Working on my 22 yr old project Jeep… had the valve cover off. It looks pretty ratty. I thought no problem, I’ll clean it off and paint it.
I have thrown everything in the garage at it. Including paint stripper and even brake fluid… always heard brake fluid would remove paint, brake parts cleaner, and every other solvent I have.
I even tried baking it in a 600° oven…

I don’t know of any sandblaster in the county, I might talk a local Shop into putting it in their hot vat. But this is getting ridiculous. LOL

Of course I could try to wire brush it with a power tool, but it is not exactly flat and smooth, could be done all right, but it would take a while.

Any DIY ideas from the collective… this ain’t no show vehicle… at this point I’m tempted to just hit it with a Scotch Bright, clean it and spray it!

How about a new valve cover?
I would just paint it.
Try a crinkle finish paint.
I always liked how menacing that made the original 426 HEMI covers looked.

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Originally posted by armored:
How about a new valve cover?
I would just paint it.
Try a crinkle finish paint..

Looked for a new one but more money than expected.
I probably will just paint it, yea
Crinkle sounds like a real good idea!

Paint stripper isn’t what it used to be since they took MEK and Methylene Chloride out of it.

Acetone should work, but based on what you’ve already tried, I don’t know.

See if there is a shop that has the laser rust removal tool, looks to work really well, no damage to the part and it takes everything off.



There is also companies that do it with dry ice, both methods clean up parts without chemicals or damaging the metal in any way....

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I don’t know of any sandblaster in the county, I might talk a local Shop into putting it in their hot vat.

Harbor Freight sells sandblasters. If there are any baffles inside that valve cover, you'll want to be absolutely certain to remove all of the blasting media otherwise that hot tank might be a better solution...Pardon the pun!

Maybe look at using a rust converter?

Aircraft stripper from an auto body (professional) supply store. Nasty stuff. Keep it off your forearms, You'll know within a few seconds if you get it on your skin.

Just leave it the way it is and bolt it back on the engine, basicall do what DF says on Road Kill Garage,



You can order the shirt to wear when driving it around!

Link

If you take rusted Steel and boil it enough you will convert all that rust to Black Oxide. It's called Rust Bluing and can do a wonderful job on firearms.

BTW you do have to actually boil it in water. The combination of temperature and a lack of oxygen in the water is what causes the conversion. Yes this is a conversion, basically red rust is converted to Black Oxide. So you will need to fabricate a rough trough long enough and deep enough to keep it completely submerged. As for heat a propane tank and 2 or three gas furnace burners will do the job. BTW you can find these at many flea markets because they are just so useful. If necessary you can work in stages of 40-60 minutes and having a large pot of boiling water to do refills can really speed things up.

If the old paint is that good and you are just going to paint it again, then why are you trying to take the old paint off?

Call the old paint primer, scuff it up, address the rust, and call it a day.

After baking it at 6 million degrees, it may no longer be flat enough to seal against the cylinder head.

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Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
After baking it at 6 million degrees, it may no longer be flat enough to seal against the cylinder head.

I'd almost bet $100 that it is now warped.

Fel-Pro makes a gasket for that.

Use a green scrubbie and light oil, acetone or Klean-Strip Prep-All to clean, and clear coat with VHT satin, put some ducks on the dash and go get dirty.