Forgot a thread creation when I did this awhile back, then again, ... I was not not too proud of my work ...

There was no better cover to begin with, so I scrubbed it up with some light dish
soap & a ScotchBrite sponge pad. Here are the results:


Like a lemming, I followed many other folks' suggestions & used RustOlem's high-temp rattle can paints,
even the clear. (My Pop rolled his eyes & thought I was nuts, but I insisted ... Should have listened to the
'Ol Man.

After first, light coat of black:


After 3 more coats of black:



Then I sanded off the raised areas for vinyl layovers by:


Vinyl layovers by Reflective Concepts --> L36 Monte Carlo Engine Cover Decals :



*No post-clear coat photos*

The reasons I decided on Reflective Concepts is many suggested them & were using them, it
appeared to be a good alternative to painting the raised letters, & almost the biggest selling point,
as that, once applied, I would be able to "clear coat them in" so it would be nice & smooth.

Nah, does not work like that. Or at least apparently not here in North Syracuse, NY, USA.

Should have listened to Pop, ... though no one can say I did not at least try.

 

I think it looks pretty good.

 

Hi `Jason, thanks for posting/sharing...Looks great & I'm sure that
you have inspired others to try it.

p.s. Hi `Jose, thanks for all your contributions to the MCF

 

I think it looks great!

 

Did you try to clear them? Clearing vinyl has never given good results from what I've read.

 

I think it looks great.

Reflective Concepts has really good products, my overlays fit very good. Did they say you could clear over them? I never clear coated mine because I assumed that it wouldn't turn out very good.

 

A few guys on here, well-known guys, said to clear them "in", like they did, & showed pictures of their work. The last two pictures are WITHOUT clear. So I followed their instructions 1, 2, 3, ....

As far as it looking good, ... yeah ... for about three minutes. Put it on, when all was done, go for the first drive, etc. as an actual piece of the car, & it was junk. And I am not just saying that because I want everything to be perfect.

My prep was perfect.

The black went on, eh, not that great, but passable.

The product Reflective Concepts creates is superior.

There was plenty of cure time before clear.

The clear destroyed it all. It did not really do a great job of "covering" anything, let alone the stickers. And I could not lay good coats in there on them without instantly creating runs. I don't know, ... very, very disappointed.

To find out afterwards this new paint that is made today is just crap. The base colors working with the clears with the amounts of water in them and other chems make it near impossible to put something like this together.

Double Ugh.

 

Here's one I found, ... before getting hot, attempting to clean, staring at it the wrong way ...

 

I like it!

 

Looks good to me. Much better than a plain old flat black cover.