Powder coating and destroyed motors

[Aaron dusseault]

I was recently considering powder coating my  valve cover , But now I am not so sure a good friend and fellow DSMr was telling me that there has been engine problems because of the procedures used by powder coaters when prepping the cover itself. Any input would be appreciated :?

[Ivan Skare]

Hmmmm no that doesn't sound right...

The only thing I could think of is if the powder coat chips off and gets into the combustion chamber...

[John Hartman]

The coating on a valve cover or similar completely external thing should not be able to ruin something internal to the engine.

If they sand blasted the cover and didn't clean out all the media inside the baffles,and that (sand or whatever was used) got into the oil that could definately damage the engine.

If the cover was properly cleaned, the powder coat, paint, chrome or whatever you put on the outside should not effect the innards of your engine.

[Michael Cummings]

if your worried about it then just get them to do the outside of it and not the inside, i know island powercoating does that near dunford rd.

[Mike Schmid]

I can see chrome being a problem because you have to dip the whole part in chrome and everything will attract the chrome chrome plating.  There might be a way to mask it but it'd be news to me.  This is why Robin can't chrome his engine block or head.  

A chrome valve cover with chrome on the underside there's a chance the chrome could flake off the inside and cause problems.  But with powder coat... it's just like paint.  Mask, spray but then you need to put it in an oven.  The only thing that could potentially cause problems would be the heat from the oven but AFAIK with a home powder coat kit you can use a household oven, it doesn't take major heat.  No more than what the valvecover would see, for instance, bolted onto a cylinder head under the hood of a turbo 4 banger.  

The only other problem I could see would be improper prep.  Say hosing the thing down with a sandblaster and glass bead then putting it on without fully cleaning it.  Then a clump of sand or glass bead comes loose from inside and falls in the oil.  But the solution to that is just make sure you clean the thing properly and be careful with the media blaster.  If you mask before glass bead/sandblast the masking should stay intact and maybe only need a little touchup.