Valve cover temp for power coat
 

I have a friend who can power coat my valve cover (190E-16). I know it is metal but I am concerned about warping. He said it would be baked at about 400 for about 20 min or so.

Anyone know if this will damage the cover? I would assume not but I don't want to buy a new cover if I am wrong.

Thanks

I believe the term you'd like to use is "powder coat" - and the temperature you're looking at shouldn't warp the valve cover at all.
Just be sure that the mating surfaces and holes are masked off so that the "powder" is not baked onto those surfaces. This includes the area under the valve cover too. You are looking to only have the exterior surface coated, right?

You man when my friend told me he could bake on an extra 50hp to my valve cover he was lying to me:eek: That stinking bastard.:mad:

Yes, only want to powder coat the top so all holes and bottom will be masked off.

Thanks

Powder coating is the way to go for sure. I decided to repaint my valve cover, and I did an immaculate job. Sandblasted the surface, prepped it with TSP, put 6 coats of primer and 3 coats of engine paint. I waited for the perfect ambient temperature and humidity.

One year later, it's starting to bubble up again. Aaaaargh! Wish I had powder coated it!

I'm not so sure. A guy I know powder-coated his valve cover red and man it looks awesome. But two years later it is starting to flake off. I was going to powder-coat mine but the guy at the coating shop here said they have not had good luck getting powder coating to stick to valve covers - he said they start to flake off after a couple years. He said to use high-temperature paint. So I am going with the PJ1 high-temperature motorcycle exhaust flat black spray bomb paint. I live in a hot climate so I need all the heat transfer and cooling I can get. Flat black is the best radiant emitter there is. It would be better to use a catalyzed two-part paint but I am running low budget these days. If the PJ1 starts to flake off, I'll just repaint it.

FYI, only paint the outside... MB puts some kind of gold-colored coating on the inside of the cover and it was flaking off too to so I had it all sandblasted off.

Repainting is never a big deal, but stripping off the old paint and prepping the piece is a total nightmare. I had a friend with OCD help me out with it last time. She enjoyed the hours of tedious manual labor. I don't.


Too bad powder coating isn't working out..... I don't know what I am going to do next time around.....

Polish it !
 

Your OCD enabled friend will LOVE the experience!

Problem is with M103 valve covers at least, is that they are cast aluminum and riddled with pits that then have to be filled and sanded. Polishing wouldn't work out too well. My M117 is another story, but the paint is fine after 22 years so go figure......

Right on. I had mine sandblasted (aluminum oxide) inside and out. Cost $40, and that very well-spent I might add. I first tried chemical stripper and it worked great on the flat surfaces but down inside the ignition valley it was a complete nightmare. What was I thinking?!?!? I futzed with it for awhile and then it was off to the sandblaster!

I think the cover (on the 104 at least) is either pot metal or magnesium. I don't think it's aluminum. You are right, the casting is rough and fairly pitted - would be tough to polish out and make it look nice.

Mercedes valve covers are typically thick pieces of roughly cast (yes, that thick layer of paint hides a lot) metal that can easily withstand the powerdercoat process. Media blasting makes short work of the old finish and Teflon tape covers the holes.

There are also lower temp powders.

Personally, I liked the "crinkle" finish black that AMG used to use on their valve covers.