I’m powder coating the valve covers, which are also aluminum.
I’m going to pull the gaskets/bolts/etc and clean off what oil I can. They will wash/sandblast them, then powder coat.
My question is this: The vendor says that any interior baffles that keep oil from splashing up into the vent tubes (fittings that allow fresh air to ventilate through the head and regulate blow by) need to be removed. Mine are riveted in. It is prohibitively expensive to get this “Soda” blasted…? Whatever that is. But he insists that sand will get caught in baffles (huge no no on the inside of an engine) and he can’t gauruntee that he can keep it out.
Any reason why I wouldn’t be able to just wash them out myself? I figure with a tub of water and some time I can clean them our pretty well after they’re powder coated. Any other ideas about cleaning them out?
I would think I could clean the area with a degreaser and use aluminum tape to cover the inlets over the baffles to provide extra protection against the sand.
It might just be easiest to drill out the rivets and then rivet it back together when your done. Either that or ask them not to sandblast the inside. I assume the inside is already bare metal, right, so there’s nothing to clean off in there. If they keep it free of sand, it shouldn’t be a problem. I’d ask them to do their best to not get sand on the inside, then maybe pressure wash it when you get it back.
Yeah, they just need to clean the surface of contaminants on the outside so the powercoat sticks. I would assume they would tape off/cover everything else.
Didn’t think $100 meant I would have to prep them for it.
Prepping means cleaning the parts, not dismantling them. You have to take them apart. They’re just going to power coat what you hand them.
But if you give them specific instructions not to sand blast the inside, they’ll probably do that. Besides, they’re not powder coating the inside of the valve covers anyways, so they really don’t need to be cleaned.
But they will want them clean enough that the oil and grease that is in there doesn’t drip on other parts that are in the oven at the same time (or just make a mess or burn and smoke.
Fine sand applied with a continuous blast of air will get into places that you’d just swear it couldn’t possibly reach. I would not count on tape or any other barrier to keep the sand out.
