cleaning black wrinkle paint

[jsa330]

Does anyone know a good product and/or technique to clean oil , gas, etc off of the black wrinkle finish paint on cam and timing chain covers?

Advice appreciated, as always.

[fest]

I know how NOT to do it!

I have a Solvent Tank / Parts Washer setup
(which uses Parts Cleaner Solvent)
which I attempted to use on the Wrinkle Finish items

this worked OK
but
did NOT get all the crud out of the 'nooks and crannies'
tried using a Plastic Bristle Brush at first
(Harbor Freight Detail Brush set -
buy a bunch at $.99 when they go on sale)
this did not work either
so I tried the Brass Brush
and then the Stainless Brush
this ended up scratching the finish
and parts still did not come completely clean
the baked-on crud is really hard to get out of there

as most if not all of the Wrinkle Finish was shot
(my cleaning attempt revealed a lot of loose, peeling Paint)
I decided to re-do it all in Powder Coat

maybe something more aggressive
but that will not harm paint
like Easy-Off Oven Cleaner?

[John Vardanian]

I would spray the cam covers with hot water and if need be scrub them lightly with a soft spong soaked with dish washing liquid. Let the cam covers dry and if it looks spotty and un-uniform, soak a small piece of cloth with WD40 and rub it on the cam covers. This should give them a uniform sheen.

john

[Jimmyr]

Cleaning as indicated in the above note should clean up most dust etc. If the paint is in good shape, just wipe them down and let dry. Then use some non solvent based material such as Scott's Liquid Gold to add a long lasting nice look to them. Another product from Meguires, is their #40. It is used by many detail shops on all black under hood surfaces. Jim Riff

[Deane]

Simple Green works well at removing oil films from wrinkle paint or other surfaces, don't leave it on too long before rinsing off.

You can also even out your wrinkle paint with black vinyl top dressing, which may just be high-temperature shoe polish. Believe it or not, you can get a nice fresh, rich look which lasts for a while with some patience.

Be sure to lube your accelerator linkage (bearings and nearby black-oxided parts) with some penetrating oil, WD40 etc, after using Simple Green anywhere near them, otherwise they'll rapidly rust.

[jsa330]

I appreciate all the replies and info.

First, I have to figure out how to stop the engine oil seepage onto the cam covers. It seems to be coming from under the firing-order plate on the top of the left cover and from under the throttle cable bracket at the rear of the left cover. The cable bracket is either bolted down on studs or held on by screws, the firing-order plate is riveted.

Ideas or comments?

Thanks again.

[330GT]

Your oil is probably coming through the holes where the rivets or bolts are. Originally, neither locations were through holes, but now? In this case, removal, cleaning and re-installation of the fastenings with some silicone rubber sealant should fix the problem.

The other choice is that someone stripped or sand/bead blasted the interior of the valve covers when repainting the wrinkle on the outside. Ferrari castings are usually porous and need a sealant on the inside so they won't ooze oil through them. Usually the inside is painted with Glyptol (available from Eastwood among other places). However, if this were the case, I would expect that the wrinkle paint would be failing from having oil coming through the casting.

[jsa330]

Kerry:

The paint on both sides is in generally excellent condition now, and there is no oil spotting on the right cam cover, which has no penetrations, so I think your conclusion about the holes is probably correct--I don't think there's a problem with porosity. My car sat for a long time, very infrequently driven, and the seepage started with my purchase and frequent driving. I need to get busy and do the repair you suggested. I've seen plenty of pics of engines with the crackle peeling off, and I'm sure engine oil has to be the culprit.