"BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 1,102
Likes: 8
From: North\East Wisconsin
"BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers.
Taking the valve covers off to repaint. Thinking of taking them in and having them bead blasted before painting. This is different than sand blasting- much softer. Any ideas on this??
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 83,383
Likes: 87
From: Boston, MA
I bought a bag of glass bead ($45) for our sandblaster at home. It still took me forever to blast the valve covers. Those puppies have the hardest paint and primer on them in existance I think. :)
Anyways... go ahead if you'd like. GM purposefully loaded these covers with lots of primer and paint to hide the bad castings.
Anyways... go ahead if you'd like. GM purposefully loaded these covers with lots of primer and paint to hide the bad castings.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 7,391
Likes: 3
From: Chandler AZ
Re: "BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers. (Derf)
Bead blasting works just fine... just be sure and NOT blast the insides of the covers. Whatever media is used to blast the covers can embed itself. Then when you start the car and warm it up there is a chance that the expansion of the magnesium can let loose some of the embedded media... which is not good. Unfortunately for me the blaster did not listen to my explicit instructions. Wound up scrubbing the insides of the covers with ScotchBrite, soap, and water until my fingers were almost raw. So, just a heads up to save you from any headaches :)
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,525
Likes: 1
From: Sarasota, FL
Re: (scorp508)
Did you just paint over the old paint then Scorp? Mine were still great lookig until a few weeks ago when I used an acidic aluminum boat cleaner to restore my plenum, runners, etc...the acid turned 'em red in about an hour:sad: ....but at least my aluminum looks better. :crazy: I am planning on painting them, but that paint from MAD sure is expensive, and I was wondering about strippng or just cleaning and repainting.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 1,102
Likes: 8
From: North\East Wisconsin
Re: "BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers. (Derf)
Thanks for the replies. This is SUPPOSE to be an easy job right???? I've been at it for about two hours, not much progress on getting the covers off. Then there's this EGR switch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The connector is behind the distributor. My hands are about ten times to big to disconnect it and plug in a new switch. Anyway, I'll keep at it. The car came out of storage yesterday, still snow on the ground so it won't be going out for a few weeks. Thanks again.
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 844
Likes: 3
From: Kennewick, Wa. USA
Re: "BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers. (Derf)
I bead blasted mine before painting them to match the car. Real pain in the neck! As stated earlier, the coating on the covers is very hard and very thick. It can be done, but will take some time and effort!
Team Owner
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 27,818
Likes: 8
From: CT
Re: "BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers. (Ezgoin721)
Jeff, snap one of good detail on the engine. I can post it...not too sure how to get the side by side shot of car-motor yet. I'm sure some members contemplating doing this would like to see the final result.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,525
Likes: 1
From: Sarasota, FL
Re: "BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers. (JD 90 383)
If you are going to put more paint on the valve covers, why remove the old? Just scuff and clean well, then shoot the new stuff. That is what I plan doing unless someone provides a very compelling argument to fully strip them. I haven't decided what color yet, might be body color, might be stock color.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,117
Likes: 0
From: DFW TX
Re: "BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers. (BobMachus)
If you are going to put more paint on the valve covers, why remove the old? Just scuff and clean well, then shoot the new stuff. That is what I plan doing unless someone provides a very compelling argument to fully strip them. I haven't decided what color yet, might be body color, might be stock color.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 844
Likes: 3
From: Kennewick, Wa. USA
Re: "BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers. (JD 90 383)
Jeff, snap one of good detail on the engine. I can post it...not too sure how to get the side by side shot of car-motor yet. I'm sure some members contemplating doing this would like to see the final result.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 844
Likes: 3
From: Kennewick, Wa. USA
Re: "BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers. (JD 90 383)
Wow JD, that pic turned out BIG! Looking at it makes me realize I need to do some cleaning up under that hood. Need to bring some order to all those cables, wires, and vacuum lines! I bought those trick wire guide plates that mount to the valve covers, but due to the EGR tubes on the headers, I could not run the wires in the guides like they're supposed to be. Need to do something though!
Thanks for posting the pic for me and for everyone who is curious about painting their engines to see! :cheers:
Thanks for posting the pic for me and for everyone who is curious about painting their engines to see! :cheers:
Team Owner
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 27,818
Likes: 8
From: CT
Re: "BEAD BLAST" Valve Covers. (Ezgoin721)
Jeff,
I just uploaded it,and posted it...Didn't re-size it. For a reason also, so people can look at a Bigger photo...easier to see how nice of an engine you have :) :yesnod:
I hope to go there again someday. This was my last motor. Yes it was a Ford. I went a LITTLE Nutty hehe.
I just uploaded it,and posted it...Didn't re-size it. For a reason also, so people can look at a Bigger photo...easier to see how nice of an engine you have :) :yesnod:
I hope to go there again someday. This was my last motor. Yes it was a Ford. I went a LITTLE Nutty hehe.
