Valve cover after hot tank and bead blast (1 Viewer)

[Kernal]

Had my valve cover hot tanked and bead blasted today. Sorry, didn't take before photos but it did have some baked on varnish inside and was oil stained and oxidized on the outside. Noticed that a ton of sludge was semi-trapped above the riveted-on baffle plate. After hot tanking/washing it we pressure washed the baffle area from the ports in the top of the cover and gobs of softened sludge came out the few openings. Then I sprayed a couple of cans of brake cleaner through the ports and more crud came out. If I were to do it again I would let it soak with some strong solvent sitting up in the baffle area and spraying that out before taking it to the hot tank. Only concern I had after the fact was that I noticed that the edges of the baffle plate had been sealed up against the underside of the valve cover at the factory with a sealant and some pealed off from the hot tank washing. The process didn't take everything off, you can see some FIPG still stuck on near the front. Now the question is what color should I powder coat it?

 

[Kernal]

Here are photos of LX_Extreme's black chrome valve cover from another thread; I'm thinking about maybe painting the lettering a different color than the rest of the cover just not sure what would look right??

 

[greentruck]

If it was mine, I'd do it in green with black lettering. It have to admit that the black and chrome looks nice. Yours cleaned up nice!

 

[MSGGrunt]

I did mine in red. I liked how it came out. The black plastic plug wire covers contrast nicely. And I did sand off the PC on the raised lettering. I think it cost me about $100.00 to have done here in MA.

 

[Marc311]

Call me old school, but clean aluminum for a utilitarian vehicle like a LC is perfect. I say leave it as is.

Of course, not sure how long it will stay that clean . . .

 

[Sanchez]

I did mine in red. I liked how it came out. The black plastic plug wire covers contrast nicely. And I did sand off the PC on the raised lettering. I think it cost me about $100.00 to have done here in MA.

That turbo setup looks sick Man!

 

[Kernal]

My main goal in powder coating it is to make it easy to clean but would like to keep it looking OEM Toyota. If I put it back on as is the cast aluminum it will dirty up all over again. I'm leaning toward something like pewter or silver. Talked to one powder coat place, they said there is a lot of taping work to try to powder coat two different colors, he said it's easier to coat the whole thing one color then hand paint the letters.

 

[aclos3]

Hmm, I have a valve cover gasket job coming up in my near future and this gives me some ideas. How much did it cost to have it blasted and hot tanked if you don't mind me asking?

I second the stock aluminum look. If you want to make a subtle change, leave it aluminum colored and then paint the lettering black.

 

[ShawnTRD]

You would look good in PINK


JK

 

[Kernal]

aclos3: It cost me $40 to have it hot washed and bead blasted. Looks like it will cost $150 to have it powder coated one color, a slightly metallic greyish/silver. The painter said he cleans the surface with some kind of acid then bakes it at 400 degrees after applying the powder.

About sludge build-up in the baffle: in the photo below you can see three small pinched looking tabs welded onto the baffle. When cleaning the baffle area with some brake cleaner I found small openings underneath each which go up into the baffle and all seemed clogged with sludge. I'm guessing that is where the blow-by gasses get sucked in to go out the PCV valve into the throttle body?? And (guessing again) the two punched out/bent tabs where maybe oil that condenses up in the baffle drips back out?? A pure guess, but wondering if with all the sludge that accumulates up inside this baffle whether it affects the flow of blow-by gases versus oil mist, like could more oil get sucked into the throttle body if air flow inside the baffle is messed up?? I did notice some fresh oil on the inside floor of the intake just past where the throttle body attaches.

It's hard to make out the remaining sealant where the baffle meets the valve cover; there is an interrupted brown line which is where some of which has peeled off. Wondering if I should I use some sort of high temp sealant around the edges of the baffle before it goes back on??

 

[toojayzee]

I bead blasted mine at home and cleaned them with oxyclean. You can check it out in my build thread in the sig. Painted VHT wrinkle red

 

[Dave 2000]

I bead blasted mine at home and cleaned them with oxyclean. You can check it out in my build thread in the sig. Painted VHT wrinkle red

I used the crinkle paint years ago and it really holds up well to the heat ect however, if it get dirty from an oil leak ect it takes ages to get it clean again and looking as good as new.

regards

Dave

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Have you considered getting it anodized? You can get it done in various shades of "aluminum" if you want to keep it OEM looking or you can go pretty wild with the colors. Either way it would be well protected and would clean up easily.

 

[Kernal]

Yeah, anodizing sounds like a good way to go also but needed this done asap so I could get it back on the road.

 

[toojayzee]

Anodizing would be cool for sure. You may not get a perfect shade or look though because cast finishes arent as uniform in grain as billet parts. I saw some anodized parts recently that were cast pieces and they looked marbled and grainy. Thats not to say this wouldnt look great, or that the other guys parts were done properly. But its food for thought

 

[ShawnTRD]

You need to polish that cover first.

 

[PoorHouse]

Why would he polish it if he's going to powder coat?

 

[ShawnTRD]

If he's going to Anodize it.

 

[Kernal]

Will know how it turns out monday and will post photos once it's done. Hope they can get all the old oil out of the pores of the casting; there are still some some spotty stains right up front even after the hot tank and bead blasting. Another shop that does powdercoating said their method is to heat up a cast aluminum part after cleaning and then will let it sit outside to sweat a couple of days, then wash it again before coating. They said sometimes the powdercoat still bubbles up from old residues stuck deep inside the cast aluminum. IDK. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[NLXTACY]

At my work now we anodize roughly a few hundred aluminum parts a day. Mainly mic6 and 6061. What was said about anodizing is 100% correct. Also if you do it black, its fingerprint town. If you do not polish the cover I will guarantee you will get a speckling in the anodizing. Anodizing tho does scratch very easily and does rub off in time if there is something rubbing against it like wires or a hose.