Polishing v8 valve covers WITHOUT removing them?
08-24-2008, 10:41 AM
#21
4th Gear Member
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Calif
Posts: 1,926
"TPony"
Thanks you for the complement.
I've tried just about ever clear coat that someone said was the best and wouldn't yellow only to find out that they've all have some sort of yellowing effect and will dulled the shine of polished aluminum.
Eastwood's Diamond Clear I found to be the best of the clears I tired because it had less of the yellowing and didn't dull the polished aluminum as much, but it still wasn't as clear and bright as the polished aluminum.
Zoops seal; I've never used but I've talked to 4 or 5 different people who have use it and they tell me it doesn't yellow like the clears but it you will loses some of the bright shine of polished piece.
I'm not sure that there is a Clear or Sealer out there that will keep that highly polished luster look of a well polished piece once you've coated it? Just my $.02
Thanks you for the complement.
I've tried just about ever clear coat that someone said was the best and wouldn't yellow only to find out that they've all have some sort of yellowing effect and will dulled the shine of polished aluminum.
Eastwood's Diamond Clear I found to be the best of the clears I tired because it had less of the yellowing and didn't dull the polished aluminum as much, but it still wasn't as clear and bright as the polished aluminum.
Zoops seal; I've never used but I've talked to 4 or 5 different people who have use it and they tell me it doesn't yellow like the clears but it you will loses some of the bright shine of polished piece.
I'm not sure that there is a Clear or Sealer out there that will keep that highly polished luster look of a well polished piece once you've coated it? Just my $.02
08-24-2008, 12:50 PM
#22
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: So Cal
Posts: 676
I found this someplace and saved it, one of my future projects...perty detailed on removal of the valve covers
Once you decide to paint your valve covers, the choice of colors is daunting. Some decide to use traditional Ford engine colors such as blue or orange. Others have decided to paint their valve covers to either match or contrast their body color. If you can’t make up your mind, you can always paint them a chrome color. If you are powder coating, reflective chrome is the closest thing to chrome.
Once painted, you can dress the valve cover up further by using decals. You can either purchase restoration decals from older Mustangs or you may decide to create your own to more accurately reflect your power plant. Decals can be made at a local sign shop. Just make sure to tell them that these are going to be used on an engine and make sure the material can withstand high temperatures.
Unfortunately, Ford did not make it easy to remove the valve covers. They are held on by 14 bolts on each side and buried under wires and hoses. The task of removing the valve covers requires a bit of time and some patience. The following is the procedure I used.
Tools Required:
1/4" ratchet
6” extension
7mm socket (ignition coils)
8mm socket (cover bolts and battery tray)
10mm socket (air box hold-down bolt)
Scraper or putty knife and steel wool
Removal
Start by removing all of the vacuum lines and electrical connections. Don’t worry too much about which goes where, since they can only go on one way. Next, loosen all of the bolts on the valve covers. The bolts are held in by retaining grommets so don’t expect the bolts to come off. There are 14 bolts on each cover. Then, remove the 4 bolts (on each side) holding down the ignition coils to the cam covers. I placed all of the bolts in a zip-lock bag so as to not loose them. The wiring harness is tacked to the cam covers in several spots, just pull up or use a screw driver to gently pry off the pins.
You will need to remove the air filter box on the driver's side and the battery tray on the passenger side. The air filter has a 10 mm bolt inside the air-box that holds it down. To remove the battery, first remove the battery cables. Then, lift the black insulating blanket from the battery and use an 8mm bolt to remove the battery hold down clamp. It is held on with a canvas strap. At this point you can remove the battery and reveal the three 8mm bolts that hold down the battery tray. Remove these bolts and the tray can then be easily removed. To make sure I don’t loose any of the bolts, I replaced the bolts in their appropriate places so I can find them when I am putting everything back together.
To remove the covers, first pry them up along an accessible edge to break the seal. Then, slide them up and forward. The rubber gasket on the bottom of the covers is very thick, and reusable. It tends to separate from the cover and may bet caught up on anything along the way. Be very careful not to break it. It helps to have two persons at this point. An extra pair of eyes comes in handy to see what is impeding the covers during removal. Ford does not user any sealer (except for two dabs of RTV to hold the gasket in place) on these nor is it needed or recommended. After the covers are removed, you will need to scrape off the remaining RTV sealant from the heads. I used a scraper and some steel wool.
