Prep for painting inlet manifold & cam cover

[sk712]

What is the best way to prepare and clean the inlet manifold & cam cover before painting? Going to use VHT wrinkle paint.

Cheers.

[riklusby]

I would think pretty much the same as all other prep, degrease, pressure wash, bead blasting is costly but effective( sand blasting is too agressive on alu ) etch primer( i think you get a special one for aluminium) then depending on how smooth you want the finish, high build primer, lots of fiddly sanding, your paint, clear coat, job done

note etch primer is very important as it bites into alu and gives the paint something to adhere to

ps the first one i did i cleaned and hammerited and it never came off, bloody paint will stick to almost anything