Any suggestions on cleaning valve covers, intake manifold and such for reinstallation and painting? Thanks in advance!!
Well it depeneds on the shape of the valves covers are they really rusty, just really dirty and grammy, lost of paint( maybe different colors. If the intake manifold is like all the above the least amount off work take it to a machine shop they can check it out and clean it really good then you just painted. Back the valves covers start with a hot pressure wash give then a good washing and dry them good. then take all the paint off that left with paint striped of hat ever brand you like.If rusted bad sand blast them. If light rust use rust converter stopper primer base. If grammy still engine gunk re- hot pressure wash and dry right away, then do as said as per needed . Re paint. The all night coin washes at late night work good for hot pressure wash cleaning car parts. Make sure the valves edges are set flat at the right angles all around before painting, a piece of wood rubber hammer can work nice on the edge so they fit smooth to the head so there will be no leaks. I would use a good high heat paint put on three coats, first coat extra light then tow more light coats should be good . I hope this helps
Thanks for the tips. The valve covers are chrome but the are really oily and dirty. I don,t have any rust though. The rest of the stuff, pulleys, fan, brackets, I cleaned with odorless mineral spirits that does not leave a residue so it dries clean. The intake also just full of gunk. I found a place that will sandblast it but I was told I would have to remove the plate on the bottom side before they would do it to keep sand from being trapped inside. Can I grind these off and if I do how do I reattach it again?
Yes you can just grind the heads off pop the cover off. what you can do is after is drill & tape the rivit that is left there in the center put small screws and red "lock tight" on screws let set 24 hours, prep & paint and what ever eles you like to do to them. chrome cleaner & polish for chrome valves cover or after cleaning just a little thin oil to cover them help keep them from rusting ever week to two weeks re do them. It helps make cleaning easy then redo again.
Cleaning Thanks for all the great tips! I was told by a local rebuilder that if I took a thin chisel and slowly worked it between the manifold and the heat sheild that the rivets would just come out. He was right. I used a putty knife instead of a chisel and it worked great! I saved the rivets and will use them to reinstall the plate. The red lock tite is a good idea, I'm going to do that whem I reinstall. The car wash was a great idea also, used 3 cans of Autozone engine cleaner and did some scraping with a brush before I hosed it down, worked like a charm. Once again, thanks for the info and I will be posting pics soon.
I wouldn't reuse the rivets, if one fell out it could cause catostrophic failure to the engine. (Trapped between the distributor gear and cam gear, in the timing chain setup, or between anything rotating in the bottom end.) Napa should have these for a couple of dollars. Blow out the holes with compressed air and put a drop of red loctite on the ferrals of the new rivets, then hammer them flush with the heat shield.
