Having just gone through this I can make some additional comments to the good comments already here that might help.
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Originally Posted by long-gone
Anyway, pull it off and remove the baffle and baffle gasket inside (3 or 4 phillips screws).
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There are 29 screws or so and for both baffle covers and they are a nasty b*tch to get out because they are self-tapping and they were driven into unthreaded holes when the cover was first assembled. You should use an impact driver to get them out.
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Originally Posted by long-gone
take it to a machine shop and have them put it in their cleaner. It'll cost about $20, but it will remove most of the old paint and get the oil out of the metal.
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I took mine to the sandblaster. For $40 they blasted it clean using aluminum oxide. You will need to clean most of the varnish out of the inside of the cover first using lacquer thinner or similar sovent. Nasty job.
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Originally Posted by long-gone
When you get it back you'll find that the casting is not that good of a quality, with numerous defects and wrinkles. Use a flat file on the flats and dremel or die grinder with either various barrel sanders or cylindrical stones to get in the rounded areas.
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+1 on this. The casting is not aluminum; it is either pot metal or magnesium and yes it's pretty rough.
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Originally Posted by long-gone
You can get engine paint at an auto parts store or maybe a hardware store. I tried to find a high temp primer but was unsuccessful there so I just used the paint.
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I will be using PJ1 flat black motorcycle exhaust paint. Supposedly good to 1500 F (I have my doubts), it requires a curing procedure which makes me think they put some thought into this paint. I am using flat black because I live in a hot climate and I am after every last bit of cooling I can get. Flat black is the best radiative heat emitter there is.
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Originally Posted by long-gone
If I had to do it again and had a few extra bucks I'd get it powder coated. Some people have the aluminum polished for a chrome-like effect.
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I discussed this with my sandblasting shop who is also a powder coater. He recommended against powder coating, saying they had poor luck on valve covers, that the coating starts to peel after about a year. He recommended painting with a regular two-part catalyzed paint. That is out of my budget right now so I am going with the exhaust paint. Plus, this way, I can patch it myself if nedds be, and the patch will be nearly invisible.
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Originally Posted by long-gone
I'd get a new gasket as well, if it hasn't been replaced in a while it will likely be stiff and provide a poor seal if re-used. Even a new one can be kind of touchy and prone to leak if it's not set just right. torque it down to spec, over or uneven tightening can cause a leak in a short time.
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+1 on this too. The seals at the spark plug holes dry out and then you get an oil leak down into the spark plug holes. So when you do the perimeter gasket around the cover, do the spark plug hole seals also (cheap).
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Originally Posted by long-gone
You'll need to replace that gasket for the baffle too (cheap dealer item), use a good thread lock on the screws (maybe get some Benz stuff from the dealer while you're there). You might also consider putting washers under the cover bolts as the twisting directly on the paint will scrape it off under the bolt heads.
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Those gaskets do not show up in the EPC and the parts guy I checked with can't find them either. If you notice, neither the baffles nor the cover plates have MB part numbers on them, which is weird. I will use The Right Stuff when I reseal mine (only because I have some here on hand). Great idea on placing washers under the bolt heads.