So one of the potential areas that is causing the oil leak is the valve cover gasket. Before replacing it I decided to take care of the nasty beige paint that is flaking off. I purchased a used m50/s50 Vanos cover off of BFC and got to work.
I took it to Steve's Plating in Sun Valley to get it cleaned up and powder coated. I had gotten quotes from $150-$225, but I found a guy, Chris, at Steve's Plating who said he would clean it up and coat it for $75.
A lot of the price was just cleaning up the old junk and sand blasting it. In hind site I would probably take care of that myself next time as the finished job is only as good as the prep.
When I got to Steve's, Chris told me he would have to charge me $100 after seeing the cover. He said he was imagining something more like a v8 valve cover. I said ok and he set off to clean it. After he got done baking the old oil off and sandblasting it, he called me in to take a look at the casting.
It appeared that BMW did a pretty shotty job on the cast. There was lots of pitting and just plain bad collecting of metal as if it were pushed around while it was cooling. He said he didn't want to just coat over that and I appreciated the concern. Some places might have just said Fuck it.
We took the cover in the back and had one of the sander take a pneumatic disc sander to the nose cone. After a few passes the metal really started to look nice. Like I said, I would do the prep work myself in the future. I'm sure that $225 guy included stuff like this. Chris just did because he was a "nice guy."
I picked the cover up and was pretty satisfied. It wasn't perfect but it was pretty good for the price and all the work he put into it. There was one little problem area on the front lower area that didn't get powder but you can't see it unless you're looking for it. It left a little brown mark which I touched up with some paint. I think if you brought something to him perfect ready to go and explained to him that it had to be perfect he could probably knock it out for a good price. His price had a lot to do with just cleaning it up.
Before
Before
After!
I will probably return but with a more prepped part next time.
Steve's Plating Corporation
3111 North San Fernando Boulevard
Burbank, CA 91504-2527
(818) 842-2184
Burbank, CA 91504-2527
(818) 842-2184
2 comments:
Whoa! What a makeover! The valve cover was totally revived and restored to its brand new look. Well, what’s good about powder coating is that the coat is resistant to rusting, wearing, and chipping. Plus, the color doesn’t wear off easily, making your valve last for a long time.
Nice and Simple info about powder coating services and if U want to know more in detail about powder coating for frames and powder coating services
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