De-varnish the valve cover?

[TomoHawk]

I took the valve cover off to 'polish' the outside, and I noticed that the inside had a coating of oil 'varnish.' Would there be an advantage to removing the varnish? What is the usual way to do that? (FYI)

thx.

[Bambikiller240]

In my garage it is done with Solvent, a Wire Brush, and Elbow Grease. Is there an advantage? Well, I can look at it without going "Eeek, that looks like $hit". Good enough for me.

It probably could also be done by dipping in an (Aluminum safe) Hot Tank, but I'm too cheap to go that route.

[biker]

I reckon there is nothing better than plain metal nicely polished up. Hit it with Wet and Dry, brush and then sand her down. Hit with some metal polish and bingo - lookin good :cheeky:

[TomoHawk]

biker- Polish the INSIDE??

I just thought there would be an advantage to removing the baked-on oil coating on the inside, but as long as the air can get up into the vent hose, I don't think any varnish will hurt- unless it flakes off and gets into the works.

We used to paint the oil galley and the inside of the engine block ( and the outside of small engines) with an oil-proof enamel that allows the oil to flow back to the oil pan more quickly. On the small (2-cycle) engines, it's used to protect the outside, so the oil can be wiped off easily.

Nobody will see what on the underside of the valve cover anyway.

[Zeus]

Last year when I got way too involved in cleaning the valve cover, I used simple green to get the 'greasy' stuff out. After that, I let it sit in my shop sink overnight with ATF and simple green. ATF does wonders for that type of work.

[biker]

Oops - I thought we were talking about the outside

Can't hurt to polish the inside as well but why would you want to???

Agree with you Tomohawk - just give it a good rub with some solvent such as Acetone or Carby Cleaner to get the oil stain off (It seems to get everything off).

Biker

[Inf]

As I recall, I tried a few different solvents on the inside of mine when I last had it off without any real success. I just left it there. I figure if all that baked on carbon was so firmly attached, it probably wouldn't come off on its own and cause damage to engine parts. (*knock on wood*)

If I was really determined though I would probably end up taking it to a machine shop and have them do some sort of hot tank dip on it since the shape of the underside would make anything else pretty difficult IMO

[Bambikiller240]

Yeah, I used laquer thinner and a s/s brush, but the crud took a fair amount of effort to remove.

If you take it to a shop to be dipped, make sure they understand that the Valve Cover is aluminum. Some hot tank solutions will EAT aluminum.

[LanceM]

Go to NAPA and get a gallon of Mac's 6401 carburetor cleaner. Wonderfully nasty stuff that probably isn't avaliable in CA Anyway shake it up, pour it in, let it set a while, pour it back in the can and crud is gone! I filter mine back into the can and have been using it to do about everything including removing paint from fittings. Great stuff, but follow the cautions!

[TomoHawk]

I had some MEK on the shelp and tried that, which did work with a little time.

But on the timing chain end, I noticed some scratches that looked like the timing chain was rubbing. Has anybody else noticedthat on their engine? After removing the varnish, I didn't see any noticeable scratches or grooves on the metal itself.

thx

[speedyblue]

Could be marks from hitting the chain whilst removing/replacing it or something. There seems to be a fair bit of clearance there.

[Gav240z]

If it just looks like a circular mark from where the timing chain sits underneath it's probably the normal pattern caused by the oil splashing up against it. I wouldn't worry about the timing chain hitting it.