Painting The Differential Cover

One of the projects I have been putting off is cleaning up the intermediate steering shaft. The engine rock shield was particularly grimy. I started using Gojo wipes to cut through the grime. The plastic is actually shiny black underneath and will not need to be painted. You can see just how bad it was on the areas around the collar that I still need to work on.

My new differential cover arrived last night! It is painted a shiny gloss black on both sides.

The first thing I wanted to do was remove the white stamped Dorman logo. It was raised just enough that I was afraid it would show through the paint. A little bit of lacquer thinner took it right off.

With the logo removed, I next roughed up the glossy surface with steel wool. I wanted to make sure to get the best paint adhesion possible.

Because the inside is also glossy black, I taped off the inside rim as well as the portion that curves upward. When I painted the last differential cover, there was no red paint on this portion and it looked odd from the side.

Here you can see better what I am talking about. This way when I am done painting it, the part that curls on the edge will be glossy black.

Last step before painting was to wipe down the portion that would be painted with rubbing alcohol to remove any oil/grease/dust.

Here is the paint I am using on the differential cover. Krylon Super Maxx Gloss Banner Red.

Here is what it looks like:

I will take more pictures once the paint is dry and I get the cover back in place.