Okay, I'm miffed. I bought a M103 valve cover off Ebay to strip and re-paint for the purposes of replacing my leaky, peeling valve cover. The one I got was in about the same condition as mine (or so I thought).

After spending hours upon hours sanding, brushing, scrubbing, etc. I finally got the thing stripped, but I was horrified to see what the metal actually looks like under all that paint and filler (yes, filler!).

This has got to be the most horribly cast piece of aluminum I have ever seen in my life. Pits and voids everywhere. In one spot, a casting pit goes all the way through, and it's right by a bolt post! It turns out that after these things were cast (if you can call it that) they were just buttered over with some sort of grey filler, over pretty much the entire piece. If you start sanding it off, you quickly realize that there pretty much isn't a smooth surface anywhere on this thing. Yes, I am dead certain that this is how it came from the factory, and not a repair. These are straight up casting defects. I should go take a picture tonight and post it, you won't believe your eyes. MB quality my tuchus.

So now I'm sort of screwed. I've sanded this cover all the way down only to realize that I have a hole in the thing. So, I decided to call the stealership and find out what a new valve cover costs. $280. Well, I'm not in a hurry to spend that much for a valve cover. And I've put like 8 hours or more into this thing already.

So, what I want to know is:

Are they all this bad? What is the proper filler to use for this application? Is it worth filling? Anyone got a decent one they want to sell?


Thanks!


-tp

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-tp


1990 300SE "Corinne"- 145k daily driver - street modified differential - PARTING OUT OR SELLING SOON - PORTLAND OR. AREA - PM ME FOR DETAILS
1988 560SEL "Gunther"- 190K passes anything except a gas station
1997 S420 - 265k just bought it with a rebuilt trans. Lovely condition