Well, all my hard work trying to strip the paint off the valve cover did not really pan out. It really does look more messed up now than it did when only some of the black paint was flaking off...
So I will be looking to have it sand blasted. I've read here about the concern people have with sand getting into this part I photographed of the "under cover " Should I just undo the three screws holding it in place (I assume) and remove this part while the cover is being worked on - or is this a bad thing ?
Last but not least - There is gray paint under the black.When you sand blast, where do you go ? Shiny metal ? any reason to repaint at all ?

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The condition of the valve cover, under the original factory paint, is normal for the type of casting that was used. Owner's expect it to be "perfect" and find out that Mercedes used the thick coating to mask a lot of pitting and other imperfections. Probably by pure luck, a few owners have removed the paint and been able to polish the bare metal to look good.

Hope I don't hate the shiny "pitted look". If I do , I guess I will paint ...
Since posting, I learned the underbelly part is refered to as an oil seperator. Do you know if it should/not be removed while the cover is being blasted ?

Definately remove it to sandblast. Remove the 3 screws and it will come right off.

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Jeff Pierce

Current Vehicles:
'92 Mercedes 190E/2.3 (247K miles/my daily driver)
'93 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon (263K miles/a family truckster with spunk)
'99 Kawasaki Concours
Gravely 8120
Previous Vehicles:
'85 Jeep CJ-7 w/ Fisher plow (226K miles)'93 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon
'53 Willys-Overland Pickup
'85 Honda 750F Interceptor
'93 Nissan Quest
'89 Toyota Camry Wagon
'89 Dodge Raider
'81 Honda CB 750F Super Sport
'88 Toyota Celica
'95 Toyota Tacoma
'74 Honda CB 550F

thank you, off I go.

Aluminum is pretty tricky to paint properly. Paint doesn't like to stick to it. That's why aluminum boats don't get painted. The grey coat is likely anodizing. If I was going to clean mine up I think I'd try to polish it out. The downside there is it sounds like a major pain and shiny metal retains more heat than black painted metal. Let me know how it goes, I have a couple that could use refinishing.

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89 300te 222,222
92 300e 190,000

A lot of effort .... I wonder how much a new cover from Mercedes would cost?

Haasman

__________________
'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

New valve covers for my car are about $200-250 EACH, at discount places. Of course, they are merely painted.

Interesting: I bought two sets on eBay with the intent of polishing them. The first set, a "bargain" or so I thought, had one of the two cracked (the one where the timing chain usually jumps). The seller "didn't notice it".

The other pair, not as much of a bargain (but definitely cheaper than above!!) had clearly visible grooves inside the cam gear "hump" where the chain was grinding on the cover - either that engine had experienced death by timing chain jump or it was about to do so.

These covers are thinner and more delicate than you would expect. When polishing them, I mounted them on 3/4" thick plywood a little bigger than the covers themselves, to keep grit out,to make sure I wouldn't flex them, and to make sure I didn't chip or dent the sealing edges. I would advise anyone cleaning them, painting them, or polishing them to do the same. I don't think they could survive a fall, for example. Remember, they are castings, and darned thin at that.

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86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm

Strife

I had no idea they were that expensive! Thanks for the tips etc. I did the 300e's with mild success. I used a paint remover and then after cleaning excessively (Including removing the inner liner) repainted with a black high-temp paint but some of it has already started to come off.

I was wondering if there is such thing as an aluminum high-temp primer?

Haasman

__________________
'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)

Did you use a primer, and is the paint glossy or flat?

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89 300te 222,222
92 300e 190,000

This is probably way more than anybody needs to know about painting aluminum, but it's interesting:

http://www.finishing.com/1200-1399/1318.shtml

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89 300te 222,222
92 300e 190,000

I didn't use a primer and it was glossy.

Also check this thread out- Valve cover woes

Haasman

__________________
'03 E320 Wagon-Sold
'95 E320 Wagon-Went to Ex
'93 190E 2.6-Wrecked
'91 300E-Went to Ex
'65 911 Coupe (#302580)