alright mate the gaskets are shite your best to use the sealent anyway and as for the painting of them you need to sand them down first with say a 80 grit sand paper to remove all the larger crap then use a finer 1 like 280 grit, use this till you have a nice smooth area then youll need to use acid primer to make it stick properly give it a few coats then go over it with 600 grit paper to remove primer runs / blemishes. ive heard you can use normal spray paint to do the covers with but i wouldnt i used some high temp paint i got of ebay just have a google seach, you should go over every coat of colour paint with 600 grit to give it a nice smooth finish with no runs then once your satisfied give it a couple of coats of laquer (i used high temp laquer) and leave it to dry for a few days and walla looking good, i dont know the times to leave in between coats if some1 wants to add in as i did mine over 2-3 weeks
