Cleaning valve cover
04-22-2011, 10:14 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Cleaning valve cover
I just had my valve cover blasted and powder coated, and the blasting sand residue left underneath is worrying me. Has anyone drilled out the rivets underneath to get that piece out? I'd sure feel a lot more comfy putting my cover back on knowing that it's clean under there. Of course I would replace the rivets afterwards (they look like normal pop rivets to me).
Anyways I've already blew everything out that I could get with an air hose just underneath that plate worries me. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Anyways I've already blew everything out that I could get with an air hose just underneath that plate worries me. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
04-22-2011, 11:39 AM
#2
Here is what I did. I brought home my valvecover after powdercoating which included bead blasting.
I just wanted to get the dust out of it, not expecting too much residue as it looked pretty clean. I filled my laundry tub with soapy hot water, sank the valvecover it in and sloshed it around a few times. I lifted it out and drained out all of the soapy water and noticed a ton of dirt sitting in the base of the tub. I drained the tub refilled it and repeated the process. I got a lot of dirt out of it each time I filled and drained the tub - about 5 times or more. I must have dunked the cover and washed it out under running water maybe 15 times. I made sure to run water from the tap through the exterior pcv entrance hole and the interior pcv passage exit opening As soon as I no longer seen dirt coming out of it and the water was perfectly clean at the base of the tub I went and did a few rinse cycles with cool clean water, no more soap. I then dried it up as best as possible as it will rust a bit, I didnt dry it properly and it rusted up on me. I then cleaned up the rust with CLR and it came out fine. If I did it again I would use towels and compressed air to dry it up, and spray it with a fog coat of some lubricant or oil. I let the valvecover sit for a few hours before I installed it on the car making sure it was completely dry throughout.
I can't imagine what would have happend if the I installed the valvecover without washing it out. I probably wouldnt drill out the rivets though, it might make things worse, just give it a good long cleaning. The pcv passages arent't that intricate, good soapy hot water will work well to get out all of the residue.
I just wanted to get the dust out of it, not expecting too much residue as it looked pretty clean. I filled my laundry tub with soapy hot water, sank the valvecover it in and sloshed it around a few times. I lifted it out and drained out all of the soapy water and noticed a ton of dirt sitting in the base of the tub. I drained the tub refilled it and repeated the process. I got a lot of dirt out of it each time I filled and drained the tub - about 5 times or more. I must have dunked the cover and washed it out under running water maybe 15 times. I made sure to run water from the tap through the exterior pcv entrance hole and the interior pcv passage exit opening As soon as I no longer seen dirt coming out of it and the water was perfectly clean at the base of the tub I went and did a few rinse cycles with cool clean water, no more soap. I then dried it up as best as possible as it will rust a bit, I didnt dry it properly and it rusted up on me. I then cleaned up the rust with CLR and it came out fine. If I did it again I would use towels and compressed air to dry it up, and spray it with a fog coat of some lubricant or oil. I let the valvecover sit for a few hours before I installed it on the car making sure it was completely dry throughout.
I can't imagine what would have happend if the I installed the valvecover without washing it out. I probably wouldnt drill out the rivets though, it might make things worse, just give it a good long cleaning. The pcv passages arent't that intricate, good soapy hot water will work well to get out all of the residue.
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