just a real quick question about some customizing of some engine compartment dress up. mainly painting the plastic injector tube cover and battery box cover, etc.

i know a bunch of people have already done this. but, what grit would be best to use on these plastics to rough them up? any particular process?

and what did you use to paint them. i was thinking about using a krylon plastic primer but, wondered if after the primer i can use a high heat type engine paint over that?

essentially what i am trying to do is get a semi-anodized look on my injector cover and battery box top, and if it works maybe my trim rings, whatever.

my plans was to use a grey krylon plastic primer, then a coat of metalcast ground coat which i believe is silver. or else do a coat of silver or chrome then a topcoat of duplicolor metalcast in blue or red. hoping i would get an anodized look. i believe the metalcast is like a "tint" so the undercoating shows through.

anyone used the metalcast and how did you feel about the results? searching the net it seems like a ton of people are happy with it.

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/metalcast.html

 

My friend Barry. "Chilipeppa03" did some really nice engine dress up using some pinstriping tape. i think its a super clean way to dress up the bay without having to paint.

 

cool any links?

upon further reading on using metalcast on black plastic under bonnet things. i learned that you first use the duplicolor adhesion promoter (for non metals) then the ground coat which is a silver based primer. then you use your final color choice of metalcast to finish it off. results i have seen online look very nice.

i guess i'll give this a whirl. i just ordered a new injector tube cover and i'm going to play around when it arrives from pelican. if this works well i may try to give my interior trim an anodized blue look.

 

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How did you paint the support under the intake? Take it out or leave it in to paint?

 

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03Indigo- your MINI is beautiful. i have an 03 indi blue as well - the CVT version though. i really like the way your bay looks with the contrast of the white in there. my goal is to do similar but, instead of white i will go with red for contrast.

love the stripes but i think i will forgo that part. i guess i will experiment with my old injector cover this weekend. but, i think i will use a chrome type paint over the primer then finish with the metalcast in blue. the metalcast ground coat is silver metallic and the flake would show through the "cear tint" metalcast color topcoat. IMHO it wouldn't look as "anodized" as it would metallic. maybe a chrome undercoat would give it a better "anodized" look. i'll try to get a chance to mess with some this weekend and i'll post some results.

although i've never used a chrome type paint so not sure how much it actually looks like chrome?

the results on the duplicolor site are directly painted over chrome and look like they were anodized. i'm hoping a chrome paint would give a smoother look than a metallic undercoat.

 

looks really good..i got to admit next mod for me is engine bay parts painting..