I took the top cover off by removing the four hex screws and looked at the shell, I saw that the inner part was painted and the paint could be removed. The only thing that concerned me was a gasket that seemed to part of the shell. I got a small screwdriver and was able to separate it from the top shell.

Here is the gasket found on the inside of the shell. You have to remove it if you want to paint the inside of the shell a color other than white. It is fastened to the inside of the shell with double sided clear tape. Remove it carefully to keep it from breaking.

Next I had to remove the white paint from the inside of the cover.
As you can see I had to sand it off with fine sand paper, the grit I used was 220. You have to take your time when sanding plastic and go in the same direction where possible. With the inside lips I had to go the opposite direction but later blended it all in slowly in an east to west direction. After I removed all the paint I started to go over all the inside with a coarse steel wool pad and then finished it off with a fine steel wool pad.

I then went over the outside of the cover to give it a brushed appearance, using a coarse steel wool pad and finishing it with a fine pad.

Here is how it came out.

You notice how smooth the finish is, it took about 6 hours of sanding. It came out so I slapped the unpainted cover back on the iBook to see how it would look.

Not too bad eh? Check these other pictures out.

As you can see you can get that G4 tower look if you wanted, did not look to bad. Here is the finished product.

You can see my fingerprints on the upper part of the cover, just wipe with a cloth and their gone.

And the last picture.

You can see my fingerprints on the upper part of the cover, just wipe with a cloth and their gone. I used an aluminum look paint available at automotive stores, the under side was not painted as its not really seen.
-William Rivas

For another painted iBook, see the MiniTi page .