308QV Plenum -- Painted on the car

I decided to paint the plenum today. My process:

1. Use Gunk degreaser with a tootbrush to remove grease/oil
2. Use a household cleaner to remove any residue
3. Small wire brush to flake off any loose stuff
4. Tape everything off and cover EVERYTHING with towels as best as possible
5. On the unpainted ridges and raised letters, use blue drywall tape and then trim with a sharp exacto -- really works well with a new blade
6. Sprayed with VHT Wrinkle Paint
7. Let it dry and came back with a 2nd coat
8. Remove tape/towels
9. Paint all other areas with a small craft paint brush -- go slow
10. Used paint remover to clean off excess spray
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More pics and the finished product.
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Looks pretty good. I was thinking about doing this myself until the rebuild when things warm up here. Thanks for the pics.

 

The instructions on the website state

Curing Wrinkle Plus

VHT Wrinkle Plus only attains its unique properties after correct curing.

Bake at 200°F (93°C) for 20 minutes.
The inherent heat of engine operation will also accomplish curing

Per your pictures, it appears to have been done at room temperature. How did the finish turn out? Did the paint "wrinkle" as from factory?

 

One problem is the VHT Red Wrinkle paint doesn't match the colour of the OEM paint.

Also, no need to tape off the lettering and other high points. After the paint has cured take a razor blade and run it across the raised surfaces.

 

The finished piece is not as "wrinkly" as the original. It does have a texture.

 

Good to know on the razor blade trick. Do you have a source for the OEM Paint? I would probably redo it when i have the car in for a major next year.

 

Yes the paint got the wrinkle as advertised when I did mine last year. As stated the color is not exactly correct, but to me, it looks a lot better than it did before.
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you can save a lot of work if you do what the OEM do paint the coplete Cover let it dry and take a 80 grid sandpaper wraped around a flat pc os Wood or metal as wide as the cover and take the exrta pain of this way ,plus it gives you a nice shine on the metal the same time with very clean edges.

 

Another helpful trick; run a very thin film of vaseline on the raised areas with your finger tip and just paint away. When it's dry just wipe it off. Perfect.

 

Sanding it down is a good idea. I think I will do it anyway to get the shine.

 

Wow. I will be a lot smarter next time around. Good stuff.

 

I black wrinkled my Alfa Romeo's twin cam valve cover and did it that way. No problems

 

How long did the job take?

 

Actual work time was probably about 90 minutes but it took me about 4 or 5 hours since I let it dry between coats and did other things.

 

Go for the razor. Sanding will cause the sand to come off the paper with some aluminium and deposit itself in the fine wrinkles and ruin the paint job. I know because it happened to me and I had to repaint it. I painted it off the car and then used the razor blade to remove the red on the fins and Ferrari logo.
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you got to let the paint dry(24hrs) then sand then vacum no problem at all

 

It is not easy to paint it in installed position, it looks nice

I had the oportunity to repaint my plenum when it was removed, I've sand blasted the old paint by plastic particles to prevent domages.
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If color is a concern just use the wrinkle paint as a base to add the texture, and once fully cured, hit the plenum again with our favorite red as the top coat. That should achieve a perfect texture and color match....no?

 

I've had mine done twice in 10 years. Once on the car, once out.
Both times with VHT wrinkle, then a quick shot of Corso Rosso.
The top was given a quick shot with a disk sander after the paint thoroughly dried.
Perfect.

 

You can also apply vaseline to the top parts that are naked/no paint. After everything is dry just clean it up and you're done. That's how some retired italian Ferrari mechanics told me to do it.

 

I got some 600 grit emery cloth and sanded the text and ridges -- it really brought out a nice clean fresh look. Good stuff. I then used a little air to blow the filings away.

 

Can you get an authentic Rosso Corsa in a can?

Intended as a sincere question.....not being a snob

 

Yeah go to your local auto body paint store every town has someone all the shops get paint from.

Give them the paint code and they can put it into a can for you hell you can even do that on line

 

Thanks much.