OK have finally decided to clean up the old flaking paint on the ali Zetec cam cover. Paint stripper and some wire wool seems to have done the trick nicely removing the old stuff but now for the painting. Was going to use Red brake calliper paint, as it should be high temp resistant and seems a fair match to the "post office red" of my car. Now should I prime the aluminium cover first with high temp primer (or maybe acid etch primer?) on the bare ali metal before painting. Or I guess calliper paint is designed to go straight over cleaned brake callipers so do I need to prime first.....Any suggestions.

Hi steve
i would give it a good scotchbriting all over and dont put your fingers on it !
then straight on with your brake paint ,or smoothrite is good with heat, no primer just a couple of coats should do it
If you have access sandblasting gives the best key for paint, unfortunately i cant offer any help now as ive got to be good ! at my new place !

Cheers Rich, good advice. Looking at the caliper paint it's bit bit too bright (to the orange side of Red if the cap is right).

So Plan B right now is finish off with wire-wool / scotchbrite , de-greaser then a wash and dry, mask up, wipe down with a tac cloth, then a high temp primer?

I guess as this stage almost any paint would be Ok as it is now painting over the primer? So maybe a high temp paint or find a close ish match in a normal can (Cheers I'll check the cans you left me)

Unless there are any other words of wisdom......

Ahh I love the internet so full of information but always a 100 ways of doing the same thing.
So maybe clean, and clean again before a light coat of etch primer on the bare ali before painting to prep the surface as the Ali can corrode after stripping.......

Stage 1 paint stripper applied

Stage 2 After wire wool and degreaser, washed then brake cleaner.

Stage 3 After 3 light coats of etch primer. So far so good....

That looks very nice steve,
will take a good couple of coats to cover ,
bet that took a lot of rubbing ?
oh for access to a sandblaster again,
May have to look out for one in my new man cave im going to build !

Stage 4 After 8 coats of Brake calliper paint. Sounds bad but lightish coats 10 mins apart, did not take too long. Nice and shiny and fairly smooth finish. Just hope now the paint stays on.

Hopefully back together at the weekend and road tax the car....

Final painted cover looks good just a word of caution. Cover was painted with Red caliper paint which should give a good hard-wearing gloss finish. Paint had 3 days to dry before fitting and was dry to the touch. Once the engine was started the paint "softened" again and was tacky. There where no instructions on the can for baking the paint only "leave 24 hours to dry". I guess this could be due to the type of paint or the number of coats. I'm sure after baking on the engine it will be fine, but the soft paint has picked of a couple of dust spots now....