Paint valve covers peels off?

[Cenobyte]

For a while now I have been having problems with the paint (powdercoating?) on the valve covers of my 1993 ZR-1. It looks like the paint has gone dark, but most of all soft. When the engine is warm, you can scrape it off with your finger nails. :icon_scra

At first I thought it was some kind of protective stuff a previous owner sprayed on it, but now I fear it's the paint itself that has gone soft, since beneath it, it looks like bare aluminum. Because it's so soft, the paint looks very bad and is damaged all over the place...

Do any of you people ever experienced this problem? What can be done to get the engine back to it's beautiful original condition? Removing the valve covers and "sanding" them down with plastic grain sanding process? I'm afraid to ruin my covers, also since it seems they can't be bought without the rest of the cilinder heads...

[jonszr1]

lingenfelter sells a good quality paint in spray cans .it matches very well . other avenue is powdercoating which is alot more cost wise

[Cenobyte]

With powder coating, I'm afraid the covers will not fit proberly anymore, since the layer is much thicker than paint.

To paint them, it'll be necessary to remove the valve covers, I guess?

[Aurora40]

With powder coating, I'm afraid the covers will not fit proberly anymore, since the layer is much thicker than paint.

To paint them, it'll be necessary to remove the valve covers, I guess?
You would only have the top side powder coated. So it shouldn't affect the fit.

If you painted them, you'd probably simply want to mask them off well. Though removing them would make painting easier (but removing them isn't necessarily easy).

Is there something else going on? Are the cam covers getting excessively hot?

[tomtom72]

I have to ask the same Q as Bob about excessive heat? I've had an antifreeze spill and that didn't do anything but stain the OE paint on my cam covers.

I suppose that something could be wrong with the factory paint....it wasn't that great to start with. Oh, the LPE stuff works great and matches very well to the existing paint.

[Cenobyte]

You would only have the top side powder coated. So it shouldn't affect the fit.

No, you're right. However, it would be more difficult to avoid messing up the black letters?

If you painted them, you'd probably simply want to mask them off well. Though removing them would make painting easier (but removing them isn't necessarily easy).

I think that would be a hard job, with all the pipes and stuff over it :)

I talked about it with a shop owner that services a couple of ZR-1's and (while he doesn't have a clue what's going on with the paint) he also prefers to invest some more time in removing the valve covers (or at least freeing them up completely by removing plaenum) than spending more time covering everything up to avoid spraying over something else. By removing the plaenum, he can also paint it too to avoid ending up with different colors (it actually are different colors now, since the covers are much darker). I may just choose another color than the standard light gray ;)

Is there something else going on? Are the cam covers getting excessively hot?
I never experienced overheating in the time I own the car (7 years now) and the car has never been raced during that time. I did have defective bobines (distributor coils?) when I bought the car and the engines was completely disassembled for that problem (because the then current owner did not know what the problem was). Strange thing is that the paint stays kind of soft. Even with the engine cold, it's easy to damage the paint. When it's warm (not even hot, but about 70 degrees celsius), you can easily damage the stuff with a finger nail.

BTW: here (http://www.cenobyte.nl/corvette/corvette/my1993zr1.html) is my pride and joy we're talking about :dancing

[cuisinartvette]

Send them off to Jeffvette for powdercoating and never worry about them again. Dont worry, he can get the letters looking right again, too.

He should throw up some pics of his work, youll dig it.

[Aurora40]

Send them off to Jeffvette for powdercoating
You saw he's in the Netherlands, right? ;)

[Cenobyte]

You saw he's in the Netherlands, right? ;)

Yeah, that's part of the problem: the people with knowledge about an LT-5 are very hard to find over here. :redface:

[Z Factor]

Yeah, that's part of the problem: the people with knowledge about an LT-5 are very hard to find over here. :redface:

Hello and welcome to the forum. :handshak:

Though you are in the Netherlands, you might still consider the extra cost of shipping worth it if you would like to have the job done right by a reputable vendor here in the United States.

:cheers:

[Jeffvette]

You saw he's in the Netherlands, right? ;)

I just did some work from a guy in Spain.


Cenobyte, post some pictures of the engine and I'll see what I can tell. It almost sounds like they have been painted in the past, as the factory finish doesn't "peel off".

[Cenobyte]

Hi Jeff, nice website you have there. If I was in the States, my choice would be easy ;)

Below are some (very large) pictures. The car is very clean, especially the interior, but the engine bay is still a mess. I never started detailing the engine, because of the valve cover problem. :cry:

http://www.cenobyte.nl/pictureparking/lt5_valvecover1.jpg

http://www.cenobyte.nl/pictureparking/lt5_valvecover2.jpg

http://www.cenobyte.nl/pictureparking/lt5_valvecover3.jpg

[tccrab]

The cam covers are much darker than the plenum, they may have been spray painted sometime in it's past.
Jeff, you got any ideas?
Looks like they're going to have to come off to fix 'em right.



