W201 16V Valve Cover Refinishing
 

Any recomendations for what type of paint to use on this magnesium valve cover? The plastic coating is mostly off but what remains is extremely tenacious. Is there any paint that will grip and hold onto the plastic remnants? The plastic removal is through hand sanding and bead blasting, a long process.

You can polish your Valve Cover with the help of JET paint remover, a couple of copper brush wheels [180 and 400], some high luster polishing pads and four hours work.

Or you could paint it with Hi –Temp Paint

http://24.159.194.178/chuni/jon/Valv...VC+exhaust.JPG

Click here for a how to

The original finish is EPOXY.
I have all of mine powder-coated. TAKES a lot of work to remove all of the "blemishes" after removing all of the old epoxy.

I spent considerable time bead blasting mine to remove all the old black coating. Much of it had already flaked away or came away easily, yet in places it was thick and stubborn. I also spent many hours fabricating a new breather oil separator to fit inside the valve cover to replace the plastic one which was breaking up. Only the earlier metal oil separators are available seperately as a spare part and unfortunately they do not fit the later version valve cover. But this is getting off the subject.

I repainted the valve cover using a spray can of high temperature engine enamel. Being thinner than the original coating it does not hide the imperfections in the casting as well but it still looks OK. I also elected to use a different colour. Usually I like to keep things original but I thought the black was a bit dull. I have a pic but it is too large to post here. You can see it at:
http://www.benzworld.org/gallery/pics/W201_49666.jpg

Thanks for the replies. It is very helpful to find out that the original finish is an expoxy rather than the MB maintinance manual quote of a plastic coating. The material being removed behaves like an epoxy, which will have better topcoat adhesion qualities than a plastic. I am catching on to the casting imperfections.