# Cackle finish paint - Step by step for cam covers!



## Miguel - Newera (Sep 18, 2003)

Whilst trawling through information for my current project I came across this: M3 Tech Forum 

Might be useful for any of you wanting to DIY a cackle finish for your engine cover. Would cost around £20.00 in materials, I reckon


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## Jags (May 20, 2007)

You have to be a registered user but I'm too lazy to sign up 

Would be goo to know though.


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## StretchGSK (Oct 24, 2006)

Interesting, any chance of doing a cut and past for us so we dont all have to sign up?

Thanks


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## Miguel - Newera (Sep 18, 2003)

Ah, sorry guys - Didn't think it was a member only view, anyways - here's the info duly cut and pasted. 

BTW, where it mentions the Harley Davidson paint, that might be better stuff.... Just turn the can upside down and clear it as you finish using it - so it won't get blocked 

Below is info on painting E30 M3 cam covers.
If anyone does their RB26 cam covers using this thread, perhaps start a new one, with with more relevant pics, please! :clap: 

Pasted Info:

A lot of people have repainted their cam covers in the past, one grey area is the M3 ones as it's sometimes difficult to get the correct finish on them.
Harley Davidson make a crinkle/crackle/wrinkle finish paint but some people have reported that the can clogs up a lot or they can't achieve an even finish. I thought I would post my findings.

Having done some searching about on the net I found this Frost Website For those that don't know Frost stock all sorts of useful products, from POR15rust treatment to handy tools for fiddly jobs. So it's a good website to book mark even if you're not planning anything like this.

Tools you will need are

1) Nitromores or other paint stripper
2) Masking tape
3) Very sharp knives
4) Frost Paint
5) Some kind of parts washer, I used a toothbrush, alloy wheel cleaner and a big plastic tub.
6) Various grades of wet 'n' dry, 600, 1200 & 1500.
7) Cotton buds
8 ) White spirit
9) Heat gun or hairdryer with a flippin' hot setting.

Any other stuff is easily used around the house, kitchen table etc.

The first step is to wash the cam cover, I first soaked it in my makeshift parts washer with hot water, gave it a good scrubbing and then hosed it down. You may need to repeat this process a few times. You will be cleaning it a few times more through out this little project 

So we have our cam cover that has been washed down and ready for stripping, as you can see it has seen better days.










Next stage is to apply as thick coat of nitromoors to strip off the old paint.
After about 5 minutes it should start to bubble up, you may need to agitate stubborn bits with an old toothbrush. Then rinse it off with a hose.










Once you have all the old paint off give it a wash with some fairy liquid.
The next step is to bring the lettering up, this may not be required in all cases, but if it is a bit flat get a block of wood and some wet n dry and give it a polish up.










If you're happy with the finish, give it another wash down with some soapy water then clean water and leave to dry.

Next up is the most boring, the masking. You will need to cut masking tape into strips and then go around the outline of the letters with a sharp knife. Try to place the first part of masking tape overlapping the next, this makes life a lot easier when you try to peel it off when the paint is still tacky.


















To stop paint clogging up the holes for the bolts cut up the cover of an old glossy mag ( attacked the TV times) and curl it up.










You should end up with this










One final check and you're ready to paint.










For best results stick the paint can in a saucepan of hot water and let it stand for a 5 minutes.

Shake well and spray 30 cm from the cover is a cross hatch fashion, vertically, horizonally and diagnonally.
Build up the layers slowly










Here you can see the paint has already started to wrinkle.










The next part is pretty crucial, once covered get the heat gun out and go over the whole cover, paying specific attention to areas that may not have crinkled, the heat from the gun will sort this out. Once you're happy with this and the paint is still tacky start taking off the masking tape, it will be near impossible if you let the paint dry too much.










You should end up with this, now it's time to get rid of any paint that may have got around your masking and any paint that may have dropped onto the lines when removing the masking tape. Get a cotton bud and dip it into white spirit, dry it off and rub over the areas that have any overspray.

Once you're happy with it give it a good blast with the heat gun and leave to dry somewhere warm. You can stick it in the oven for a while if you want to but this is very slow drying paint, the can recommends to don't attach it to the car for at least 5 days, you can shorten this time by oven baking though ( careful it stinks)









After a while the paint will go a bit more matt


















The oil cap was a bit rubbish too so that was flattened










And repainted Cosmos Black










Finally refit it back to the car. Even after tha paint has gone off ( some 7 days) on the first couple of drives it will still stink. Don't worry about this the smell will go away.










