Ruined Valve Covers

dburgjohn · 09-09-04, 11:17 AM

I took my valve covers to a local power coater to have them re-done. The original factory coating was starting to bubble and come loose. Arriving to pick them up I hear ‘can you come and look at this?’. The covers had a heavy base coat of silver power coat, but looked awful, there were huge pits all over them

. The owner said they were that way when the old paint was removed. I told him they were scrap and left (he did not try to charge me).

The odd thing to me is if they were that bad, why did he put the heavy base coat on them? If it was me I would have called the customer (he had my phone number) before wasting any power coating on what was a bad set of covers. I also wonder if they were really bad. Could this kind of damage been caused by improper sand blasting and cleaning?

I would love some advice from the online Corvette guys to help decide how to deal with this situation.

BTW ordered a chrome set from JEGS to make a show this Saturday. Overnight charges took the bill to the $300 mark.

Moonunit 451 · 09-09-04, 11:43 AM

You could e-mail Chris at Chris@cecoatings.com He should be able to advise you. Tell him I refferred you to him. He does good work and is very helpful. Mad-Mic has an LT1 intake that was coated by Chris. Here's the website.
http://www.cecoatings.com/index2.html

Colin

Ken · 09-09-04, 03:55 PM

The magnesium valve covers are far from smooth, even when they were brand-new. The casting is a rough finish; there was probably nothing wrong with your old covers - it was probably just the normal as-cast appearance.

rrubel · 09-09-04, 05:59 PM

$300!??!? I picked up a set of chrome Edelbrocks at AutoZone for $35. Heck, I have a spare pair of red (powdercoated) aftermarket centerbolt covers I'd sell you for $45.
[RICHR]

dburgjohn · 09-10-04, 12:27 AM

This was not just pitted, some of the holes were big as my fingers and went almost all the way through the cover. Looked like a shotgun blast. And the $300 included overnight rush shipping, chrome bolts and gaskets.

Ken · 09-10-04, 12:27 PM

Wow! In that case, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to agree with you in that it must have been caused by improper sandblasting and/or cleaning. Sounds like somebody damaged them - they don't get that way on the engine, and magnesium doesn't rust.

Mart · 09-10-04, 12:42 PM

Yeah, mine had huge casting defects in them when I stripped them, I was really surprised at the look of them when I got down to bare metal.

They looked like they were a huge defective cover.

It's very strange as to why they would look this way.

Mart

dburgjohn · 09-10-04, 11:24 PM

Good as new now!

Moonunit 451 · 09-11-04, 12:46 AM

WOW! NICE

rrubel · 09-11-04, 11:16 AM

Those are the same covers I have now... did you find the bolts were the right size? Mine were a touch too long and didn't snug things down right.
[RICHR]

dburgjohn · 09-11-04, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rrubel

Those are the same covers I have now... did you find the bolts were the right size? Mine were a touch too long and didn't snug things down right.
[RICHR]

They did just fine. Put about 400 miles on since new covers and no oil leaks yet(cross fingers, kiss rabbit's foot and throwing salt over shoulder).

Question though, I got a 1 1/4 chrome oil filler plug from Auto Zone and it would not fit. I ended up putting another breather in the hole so I could go to a show. What did you use? Did it fit ok?

rrubel · 09-12-04, 09:15 AM

I bought mine almost-new from someone who already had the cap and wire looms that fit those covers. The cap is a genuine Proformance part, and should be shown on the back of the box.
[RICHR]