Greetings! I'd like to carry on from my attempt to post last night. My wife is so sorry she interrupted my explanation last night. This morning she's chatting on the phone in the background with one of our children, so I think I'm safe.
These valve covers had been sitting for a long time, and to properly clean them for use I decided to put them in the media blast cabinet. But, the problem is that the gritty media lodges in the hard to reach baffles in each breather and could be washed through the engine. The fix requires a welder, or possibly a rivet gun and the media blast cabinet.
The photo shows a late '80s Chevy V8 valve cover from the underside. Each cover has a baffle riveted into a stamped shell breather. You can use a screwdriver to pop the two pop rivets out of them, leaving the stamped breather shell empty.
With it disassembled it's easy to make a thorough job of cleaning the inside of the valve covers and the separated baffle in the blast cabinet. You can see the cruddy baffle in my artistic hand in the following photo. Following that I put the two valve covers in the sink and washed them with Dawn detergent. Once they were both cleaned I replaced the two baffles and used my MIG welder to tack them in place. I could have used a rivet gun, but the welder was quicker and more fun. Next, I simply put them outside in the hot sun on the big Hoosier rear tires on my chopped-top, '50 Chevy pickup to dry.
An hour or two later a terrific storm blew over the property bringing heavy rain and wind accompanied by thunder. When I went outside the next morning to get the valve covers I discovered that both were awash in surface rust and I couldn't get rid of it without putting them back into the blast cabinet followed by a Dawn detergent flush. Then, back out in the 100 degree sun.
These valve covers are for my wife's '54 Chevy pickup. One of her current valve covers has a small chip that allows an oil leak onto the intake manifold. I mention this because I make myself seem negligent by leaving the valve covers out all night. I've got plenty to do on the El Camino project, and being a very poor multi-tasker, I catch myself leaving tasks partially completed all over the place.
So, the next morning, after another inspiring storm, I went out to water the garden and noticed that the two valve covers were still on the tires but half full of water and covered in surface rust again. After this final scouring, I began to wonder if the local hospital would be interested in buying a matching set of "valve cover-looking" surgical trays, you know - for the surgery patient who has a '68 Camaro waiting at home.
This time I blew the valve covers out with compressed air and let them sit overnight in the shop kitchen on Tammy's chest freezer. Later, I located the spray can of red/orange paint that I used on the engine, sprayed the two covers and once again set them outside on the Hoosier tires to dry in the 100 degree sun.
Since the stamped, sheet metal valve covers are easy to distort and cause another leak, I chose to use a set of chrome spreader brackets. This evens the pressure and helps minimize the distortion. Well before noon I had them both mounted on the engine in Tammy's '54 and the leak was corrected. Now I don't have to explain the pool of oil on her engine anymore.
Doug
These valve covers had been sitting for a long time, and to properly clean them for use I decided to put them in the media blast cabinet. But, the problem is that the gritty media lodges in the hard to reach baffles in each breather and could be washed through the engine. The fix requires a welder, or possibly a rivet gun and the media blast cabinet.
The photo shows a late '80s Chevy V8 valve cover from the underside. Each cover has a baffle riveted into a stamped shell breather. You can use a screwdriver to pop the two pop rivets out of them, leaving the stamped breather shell empty.
With it disassembled it's easy to make a thorough job of cleaning the inside of the valve covers and the separated baffle in the blast cabinet. You can see the cruddy baffle in my artistic hand in the following photo. Following that I put the two valve covers in the sink and washed them with Dawn detergent. Once they were both cleaned I replaced the two baffles and used my MIG welder to tack them in place. I could have used a rivet gun, but the welder was quicker and more fun. Next, I simply put them outside in the hot sun on the big Hoosier rear tires on my chopped-top, '50 Chevy pickup to dry.
An hour or two later a terrific storm blew over the property bringing heavy rain and wind accompanied by thunder. When I went outside the next morning to get the valve covers I discovered that both were awash in surface rust and I couldn't get rid of it without putting them back into the blast cabinet followed by a Dawn detergent flush. Then, back out in the 100 degree sun.
These valve covers are for my wife's '54 Chevy pickup. One of her current valve covers has a small chip that allows an oil leak onto the intake manifold. I mention this because I make myself seem negligent by leaving the valve covers out all night. I've got plenty to do on the El Camino project, and being a very poor multi-tasker, I catch myself leaving tasks partially completed all over the place.
So, the next morning, after another inspiring storm, I went out to water the garden and noticed that the two valve covers were still on the tires but half full of water and covered in surface rust again. After this final scouring, I began to wonder if the local hospital would be interested in buying a matching set of "valve cover-looking" surgical trays, you know - for the surgery patient who has a '68 Camaro waiting at home.
This time I blew the valve covers out with compressed air and let them sit overnight in the shop kitchen on Tammy's chest freezer. Later, I located the spray can of red/orange paint that I used on the engine, sprayed the two covers and once again set them outside on the Hoosier tires to dry in the 100 degree sun.
Since the stamped, sheet metal valve covers are easy to distort and cause another leak, I chose to use a set of chrome spreader brackets. This evens the pressure and helps minimize the distortion. Well before noon I had them both mounted on the engine in Tammy's '54 and the leak was corrected. Now I don't have to explain the pool of oil on her engine anymore.
Doug
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