Preparation
Now that the covers are off, it’s time to prep them for paint. Remove the oil filler cap and the oil filler spout. Removing the spout is a bit tricky. There is a tab that must be pushed down and then the spout is removed by turning counterclockwise. Don’t be afraid to use some force, you will actually need quite a bit of force to remove it. There will be a loud click and then the spout just pops off. After the covers are painted you can choose to either re-install the spout or forgo it completely and attach the oil cap directly to the cam covers. Personally, I find this to much better looking, but it will make adding oil a bit more difficult and will require a funnel.
Next, the cam cover bolts will need to be removed. They are held in place by rubber grommets. These will pull right out but it will take a bit of pressure. I found the easiest way to do this is to push the bolt from the bottom while pulling on the bolt head from the top. Again, I placed all 28 bolts in plastic zip-lock bag to make sure none were lost. There are two black plastic caps that are pressed into the valve covers. The easiest way to remove them is to use a dull tool such as a large socket or a nut driver and tap them out from underneath with a rubber mallet.
The breather tubes are permanently attached and can not be removed. You can either paint/powder coat over them or you can mask them off. Either way, it doesn’t really matter because the rubber hoses are going to cover them anyways. Finally, the studs for the wire looms can either be masked off or painted. Again, it really doesn’t matter much because the only thing that attaches to it is the plastic wire loom anchors that just pop over the studs.
If you are going to have the covers powder coated, you can just give them to your powder coater at this point, however, if you want them to come out really nice, you may want to sand any casting imperfections. The powder coaters don’t always do the best job with this and you might be more meticulous then they are.
If you are going to paint them, then be grateful they are raw and have never been painted. Preparation will be much easier. Start by cleaning the covers. Dawn dish washing detergent is an excellent degreaser. Use increasing grits of sandpaper to smooth out any casting imperfections and then a finer grit to remove any scratches from the coarser sandpaper. Steel wool can be used to smooth out the finish prior to painting.
Painting
The first step is to apply at least two coats of heat resistant engine primer waiting at least 10 minutes between coats (or the amount of time recommended on the paint can). Next, add 2-3 coats of engine paint (waiting the specified time between coats), followed by 2-3 coats of clear. After the last coat of clear paint, wait an hour and remove any tape you used to mask any parts. If you wait any longer, you might remove some paint along with the tape. Finally, let the paint and clear coat cure over night.
Re-Installing
To re-install the covers, we follow the same procedure, but in reverse. Install the gasket, the bolts with the grommets, the plastic caps and the oil cover and or oil spout. Use a dab of black RTV sealant on two spots near the front of the cam covers. Carefully move the wiring looms and install the cam covers lining up all of the bolts. Tighten the bolts, attach the wire looms, the vacuum hoses and any electrical connections you removed earlier. As the bolts are tightened, the grey rubber grommets will expand. Ford recommends that the bolts be tightened down to 89 Lbs/in (7.5 Ft-lbs).
Hand tighten the bolts first and then torque them by following the sequence indicated in the diagram. Be extremely careful to ensure that you are not cross threading the bolts. Re attach the vacuum hoses and all the electrical connections. Replace the battery tray and air-box. Re install the battery and reattach the battery cables. When you are all finished, start the engine and check for leaks. If you were running a custom or canned tune, you may want to reflash the engine just to be on the safe side although it may not be necessary.
One word of warning, The 4.6l engines tend to collect oil at the back of the engine. When you remove the valve covers, it is unavoidable for a little of the oil to spill and land on the exhaust manifolds. You probably will not even notice this until you get everything installed and start the engine. When you do, as the exhaust manifolds warm, there will be a cloud of blue smoke coming from the rear of the engine. Don’t panic, just let the engine run and the oil burn off. After about 10-15 minutes the smoke will be gone anf everything should be OK.
Once you decide to paint your valve covers, the choice of colors is daunting. Some decide to use traditional Ford engine colors such as blue or orange. Others have decided to paint their valve covers to either match or contrast their body color. If you can’t make up your mind, you can always paint them a chrome color. If you are powder coating, reflective chrome is the closest thing to chrome.
