M/T Valve Covers-Thought I'd share!

[Bigtime]

Hello Folks!
I recently bought a pair of '60's [I believe] 383 M/T valve covers on ebay.
While they were dent-free, they were heavily oxidized and just plain UGLY!
I had a local company, Coatings, USA [116 Success Rd., Front Royal, VA. 22630, 540-636-7911 coatingsusa.com & also FB]. apply Cerekote, a ceramic coating, [like header treatments] to them.
The results were outstanding I think and thought I would share some pics with you. I REALLY wish I had taken "before" pics so you could see the difference.
Any imperfections you may see are the result of the original "mass production" casting flaws, not their work.
Also, for those curious, this was a $300 job.
I am not a salesperson for them

....just an aging "motorhead".
Please let me know if this helps anyone....

 

[65RoadRacer]

Nice... last time I saw a set of M/T valve covers they wanted like $800 and they were much like you described.

 

[WileERobby]

A classic look if there ever was one. Look great. Cuda Chick here on this site does this work, her results as I've seen & heard are outstanding.

 

[beanhead]

Awesome I love those covers

 

[dadsbee]

I have a pair of those somewhere that I use to run on my Bee.

 

[Don Frelier]

I have a similar pair on my Plymouth. An FYI, I had trouble getting them to stop leaking. After a couple tries I noticed that the casting had a very poor sealing ridge on one of the corners. I ended up using Moroso Perm-Align gaskets and put RTV on the bad spot. Pricey but it worked.
So take a close look underneath before you install them.

 

[YY1]

I bought a heavily oxidized pair at Don Garlits last year for $10.

They responded very well to a simple wire wheel.

My plan is to wire wheel them where I can and a light sand blast in the hard to reach places.

 

[69 GTX]

I believe they originally had a wrinkle finish, flat black. Had a set on my RR also

 

[Don Frelier]

The black is just plain old brush on rustoleum black. I took a foam brush and dragged it over the top.

 

[YY1]

The ones I had in the 90's were the first thing I ever put in the oven after painting the wrinkle paint.

Came out decent.

 

[FrnkNsteen]

I bead blasted mine to get the old flaking paint off and shot the with VHT wrinkle paint. Cured it in the oven for a while to set the wrinkles in, then took a DA sander to them to clean the paint back off the ribs. I think they turned out great. Look just like they did back in the day.

Wish I had a picture with me to attach. Only picture I have is a picture of my new radiator setup and you can just see the front edge.

 

[CudaChick1968]

A classic look if there ever was one. Look great. Cuda Chick here on this site does this work, her results as I've seen & heard are outstanding.

Thank you for the lovely compliment!!! (I don't do high temp ceramics anymore. It's kind of overkill for engine parts outside of exhaust applications.)

@Bigtime, you can tell pretty quickly if your Mickeys are true vintage. Look inside; if it says Made In Japan they're repops from the 80s.

 

[khryslerkid]

They do look good. Not wanting to be a "Negative Nancy" but the sanding marks in the bare areas could have been eliminated. Looks like they used a 2" Scotch pad. They come in finer grits and going across the surface slowly will leave minor scratches that can be flat sanded with a finer grit paper to get rid of them totally. If they weren't clear coated, maybe they could take it one more step to make them perfect. Jmo

 

[khryslerkid]

I love the "Old School" look!

I bought these from a member on here. Sorry I lost my info on who it was. They are Cal Customs that were in good shape.

Had to do some polishing to get rid of some minor corrosion then some machine work to be able to use the right gromments.

 

[FrnkNsteen]

Here's some better shots of how mine turned out

 

[Bigtime]

Nice... last time I saw a set of M/T valve covers they wanted like $800 and they were much like you described.

Wow! I really shouldn't have spent the money, but I guess I just had a "gotta have" moment!

 

[Bigtime]

A classic look if there ever was one. Look great. Cuda Chick here on this site does this work, her results as I've seen & heard are outstanding.

Thanks! The "look" is what I wanted. The car is white & the engine is MOPAR blue. I thought I would keep the engine one the dark side.

 

[Bigtime]

Awesome I love those covers

Thanks so much! They are not absolutely perfect [what is?] but I am very happy with them.

 

[Bigtime]

I have a similar pair on my Plymouth. An FYI, I had trouble getting them to stop leaking. After a couple tries I noticed that the casting had a very poor sealing ridge on one of the corners. I ended up using Moroso Perm-Align gaskets and put RTV on the bad spot. Pricey but it worked.
So take a close look underneath before you install them.

Hey, thanks for the tip! I have a pair of rubber Fel-Pros [good ones I hope] that I am going to try. I have a buddy that claims the Moroso gaskets are THE ONLY ones to use.

 

[Bigtime]

I bought a heavily oxidized pair at Don Garlits last year for $10.

They responded very well to a simple wire wheel.

My plan is to wire wheel them where I can and a light sand blast in the hard to reach places.

Sounds like a GREAT deal & wish you the best...I just had a [brainless?] moment and HAD to have these done like this...