aaddpp

I have pulled my driver side cam cover as part of the intake refresh. I am on the fence about blasting / powder coating vs. stripper / spray can. Today, I removed a portion of the outer cam paint with aircraft stripper, and found some of the blisters have pitting beneath them. While a can put a nice finish down with a spray can, my knowledge of dealing with a surface requiring this kind of attention / repair is zip. Any thoughts on what route / material to use to clean up the blisters and restore the finish? Also there are blisters on the back side too - defiantly want to clean these up to save debris from falling into the cam housing.

Thanks,
Dave

BPG_Austin

Hi Dave. My personal experience has been that S4 on cam covers are lousy castings. Very porous and pitted. (Curiously, the S3 castings seem to be pretty decent.) Your call on what finish you'd like to achieve.
Over the counter chem strippers will get a good portion of the original coating. Its smelly and messy. The outside is much easier to strip than the inside. Get a scotchbrite and scrub the part down after the chem has been on there for half hour or so. Wear approved gloves. Once you've got most of the stuff off you can rattlecan if you want. One step further would be to media blast if you have one, then rattle can. There are metal filling epoxy's that can be used to fill blems, sanded, then painted over if you have major pitting.

A much more durable approach is powdercoating. If you can find a reputable shop they can blast, offgas and PC the covers for you. The trick is finding a good shop since most don't do or understand magnesium. Ask them if they can fill in any major imperfections in the casting. There are fillers and even primers with PC that can do this. Whether the shop will take the time do do it is another question. And they will certainly charge you for the extra time to make them look pretty. You've got some options from home spray to top line PC if you can find a reputable shop. Good luck!
I would definately remove everything you can from the underside of the cover as PM.
FWIW my cam covers are painted. I did the full on auto primer, base, clear. After several years they're holding up OK. Still very presentable but I won't be painting intakes anymore. PC is really the best route IMO. Hope this helps.

Ben

aaddpp

Ben,

Thanks for all the information, that helps a lot. I agree that going the PC route would be preferable, but like you say, finding a shop is the hard part. I am also not thrilled about stripping the back side of the cover b/c of the work involved -- front is easy. Further, there is much more pitting / bubbling on the back side so it would be good to have someone get in there with some form of blasting media and clean out the rot.

I have spoken to a number of people in the area I live about PC -- NY / NJ -- and no one really has a solid recommendation. A local mechanic - whom I have grown to trust - has been working on a 1950's Mercury, and showed me the powder coated air filter in the car which was very well done. Only issue is that the shop can not remove dents, etc. so I am a bit concerned about about their ability to tackle the blistering / underlying problem.

I think I will keep looking for a PC shop that can do the job. Anyone know of a shop in the NY / NJ or even CT area?

Thanks again,
Dave

mickster

A friend recommended a shop here on Long Island in Babylon:
http://www.renupowdercoating.com/

He makes drag racer engines and owns a bunch of bikes.

I would give them a call and see if they can handle it.

There are also 2 near me in Hicksville & Plainview. Both have some nice looking intakes and cam covers.

Plainview:
http://www.elitecoatingsny.com/

Hicksville:
http://www.colorlifepowdercoating.net

Elite looks best (and they can do ceramic coatings for exhaust).

BPG_Austin

Nice shops!
Dave, if you go this route there are some important things you need to let them know.
Your parts are magnesium alloy. make SURE they are set up to PC Magnesium and have experience with it.
Ask if they blast/chem strip or both. If they chem strip be SURE that their product is compatable with Mag. There are very few chems that are.
Ask what their process is for filling blems if they even do it.
Our parts are voodoo to most shops. Ask some basic questions and you should be OK. Please, post some pictures once you get them back!
Good luck.

aaddpp

Michael,

Thanks for the shop recommendations, I will take a look at them and see what pans out. Only issue for me is that they are out on the Island, and it not often I head out in that direction. Jersey is far easier for me and my normal travels. I looked online, and came up with several interesting looking places around central jersey.

http://www.sdlcoating.com/

http://www.uniquefinish.com/

http://www.superiorpowder.com/

http://www.grandstanddesigns.com

http://maddtrix.com

If anyone has an opinion / experience either way I would love to hear it.

Ben, thanks for the tips again. I had a feeling these were not run of the mill covers, at lease now I know what I am asking about. Once I am done, I will post some photos.

Thanks,
Dave