Powder Coated My Valve Covers...

I decided to re-do the powder coating on my valve covers while I had them off. They were looking a little dirty and had a couple chips.
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On the valve cover you can carefully mask it and then after you put the powder on remove the tape very carefully before baking. There is also fiberglass tape available, but it is expensive and I did not have any. I also like to remove the mask before baking, because it does not leave a hard edge.

For the inserts with the "Ferrari" name etc, you can coat those fully (mask the bottom), then use a foam brush to lightly brush the heavy build off the raised part. Once you bake it, you can just lightly sand it with a low grit sand paper on a hard block to give it the factory brushed look and remove the little bit of powder coat that is left behind from the foam brushing.

If you have an old oven and a powder coat gun, you can do this whole job including materials for about $25. I still have a lot of the powder left too. Aircraft stripper was used to remove the old coating and then it was all sanded and scotchbrighted. I also prebaked the parts and cleaned them again to make sure it was clean. Sandblasting is also an option, but I did not want to make the uncoated parts more pourous. If the whole part was coated I would have just blasted it to make it faster.
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Looks nice. Were they powder coated previously or just painted? I noticed a small piece starting to lift off of one of my valve covers and figure they'll need to be done at the next engine out. If the powder coat lasts 10 years instead of what seems to be a typical 4-5 for the paint, I may go that route.

 

I believe it was powder coat originally. It was pretty thick and tough. It was not as easily eaten by chemicals as I think paint would have been unless they have some very good heavy build industrial wrinkle paint.

 

Nice work jevs! I have a powder coating gun and I am looking for an oven that will work well. I have parts powder coated for my business but thought it would be nice to have that capability for special color orders or prototypes. It would also come in handy when cleaning things up on my 348.

 

I got an old junk stove for free a long time ago when I started powder coating. It is one of those 70's dark brown ones. You probobly had a choice on this model of dark brown or avacado . The cool thing is that the top and bottom burner both work at the same time on this one in regular oven mode. I also doubled the size of the oven. I made a prop rod that holds the oven door level (in open position open). Then I made a thick steel cover that sets on the gasket of the door and butts up to the oven opening. This doubles the size. You can also just use it regular and store the cover on top of the oven. I had to do this in order to fit Viper valve covers and intake Works great. Also, do not trust the knob for temps. Make sure you get a cheap oven thermometer from walmart and hang it inside in a good spot (not right next to the heat elements). Then you can tweek the knob till it stabalizes on the right temperature.

Ferrari valve covers fit fine in normal oven opening.

 

I had mine done too....
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Thanks for the info!

 

They cam on looking very nice.

Did you do this at home??????

 

I did mine at home.

 

That is cool.

I'm guessing there is some sort of do it yourself kit out there?

 

Very nice job.

 

Very good work!!!

I´ve got 2 cans of VHT wrinkle coating in red color waiting for me... I'm recharging of energy and patience to start, and I hope to get a finish as good as yours.

 

You can get a powder coating gun at Harbor Freight. They are around $59. Then you just need an oven and whatever powder color you want to use. Powder coating is basically powdered plastic. The gun gives an electric charge that makes the powder stick to the part when you spray it. Then you take the part and cure it in the oven which melts the plastic to a smooth finish.

 

Great work.

 

The gun I have is actually much better than the Harbor Freight gun, or the current Eastwood guns but the Harbor Freight gun should do the job. You just won't be able to control the flow into recesses or onto outside corners etc quite as well. Inside corners, sharp edges, etc. tend to repel if the static is too strong or weak..... My gun actually has fully adjustable voltage, so you can crank it anywhere you want for different areas if needed. For example if your getting a repulsion in an area, you can just turn the knob down to lessen the static charge and get the powder to flow in that area. If your not getting adhesion in another area, it may require cranking the voltage up some. Other ones are only dual voltage. I think I gave about $700 for this gun back when Eastwood sold it. It was their pro gun. I think the price was too high and it did not sell well, so they went back to their cheeper design that they still have now. I could pretty much do just as good of a job with the cheapest gun eastwood sells now, but when this pro gun became available I upgraded because I was doing a lot of powder coating on cars I was building and for other people when they needed it. It was not really worth the price difference, but it is better. I have used the cheep Eastwood gun and so have others I know and it works fine. I do not know anyone that has used the Harbor Freight gun, but it probobly works too.

 

I would compare the Harbor Freight powder coating gun to their automotive paint guns. They work for what they are but are nothing compared to the pro high end spray guns like Devilbiss.

 

I had my covers powder coated for the second time recently. This time I included the area inside the plug cover to add some protection to the surface.

I wonder why they were not done like this at the factory. Can anyone offer an explanation?
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It is gasketed. That is about the only reason I can see for them to do it this way.

 

The gasket needs a clean flat surface in order to keep water out of the spark plug area. The crinkled surface of the powder coat does not qualify as flat.

 

I suspect that may be the reason but the gasket contact area is small and the wrinkle paint surface is well accommodated with the gasket. The area inside the gasket contact area is prone to corrosion so a little protection from some paint seemed logical to me.

 

looks super fresh

 

Wow Terry,

That's the best looking 355 valve cover I've ever seen.

 

That metal will not corrode. If you paint where the gasket sits then you are asking for trouble.

 

On what basis do you say that will not corrode and what trouble are you suggesting from painting the gasket area?