other way.

I have met Kieth Bluemel and he is a great guy but his work on the V8 cars leaves something to be desired in the accuracy department. His book is in fact what inspired me to work on my own. Hopefully someday it will come to fruition.

 

+1 VHT
Red and Clear coats.
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** Here's a better view.
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All of mine certainly have that "out of the mold and onto the engine" look to them.....

JRV once puzzled over one set that had been "finished" with paint or powder coating....something.

It was kind of a clear coating...paint probably....

He used to spray the timing covers in silver, but they are natural too, from the Factory.

The motorcycle guys have raised the bar on polishing all that stuff, as have the airplane racers!! LOL!

 

Ah... Thanks Brain, that explains a lot.

Rick

 

I wish Ferrari put more effort into the appearance and quality (funny thing is they usually go hand in hand) of the 308's 'unseen' bits. Doesn't have to be Zonda or Mc F1 level but the 308's frame welds, brake line retainers, accessory brackets for example are pretty shabby.

Ferrari has been known to spice up the engine compartment a bit:
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Frames are contracted out......on production cars...

 

hestech, in this thread, illustrated this:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=276094


These are the pictures he posted of his 1976 North American version Fiberglass 308 GTB cam covers. The top two pictures are of the 1-4 cam cover and the bottom two the 5-8 cover...
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Mine does too, Bubba. It's clean enough.
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Nice !

Declan..... what was the source/cost of your "kevlar" air intake tube??

any good and do we need the OEM tractor hose for engine flex or is the solid intake with rubbber connections working fine , even under full acceleration?