TomC

[GOLDCYLON]

The cam covers are much darker than the plenum, the may have been spray painted sometime in it's past.
Jeff, you got any ideas?
Looks like they're going to have to come off to fix 'em right.



TomC


I agree TC and Jeffs the guy to do it. Hmm maybe time for a stainless bolt upgrade while hes there as well.

[Jeffvette]

The spots which are bad on your valve cover (The recessed edge) tend to hold in a liquid, which in your case was a very caustic chemical. The cam covers were machined and therefore have a very smooth surface, whereas the plenum and injector housings were a sand cast and very porous. The bite the factory powder has a on a smooth surface is not very good, which is one reason why you can scrape it after it is smooth.

That being said if your finish is soft and scraping off, the spray paint suggested further above is garbage. It needs a good base like everything else to stick. You're only option is to remove everything, degrease and start over. Which doesn't look like it will be a bad thing since you want to clean up your engine compartment.

[Cenobyte]

It needs a good base like everything else to stick. You're only option is to remove everything, degrease and start over. Which doesn't look like it will be a bad thing since you want to clean up your engine compartment.

I was afraid it would come to that, I tried a couple of things already, leading me nowhere. Since you confirm my thoughts, I'll stick to the plan of removing the stuff and getting it done thouroughly.

There is a small problem: sending over a complete car or engine to the States will be as expensive as the job itself I guess, so I'll need to find somebody that knows his way around (dis-)assembling an LT-5 without messing it up. But can you disassemble all parts that need cleaning? Just beneath the manifold, there's a piece of the engine visible and with all the cleaning jobs over here on the forum they are cleaned and sprayed as well?

Best thing would be if I found a shop that I could just take the entire job off my hands, since I have two left hands myself :D Unfortunately these shops are hard to find over here...

[Jeffvette]

Removing and reinstalling is fairly simple. I've got a couple of write ups documenting it. You should be able to send the parts state side once you get done (if you want). If you have any questions just ask.


http://pnwzr1.net/LT5_tear_down.htm

http://pnwzr1.net/LT5_tear_down2.htm

[Cenobyte]

Removing and reinstalling is fairly simple. I've got a couple of write ups documenting it. You should be able to send the parts state side once you get done (if you want). If you have any questions just ask.


My first reaction after reading it and looking at the pictures was: http://www.heartbeatforum.nl/images/smilies/jaw-dropping.gif

But I'm shure I could follow the procedure when I look at it. Reassembling would be a whole other story :D

[tccrab]

If you take your time and take lots of pictures it shouldn't be all that difficult to put it back together.
Of course, you could always offer to buy Jeff a plane ticket, I'm sure he's never been to Holland...
I hear that there are things you can do in Amsterdam that you can't do anywhere else (legally).......:rolleyes:
:occasion1 :dancing :cheers:

TomC

[bobbyhi]

My first reaction after reading it and looking at the pictures was: http://www.heartbeatforum.nl/images/smilies/jaw-dropping.gif

But I'm shure I could follow the procedure when I look at it. Reassembling would be a whole other story :D


I did it last winter and if I can do it anyone can:p Of course there was quite a few phone calls to Jeff for guidance and help:thumbsup: The toughest part was getting the brake booster out.:jawdrop: Reassenbly went fairly easy also.

[4DSZR1]

All those volunteering for assistant duty to Jeff please take one step forward :pray

:)

[GOLDCYLON]

My first reaction after reading it and looking at the pictures was: http://www.heartbeatforum.nl/images/smilies/jaw-dropping.gif

But I'm shure I could follow the procedure when I look at it. Reassembling would be a whole other story :D


Heres how mine ended up after Jeffvette did the PC work. I also went with the stainless bolts.

http://members.cox.net/goldcylon/ENGINEAIR2.JPG

http://members.cox.net/goldcylon/ENGINEAIR.JPG


If I may suggest if you are considering this as an option that you have locobob another forum member here do a full port and polish on the plenuim and injector housings. It just makes plain sense to do so while you are there. Jeffvette can answer all your question on the process. A lot of member here can stay both he and locobob do great work!!!!

[GOLDCYLON]

I did it last winter and if I can do it anyone can:p Of course there was quite a few phone calls to Jeff for guidance and help:thumbsup: The toughest part was getting the brake booster out.:jawdrop: Reassenbly went fairly easy also.

Anddd... It looks great Bobby. Especially with those red Samcos to finsh of that white and red scheme!! :cool:

I ordered the black samcos last week. Off the forum of course!!!

[Cenobyte]

Heres how mine ended up after Jeffvette did the PC work. I also went with the stainless bolts.


:worship:

That's how I want mine to be!!! Just the original color, but 100 times more detailed than it is now. I want to be able to open my hood at meetings :(

[GOLDCYLON]

:worship:

That's how I want mine to be!!! Just the original color, but 100 times more detailed than it is now. I want to be able to open my hood at meetings :(

Well I suggest talking to Jeffvette he can give you ALL the details. GC