Once painted, you can dress the valve cover up further by using decals. You can either purchase restoration decals from older Mustangs or you may decide to create your own to more accurately reflect your power plant. Decals can be made at a local sign shop. Just make sure to tell them that these are going to be used on an engine and make sure the material can withstand high temperatures.
Unfortunately, Ford did not make it easy to remove the valve covers. They are held on by 14 bolts on each side and buried under wires and hoses. The task of removing the valve covers requires a bit of time and some patience. The following is the procedure I used.
Tools Required:
1/4" ratchet
6” extension
7mm socket (ignition coils)
8mm socket (cover bolts and battery tray)
10mm socket (air box hold-down bolt)
Scraper or putty knife and steel wool
Removal
Start by removing all of the vacuum lines and electrical connections. Don’t worry too much about which goes where, since they can only go on one way. Next, loosen all of the bolts on the valve covers. The bolts are held in by retaining grommets so don’t expect the bolts to come off. There are 14 bolts on each cover. Then, remove the 4 bolts (on each side) holding down the ignition coils to the cam covers. I placed all of the bolts in a zip-lock bag so as to not loose them. The wiring harness is tacked to the cam covers in several spots, just pull up or use a screw driver to gently pry off the pins.
You will need to remove the air filter box on the driver's side and the battery tray on the passenger side. The air filter has a 10 mm bolt inside the air-box that holds it down. To remove the battery, first remove the battery cables. Then, lift the black insulating blanket from the battery and use an 8mm bolt to remove the battery hold down clamp. It is held on with a canvas strap. At this point you can remove the battery and reveal the three 8mm bolts that hold down the battery tray. Remove these bolts and the tray can then be easily removed. To make sure I don’t loose any of the bolts, I replaced the bolts in their appropriate places so I can find them when I am putting everything back together.
To remove the covers, first pry them up along an accessible edge to break the seal. Then, slide them up and forward. The rubber gasket on the bottom of the covers is very thick, and reusable. It tends to separate from the cover and may bet caught up on anything along the way. Be very careful not to break it. It helps to have two persons at this point. An extra pair of eyes comes in handy to see what is impeding the covers during removal. Ford does not user any sealer (except for two dabs of RTV to hold the gasket in place) on these nor is it needed or recommended. After the covers are removed, you will need to scrape off the remaining RTV sealant from the heads. I used a scraper and some steel wool.
Preparation
Now that the covers are off, it’s time to prep them for paint. Remove the oil filler cap and the oil filler spout. Removing the spout is a bit tricky. There is a tab that must be pushed down and then the spout is removed by turning counterclockwise. Don’t be afraid to use some force, you will actually need quite a bit of force to remove it. There will be a loud click and then the spout just pops off. After the covers are painted you can choose to either re-install the spout or forgo it completely and attach the oil cap directly to the cam covers. Personally, I find this to much better looking, but it will make adding oil a bit more difficult and will require a funnel.
Next, the cam cover bolts will need to be removed. They are held in place by rubber grommets. These will pull right out but it will take a bit of pressure. I found the easiest way to do this is to push the bolt from the bottom while pulling on the bolt head from the top. Again, I placed all 28 bolts in plastic zip-lock bag to make sure none were lost. There are two black plastic caps that are pressed into the valve covers. The easiest way to remove them is to use a dull tool such as a large socket or a nut driver and tap them out from underneath with a rubber mallet.
The breather tubes are permanently attached and can not be removed. You can either paint/powder coat over them or you can mask them off. Either way, it doesn’t really matter because the rubber hoses are going to cover them anyways. Finally, the studs for the wire looms can either be masked off or painted. Again, it really doesn’t matter much because the only thing that attaches to it is the plastic wire loom anchors that just pop over the studs.
If you are going to have the covers powder coated, you can just give them to your powder coater at this point, however, if you want them to come out really nice, you may want to sand any casting imperfections. The powder coaters don’t always do the best job with this and you might be more meticulous then they are.
If you are going to paint them, then be grateful they are raw and have never been painted. Preparation will be much easier. Start by cleaning the covers. Dawn dish washing detergent is an excellent degreaser. Use increasing grits of sandpaper to smooth out any casting imperfections and then a finer grit to remove any scratches from the coarser sandpaper. Steel wool can be used to smooth out the finish prior to painting.