Thanks for looking


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## daytona (Jun 28, 2005)

Nice post, been looking into getting this done recently, :thumbsup:


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## tarmac terror (Jul 16, 2003)

EXCELLENT!!! Now I've NO excuses for my pitiful looking covers LOL...

TT


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## nozza1 (Jan 13, 2007)

Nice step by step thread miguel, very familiar with the frost company. All the equipment used to restore my r34 was bought from this company, very good quality products.


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## Jags (May 20, 2007)

Ah, that one. Good post that, it was origionally posted up by the main man from e36coupe.com (now bmwowner.com)

I'll be doing this with my covers hopefully.


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## dinges (May 21, 2004)

I bookmarked this thread, I'm going to use this on my AE86 cam covers!


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## r33gtsman (Jun 29, 2001)

Ah excellent, I had been thinking about this for my spare cam covers, does anyone know about getting this paint in other colours though apart from the red and black listed ??


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## Spearmint (Aug 7, 2005)

Excellent, been wanting to do this for ages. Thanks for the link Miguel.


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## moNoKnoT (Dec 18, 2004)

Excellent just what I've been looking for :clap: 

Without sounding thick, is there anything else I need? ie gaskets?

- Kevin.


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## Spearmint (Aug 7, 2005)

You'll usually find the cam cover gaskets are ok on the RB's.


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## r33 v-spec (May 24, 2002)

The cam cover gaskets are not expensive anyway, and I'm sure i've seen the p/n's posted elsewhere on this site


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## akasakaR33 (Oct 10, 2005)

Miguel, thanks for the post. Quite by coincidence, I took my car into Mine's last weekend, they are going to re-do the engine cover because of the two "shiny patches" that were present. The explanation (and now it makes more sense to me) is that a proper amount of heat was not applied to those areas, which thus did not allow the paint to properly crackle.


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## Jags (May 20, 2007)

Quick question- if I remove my rocker covers, coilpack cover and cambelt cover, can I still drive it about everyday like I do now without any ill effects?


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## GPEGTR (Mar 4, 2008)

thats so cool
mine need a major overhaul as do probably most 32s by now, hmmm colour choice??

F.


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## Spearmint (Aug 7, 2005)

Jags said:


> Quick question- if I remove my rocker covers, coilpack cover and cambelt cover, can I still drive it about everyday like I do now without any ill effects?


Mate, you'd get oil absolutely everywhere! That and don't you have vacuum pick-offs for the inlet manifold from the cam covers? Leave one of them open and you'll get a real nasty idle + poor running. Also, re the cam belt cover - you can run without one of them but would you want to risk it? All you need is a little stone to bounce it's way up in to the belt and bang!


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## Jags (May 20, 2007)

^^LOL, yeh I realised that cam cover bit after I'd written it. I must sound like a real numpty with some of the questions I ask sometimes!


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## Spearmint (Aug 7, 2005)

I recently completed this task on my car and I would have to say I got a pretty good result.


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## Miguel - Newera (Sep 18, 2003)

A couple of people have asked me about Crackle Finish Paints and the pasted picture links don't work any more on this thread, so here's some more with pictures again.

A lot of people have repainted their cam covers in the past, one grey area is it's sometimes difficult to get the correct finish on them.
Harley Davidson make a crinkle/crackle/wrinkle finish paint but some people have reported that the can clogs up a lot or they can't achieve an even finish. I thought I would post my findings.

Having done some searching about on the net I found this Frost Website For those that don't know Frost stock all sorts of useful products, from POR15 rust treatment to handy tools for fiddly jobs. So it's a good website to book mark even if you're not planning anything like this.

Tools you will need are

1) Nitromores or other paint stripper
2) Masking tape
3) Very sharp knives
4) Frost Paint
5) Some kind of parts washer, I used a toothbrush, alloy wheel cleaner and a big plastic tub.
6) Various grades of wet 'n' dry, 600, 1200 & 1500.
7) Cotton buds
8 ) White spirit
9) Heat gun or hairdryer with a flippin' hot setting.

Any other stuff is easily used around the house, kitchen table etc.

