Mildly customized intake cover

[Manny]

I decided to customize the intake cover for my Eldo (partially because it was damaged) - and it was a good excuse to change the color.

Small damage circled in red:

Cadillac emblem removed, sanded with 120, 320, then 600 wet:

Sprayed with three coats of plastic paint, and allowed to outgas 48 hours:

Wet sanded with 2000 grit - right side rotary polished with 3M finesse it II machine polish (one pass):

Three passes with rotary:

The camera doesn't do it any real justice, but it looked pretty good in person. Made me a little more confident about doing touch-ups.

Notice I said "looked" pretty good. I should have quit while I was ahead. But nooooo... I wanted to clear coat it as well.

The first coat went fine. Waited 10 min per instructions. Upon spraying the second coat (from a new can), I noticed the paint began to bubble and dissolve!

I thought maybe it was the machine polish, but it says in big letters paint shop safe, and the bottle lists no silicone. I made sure before I sprayed the clear coat, I wiped the cover down with Isopropl Alcohol & water mixed 1:1.

I have NO idea what happened, but I got disgusted at the ruin of about 4 days work, I cut the garage light out and came inside.

I'll let it dry and sand it down tomorrow and start over.

Should I try clearcoat again, or use spray varnish instead, or just polish and leave it alone?

[Bruce Nunnally]

Nice work so far. When you are exploring you are going to find several paths, not all of which go where you want. Luckily the engine cover is not necessary for operation, so you can take some time and get the look you want.

[Texas Jim]

That was looking great.

Sorry to hear about the bubbling with the clear coat.

There must have been some incompatibility with the the polish and the clear coat.

I don't know what..I am not a painter, but it sure was looking good.

[Manny]

Thanks guys - I've never had much success with painting cars, as the dull fender of my Chevy Lumina will verify. Using some tips I found on a detailing forum gave better results, and with a rattle can, no less - (I was told you can never achive near professional results with a rattle can)

I did notice though, with the second can of clear coat, I couldn't get the balls in the can to rattle, even after shaking for about 5 min.

[leeinthecaddy]

I decided to customize the intake cover for my Eldo (partially because it was damaged) - and it was a good excuse to change the color.

Small damage circled in red:

Cadillac emblem removed, sanded with 120, 320, then 600 wet:

Sprayed with three coats of plastic paint, and allowed to outgas 48 hours:

Wet sanded with 2000 grit - right side rotary polished with 3M finesse it II machine polish (one pass):

Three passes with rotary:

The camera doesn't do it any real justice, but it looked pretty good in person. Made me a little more confident about doing touch-ups.

Notice I said "looked" pretty good. I should have quit while I was ahead. But nooooo... I wanted to clear coat it as well.

The first coat went fine. Waited 10 min per instructions. Upon spraying the second coat (from a new can), I noticed the paint began to bubble and dissolve!

I thought maybe it was the machine polish, but it says in big letters paint shop safe, and the bottle lists no silicone. I made sure before I sprayed the clear coat, I wiped the cover down with Isopropl Alcohol & water mixed 1:1.

I have NO idea what happened, but I got disgusted at the ruin of about 4 days work, I cut the garage light out and came inside.

I'll let it dry and sand it down tomorrow and start over.

Should I try clearcoat again, or use spray varnish instead, or just polish and leave it alone?

I did this on my 98 STS as well. I didn't sand near as much, just scuffed the surface to get good adhesion. A couple coats of white later, sanding in between coats, and then polish. I had removed the cadillac symbol, so I glued it back on, and that was it. The bubbling will be caused by the incompatability between the paint and clear. Read, Read, Read the lables man. I have been screwed on that before as well.