Painting
The first step is to apply at least two coats of heat resistant engine primer waiting at least 10 minutes between coats (or the amount of time recommended on the paint can). Next, add 2-3 coats of engine paint (waiting the specified time between coats), followed by 2-3 coats of clear. After the last coat of clear paint, wait an hour and remove any tape you used to mask any parts. If you wait any longer, you might remove some paint along with the tape. Finally, let the paint and clear coat cure over night.
Re-Installing
To re-install the covers, we follow the same procedure, but in reverse. Install the gasket, the bolts with the grommets, the plastic caps and the oil cover and or oil spout. Use a dab of black RTV sealant on two spots near the front of the cam covers. Carefully move the wiring looms and install the cam covers lining up all of the bolts. Tighten the bolts, attach the wire looms, the vacuum hoses and any electrical connections you removed earlier. As the bolts are tightened, the grey rubber grommets will expand. Ford recommends that the bolts be tightened down to 89 Lbs/in (7.5 Ft-lbs).
Hand tighten the bolts first and then torque them by following the sequence indicated in the diagram. Be extremely careful to ensure that you are not cross threading the bolts. Re attach the vacuum hoses and all the electrical connections. Replace the battery tray and air-box. Re install the battery and reattach the battery cables. When you are all finished, start the engine and check for leaks. If you were running a custom or canned tune, you may want to reflash the engine just to be on the safe side although it may not be necessary.
One word of warning, The 4.6l engines tend to collect oil at the back of the engine. When you remove the valve covers, it is unavoidable for a little of the oil to spill and land on the exhaust manifolds. You probably will not even notice this until you get everything installed and start the engine. When you do, as the exhaust manifolds warm, there will be a cloud of blue smoke coming from the rear of the engine. Don’t panic, just let the engine run and the oil burn off. After about 10-15 minutes the smoke will be gone anf everything should be OK.
08-24-2008, 03:56 PM
#23
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 11,962
"TPony"
Thanks you for the complement.
I've tried just about ever clear coat that someone said was the best and wouldn't yellow only to find out that they've all have some sort of yellowing effect and will dulled the shine of polished aluminum.
Eastwood's Diamond Clear I found to be the best of the clears I tired because it had less of the yellowing and didn't dull the polished aluminum as much, but it still wasn't as clear and bright as the polished aluminum.
Zoops seal; I've never used but I've talked to 4 or 5 different people who have use it and they tell me it doesn't yellow like the clears but it you will loses some of the bright shine of polished piece.
I'm not sure that there is a Clear or Sealer out there that will keep that highly polished luster look of a well polished piece once you've coated it? Just my $.02
Thanks you for the complement.
I've tried just about ever clear coat that someone said was the best and wouldn't yellow only to find out that they've all have some sort of yellowing effect and will dulled the shine of polished aluminum.
Eastwood's Diamond Clear I found to be the best of the clears I tired because it had less of the yellowing and didn't dull the polished aluminum as much, but it still wasn't as clear and bright as the polished aluminum.
Zoops seal; I've never used but I've talked to 4 or 5 different people who have use it and they tell me it doesn't yellow like the clears but it you will loses some of the bright shine of polished piece.
I'm not sure that there is a Clear or Sealer out there that will keep that highly polished luster look of a well polished piece once you've coated it? Just my $.02
08-24-2008, 05:29 PM
#24
4th Gear Member
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Calif
Posts: 1,926
Dang, I wished I had read your post before I clear coated one of the two covers. You are right, the clear coat took away some of the luster. I will wait until it dries off completely and treat it like the clear coat on our car. Meaning I will buff with different level of clear coat polishes and see what happens. I am in no hurry, so this will be a weekend project.
I've removed day old clear with great success by using Lacquer Thinner on a rag.
Once it cuts through the clear it doesn't seem to dull the finish any more that the clear did, and it cuts through any film/residue left by the clear.
Just a suggestion and nothing more.
08-24-2008, 07:43 PM
#25
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 11,962
OK, that's plan B. I implemented Plan A--I polished the clear, just like I would if on my car and it worked. The decision is whether or not I want to continue this process because it would require more handy work. Knowing that lacquer thinner would remove is good to know. Unfortunately, I have to stop the project now and would be able to continue until next week. Oh, well...I owe some pics.
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