The first step is to wash the cam cover, I first soaked it in my makeshift parts washer with hot water, gave it a good scrubbing and then hosed it down. You may need to repeat this process a few times. You will be cleaning it a few times more through out this little project 

So we have our cam cover that has been washed down and ready for stripping, as you can see it has seen better days.










Next stage is to apply as thick coat of nitromoors to strip off the old paint.
After about 5 minutes it should start to bubble up, you may need to agitate stubborn bits with an old toothbrush. Then rinse it off with a hose.










Once you have all the old paint off give it a wash with some fairy liquid.
The next step is to bring the lettering up, this may not be required in all cases, but if it is a bit flat get a block of wood and some wet n dry and give it a polish up.










If you're happy with the finish, give it another wash down with some soapy water then clean water and leave to dry.

Next up is the most boring, the masking. You will need to cut masking tape into strips and then go around the outline of the letters with a sharp knife. Try to place the first part of masking tape overlapping the next, this makes life a lot easier when you try to peel it off when the paint is still tacky.


















To stop paint clogging up the holes for the bolts cut up the cover of an old glossy mag ( attacked the TV times) and curl it up.










You should end up with this










One final check and you're ready to paint.










For best results stick the paint can in a saucepan of hot water and let it stand for a 5 minutes.

Shake well and spray 30 cm from the cover is a cross hatch fashion, vertically, horizonally and diagnonally.
Build up the layers slowly










Here you can see the paint has already started to wrinkle.










The next part is pretty crucial, once covered get the heat gun out and go over the whole cover, paying specific attention to areas that may not have crinkled, the heat from the gun will sort this out. Once you're happy with this and the paint is still tacky start taking off the masking tape, it will be near impossible if you let the paint dry too much.










You should end up with this, now it's time to get rid of any paint that may have got around your masking and any paint that may have dropped onto the lines when removing the masking tape. Get a cotton bud and dip it into white spirit, dry it off and rub over the areas that have any overspray.

Once you're happy with it give it a good blast with the heat gun and leave to dry somewhere warm. You can stick it in the oven for a while if you want to but this is very slow drying paint, the can recommends to don't attach it to the car for at least 5 days, you can shorten this time by oven baking though ( careful it stinks)









After a while the paint will go a bit more matt

















The oil cap was a bit rubbish too so that was flattened










And repainted Cosmos Black



















Finally refit it back to the car. Even after tha paint has gone off ( some 7 days) on the first couple of drives it will still stink. Don't worry about this the smell will go away and nothing has caught fire. :lol: 


















Cam cover has been on for just under a year and holding up pretty well

Hasn't changed much at the 6 month point in this picture below.
_ 
(The above wasn't written by me, but someone else on an M3 forum... But I'm considering re-do my engine cover on my M3 too.. )_


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## Miguel - Newera (Sep 18, 2003)

Just a tip for someone who hasn't any acces to a oven (or has a wife).
And can't use the oven at home when the wife will kick them out because the x-mas turkey is shortly going in there...

If you'd make a little plastic box (I'd use the thicker see through plastic) around the valve cover and make two holes in it.
In one end you stick the wife's hair dryer, you'll be amazed what temperatures this will reach.
And you won't eat a funny smelling turkey at during the x-mas holidays. :thumbsup:


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## hpt_simon (May 20, 2006)

ive, used this on mine a few times, 
for the price, the finish is pretty cool.

even if you dont use an oven it crakles nice, just let it dry, and the engine heat cycles will do the rest.

just make shure not to use too litle, and no to use too much.....takes a few tries.


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## CSB (Nov 15, 2007)

does someone have a tutorial for the rb26 taking them off, spraying them, installing them back etc?

I would do it but somes abit tedious, might aswell pay someone some dough to get it done for me


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## DazGTR (Dec 5, 2007)

can you use any automotive paint for this or does it have to be crinkle stuff? and will the heat gun give the crinkle effect with normal paint?


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## Jags (May 20, 2007)

If you want crinkle then it has to be crinkle paint.


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## Jags (May 20, 2007)

CSB said:


> does someone have a tutorial for the rb26 taking them off, spraying them, installing them back etc?
> 
> I would do it but somes abit tedious, might aswell pay someone some dough to get it done for me



If you not got a spare set then you'll end up being car-less for a while whilst you get them painted up.


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## Min-e (Sep 23, 2009)

A superb guide with an excellent final product, nice one Miguel :thumbsup:


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