Painting And Enhancing The Twin Cam Engine Cover.

Painting The Twin Cam Cover.
There is no real need to use a heat resistant paint on the alloy cam cover, normal acrylic paint (Or 2 pack) will last for many many years in this situation, below is an outline of how to achieve good results. The heat transfer from the head, to the cam cover is not that great that it will damage the paint.

Step One:
Remove all old paint with wet/dry paper, or paint stripper if several layers need to be removed, but be careful with strippers as the alkyd can eat into the alloy, the trick is to apply the stripper, and when the paint begins to wrinkle, then quickly remove with a scraper, it is a messy job, but has to be done to prepare a good base surface, one of the most advanced methods for removing paint from alloy is to locate a soda blast operator, soda blast will quickly remove all of the paint and leave the alloy surface with an excellent “key” surface, ready to be primed, also to tidy things up, remove any burrs and sharp edges created during the casting process.

Step Two:
Before any paint is applied, take the opportunity to buff the aluminium lotus letters to a high polish, a hard cloth rotary buff is ideal (plus buffing compound) the buffing wheel is mounted on a normal 1-2HP bench grinder with the special adapter.

Step Three.
Clean off entire cam cover with prepsol. (Cleaning agent used in spray painting) Prepsol removes wax and oils and finger marks.

Step Four.
Carefully mask off the highly polished lotus name letters on top of the cam cover, apply the masking tape, and cut around the letters with a small sharp craft knife, it is fiddly work. also don’t forget to mask of the oil filler cap hole. There’s no need to worry about the gasket face, because the cam cover will be placed on a paper base spread out on a flat surface (Gasket face down) while the paint is applied with a spray gun.
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Step Five.
Clean again with prepsol, blow any dust off with compressed air.

Step Six.
Mix and apply primer surfacer acrylic paint (Or 2 pack primer) After drying, rub back lightly with 600 wet/dry, wipe clean with prepsol, apply second primer coat if required. Sand again and clean down.

Step Seven.
Mix and apply topcoat, in our case, the same paint colour as used for spraying the elan body. For an extra super wet deep gloss, spray finish with two or three top coats of clear coat, and allow to dry and cure.

The Cam Cover Painted.

Allow to dry and cure for several hours, overnight for best results, then carefully remove masking tape which from the highly polished raised lotus letters, be real careful not to lift the paint with the masking tape. Be very careful when removing the masking tape, use the ultra sharp blade to cut a break line along the edge of the masking tape on each letter, use small surgical tweezers to lift and peel the masking tape away from the paint… watch that paint does not lift & peel away with the tape.

When the tape has been removed, clean up around the paint edges for a clean look, then polish the alloy with metal polish every now and again to keep the buffed alloy lotus lettering nice and shiny.

The completed cam cover, to enhance the finish, paint was finished with two coats of clear lacquer. Now we have a great looking cam cover & some pretty cool eye candy for when you open the bonnet to show off the engine bay.