[General] SHaving and painting rocker covers

So i got bored at about 2am this morning and went hunting for something to do. The things i came up with required power tools or parts i didnt have yet. So i look in the corner and find some old rocker covers. I then started to think, what could i do to these to tidy them up. As i only had some colors i thought i may as well paint them up for my mates wifes wagon as it lacks customization in the engine bay. So i got to work.

I got some body filler and started filling in the dents (from the chains) and the groves. I learnt afterwards less is more. The amount of sanding i had to do due to the thick application and the parts that didnt need bog took forever.


You will want to do a light sanding. Meaning getting close to the finished sanding product and check for air bubbles. I found a few and had to do some more bogging to make it smoother.


Then youll want to smooth the whole thing out and check to see if everything is flat and your happy. If so, to the next step. If not, ad more bog and go again.



I bought some primer filler awhile ago from super **** auto. It was their branded stuff and it is horrible to use. I did 2 coats with that and then 1 coat with normal primer then smoothed it. Then added another coat of normal primer (K&H i think the brand was) and smoothed it again.


Because im going with a bright shinny color such as Anodized Purple, i needed a light base coat. So i did some searching and found my white under coat. I did 3 coats of this then smoothed it. Youll want to do light coats, not thick ones. You want to slowly get coverage not in all in the first coat, otherwise itll be thick, takes forever to dry and more then likely to get runs in the paint.



Now that the base coat has dried and been smoothed. Time to lay the color on. The same deal applies. Light coats to slowly get coverage.


Then you get the end result. Its a much neater look in my opinion.

 

Itll handle the heat. Because you dont get too much heat on the rocker covers it will be fine. Some people even do this on intakes as well. Im even using heat resistant paint as well, well, just because i can. Their just the standard plastic ones. As im sick at the moment im sleeping alday so i have enough energy for work at night. So i didnt get any daylight photos and the other one is still covered in unsanded bog.

 

Come on guys, everyone has to start somewhere and this could possibly be his first attempt at doing this sort of work.

 

New finished photos added. Still sanding the other one. Been at it for 4 hours trying to get it perfect. Im doing it by hand too..

Gothic, patience is the key. Like i said, 4 hours on this one and the photo shows how far i got. I am doing it by hand tho. And im trying to make this one perfect as this one is more noticeable then the other. The black lines where just to remind me of the areas that needed to be re bogged as i went for some food.

 

The bog will withstand the heat. Its been used on manifolds for a long time. Using none temp resistant paint will also hold up against the heat as well. As these parts dont get too hot. I even set a piece on fire and let it burn for about a min, still didnt crack, just turned black.