Inspiration - My New Rocker Cover

[Ozfords]

Hey gang, I just want to put in what I've gotten out of this forum, a post that I hope will inspire others.

If anyone in Sydney stayed indoors today I wouldn't blame them. In the Blue Mountains the weather was horrendous, cold, rainy and dreary. It felt a bit like the way Melbourne weather is described.

But I soildered on, in less the usual lighting I tended to the busted Rocker Cover gasket. I removed most of the attachments and swore my tits off at the rear pipe, which took longer than anticipated to remove. But I finally got it off, lay it on the tarp and took to it with a blade, wire brush and wax n grease remover. Painted it with 'Ford Blue' Engine Enamel replaced the gasket.

And viola!





My lovely hot little Rocker Cover. The blue turned out sensationally in the photos and is a bit darker in reality, but lighter than the Septone cap.

Thanks to others for posting up pics of their mods and personal touches. Some purists argue I'm a shoddy character that tears out pages from workshop manuals, borrows Gregory's guides and pesters those with knowledge. Sure I'm mechanically challenged, how the bloody hell I'm I to learn otherwise!! (For the record I do not tear pages out of Workshop manuals and I OWN my own EA workshop manual and 92-94 Gregory's manual.)

I hope this inspires someone, YOU CAN DO IT!

[LukeyBAXR6]

That looks very clean mate, good job.

Something i'm thinking about doing soon.. matter of finding some free time to do it.

None the less it looks great.

[EB Pete]

how did you get the strips and ford 4.0l parts back to standard? did you not paint them or did you sand the paint off afterwards?

[Ozfords]

I sprayed it all, waited it to get a bit dry then used a turped up cloth and carefully wiped it off, with some force and done!

I thought about sanding it back, but I'm Generation Y, I want it NOW!!

[snypereb]

Ive got a red one of those mate what sort of paint did you use? Hope you used hi temp ause it will crap and peel after a while (3 months tops).

[Ozfords]

Apparently it is 'Engine Enamel', meant to withstand high temps, not peel and it should laugh in the face of heavy duty degreasers.

If it peels, well, I guess I get to choose a second colour, hmmm Tickford Red?

[EA2BA]

I found the trick to using ANY colour you want not just high-temp paint etc, you will still have to use duco paint though.

1. Bare metal sand fill and smooth the rocker cover.
2. Use white high-temp paint in lots of light coats to get a nice heat proof base.
3. Paint as usual primer sanded smooth then colour
4. Spray with high-temp clear enamel over the top

If you do it slow take your time and allow each coat to dry properly the paint retains its colour and does not crack or peel.

I have also used this technique for brake rotors as well, but for circuit/track work where red hot temps can be achieved on the rotors, I reccomend only all high-temp paints.

[BI6TIM]

I have had my rocker cover painted in Polynesian Green for about a year now and had no problems with the heat. It was normal car paint not high temp. On top of that I didn't rub it back to perfection or spray high temp base coats or any of that. I haven't had a peeling or cracking problem, the rocker cover doesn't get that hot in my opinion.

I did however take the time to use sand paper to get the paint off the ridges and badges and then some super fine sand paper(think 2000 grit) and it came up polished. Looks awesome, unfortunatly I have no photo's of it.

[Damo]

looks good mate, but god damn give that angine a degrease, looks like my EA. :P

[EFDream]

Nice job......might have to grit my teeth and get out into the weather and do that one of these days......lol

[niko]

looks nice man, have you heard of degreaser ? lol

[snypereb]

Degreaser and a pressure wash she will come up sweet!

[Ozfords]

Yes, yes, I'm waiting till its all dry then I'll give her a good degreasing and spraying. The cans on standby as we speak.

[XPfalcon170]

That cover is looking very nice mate. Any other under bonnet enhancements on the horizon?