Powder coating valve covers

car_raMR2od
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2014 9:49 am

Powder coating valve covers

Postby car_raMR2od » Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:07 pm

Did some work to these. They looked pretty bad when I pulled them
Image

Sand blasted them (don't have pics of them after they were sand blasted)
Image

How they turned out coming right out of the oven
Image

Grinding off the top of the letters
Image

finished product
Image

Now go and powder coat your valve covers!

yoshimitsuspeed
Club4AG MASTER
Posts: 2084
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 1:18 pm
Contact:

Re: Powder coating valve covers

Postby yoshimitsuspeed » Mon Jan 19, 2015 1:00 pm

Most powdercoat has a TG (Glass tranistion temp) of around 80C. Since that is close to operating temp powdercoat isn't the ideal choice. It will be very soft and get damaged very easily when the motor is at temp.
I use Ceramic coatings. They can handle exhaust temps no problem.
On my motors I used a heat dissipation coating that conducts heat better than bare metal.

It's also super slick. Grease, road grime, dirt etc all just falls of if you look at it funny.
Image

User avatar
Rogue-AE95
Club4AG Expert
Posts: 493
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:03 pm
Location: Tampa Bay, FL

Re: Powder coating valve covers

Postby Rogue-AE95 » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:06 pm

I would love to coat my parts with that heat dissipating coating. What's the name of the brand & product?

As for media blasting, you have to be careful about the media you use. You don't want loose particles, or particles that get wedged into the smaller spaces inside, to come out into the engine oil. I'm sure there's a way to tape or mask off the underside to prevent media from getting inside.

I've used aircraft stripper to clean up valve covers. It's pretty toxic stuff though. I had this powdercoated at my job several years ago. It's held up pretty well over the years so far. But I removed the casting lines, hand-polished the letters, and taped them off before it got powdercoated.

Image

A few years ago I started working on a 4A-GE vc set, but never finished. I was in the process of polishing the letters, and almost finished one of the two covers.
'88 Corolla All-Trac x2 (manual, auto)

yoshimitsuspeed
Club4AG MASTER
Posts: 2084
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2013 1:18 pm
Contact:

Re: Powder coating valve covers

Postby yoshimitsuspeed » Mon Jan 19, 2015 10:28 pm

I use Cerakote

Good call on the media blasting. Gotta be hella careful about not letting it get anywhere like the baffles, ports or inside the valve cover.