how to fix fudged up cast aluminum valve covers

i won a set of cast aluminum mickey thompson valve covers for my 454 on ebay. they were described as great, and the photos looked decent. however, they showed up and the truth was revealed. the seller's pictures and description failed to tell of the 4 chunks someone cut out of the sealing surface on the intake side of each valve cover. each one looks like it was 2 slices with a hacksaw then broken with pliers. this leaves the sealing surface about 1/8" in those spots in addition to being an eyesore on an otherwise cool old set of covers. someone also drilled a bunch of holes for some homemade looking breathers, but that i knew about, and is probably why they went as cheap as they did.

so now i'm left to fix these. it bothers the crap out of me that someone with 100% feedback rating of 899 would sell something and appear to be so deceptive as to not mention or picture the removed chunkage, but it's what i have to deal with.

so how to fix? i do not have a tig welder nor access to someone with one. i will be painting them with black crinkle paint so it should cover a little bit. for the holes i was thinking mask the top, flip cover over, fill holes with jb weld, sand top smooth. the lip all i've come up with so far is a similar setup, maybe using a piece of steel rod inserted into a couple slits i would make with a cutoff wheel to create a bridge across the gap and make the new edge/lip.

Wow. That's some hack-jobbery if I ever saw it.
For the holes (well, some of them) can you tap them to accept an aluminum bolt? Then screw the bolt in, and cut off everything that extends out of the hole? A little epoxy to smooth things over? You can't take it to a welder and have him fill the holes?

Forgot to ask. Where do you live?

Aluminum brazing rod?

JB Weld.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Aluminum brazing rod?

That should fix the "breather" holes easy peasy.

Is it possible that that notches were there for a good reason? Do the original stamped steel covers have notches for tabs on the gaskets?

You can dispute this and get your money back.

Before I spent a bunch of time fixing the slots, I'd offer them up to a rat and see if the notches need to be there. M/T stuff is famously crap from a fitment point of view.

Never had a problem with M/T stuff not fitting but one never knows. The slots do look like cork gasket tab notch's. as for the breather holes why not add the stub breather?

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Mini-Engine-Breather,8949.html

Seller offered a partial refund and told me he knew the notches were there, and they were cut 20 years ago so the covers could be pulled off with the blower in place.

I am running the covers because i'm going for a certain period look that i've never done before, and i always wanted to pop my hood and see a big block with m/t valve covers. These are originals, not the current reproductions. That's cool in my book. Everyone and their brother runs fabricated aluminum covers now.

Speedway has breathers to fit the hole spacing..... $79.95 each. No thanks.

The correct answer is some GM dude with a TIG welder in the garage and a collection of files and patience.

Key to any welding repair in old engine bits is getting them clean enough.

If you have a MIG with a spool gun (rare but hey some of us see tool buying opportunity) you could have a go and see if it works.

Head over to youtube and type in aluminum repair. tons of hits. I like this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7nPz4y5IE4

Those are die cast and a goofy alloy of aluminum and may not weld well.

I would go for a refund if the alterations were not declared and are not acceptable.

Those covers should seal if you use cork gaskets and glue them to the covers.

We used to semi-permanently install the gaskets to the covers with "elephant snot" (3M Weatherstrip adhesive) since we had the covers on and off the motor so often. Use spreaders and don't over-tighten bolts.

Those valve covers are plentiful however you may have difficulty finding a set that has not been hacked on. Since those covers had no provisions for venting most got the box breathers installed.

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Aluminum brazing rod?

I agree with this, its the stuff HAVAC guys use for aluminum tubing on AC systems, and its cheap compared to paying some one to tig. I have used it for some stuff in the past. Made a guard for the muffler on my race bike, for when I fall off. It stands up well, also made some brackets for the upper fairing, tubing bent, joints held solid. Larger, thicker items need a better torch, maybe map gas instead of propane.

I tried making some mods to a radiator for the race bike, not so good, kept melting the thin tubes before getting the rod to melt.

I would not use it for a weight bearing pieces.

Steve

i think i might have some of the brazing rod somewhere. i'll try that first.

i think i'm done with ebay.

I have a truly nice set of those on my dually. They were on it when I bought it.

How about body filler solder? (Eastwood sells it) I have never used it, but it seems like the ideal way to go because all you need are some sticks and a torch. Fill in the holes and then grind back down to shape.

TIG it and grind. JB Weld if you can't.

patgizz wrote: sand top smooth.

This will be a metric berkeleyton of difficult work, just so you know. I spent about 6 hours on mine before moving on to more important things and they're still far from perfect.

Edit: I thought you meant having bare metal letters & lines...if you mean sanding the whole cover to remove those...bring power tools. Big ones.

For the notches, have you mocked it up on the motor to see how noticeable they are?

On the breather Swiss cheese area, that should be a pretty flat area on the cover. I'd grab some aluminum flat stock the width of that flat area (maybe 1/8" thick stock, 3/4" wide) and cut two pieces to span over the drilled area. One for each cover. Round the corners of the cut pieces to match the corners of the valve covers. Use some stainless button head screws to attach the new breather block-off plates over top the drilled area. Make them look like they were supposed to be there. Partially countersink the button head fasteners. Use a little RTV on the back to seal it up. Give the plate a brushed finish to match the raised fins. Maybe take the plates to an engraver and have "Motor by PATGIZZ" engraved on them with a little black paint in the engraved area to make them easy to read.

Then if the notches look bad take some of the leftover aluminum flat stock and make some filler pieces and PC7/JB Weld them in place.

Rob_Mopar wrote: For the notches, have you mocked it up on the motor to see how noticeable they are? On the breather Swiss cheese area, that should be a pretty flat area on the cover. I'd grab some aluminum flat stock the width of that flat area (maybe 1/8" thick stock, 3/4" wide) and cut two pieces to span over the drilled area. One for each cover. Round the corners of the cut pieces to match the corners of the valve covers. Use some stainless button head screws to attach the new breather block-off plates over top the drilled area. Make them look like they were supposed to be there. Partially countersink the button head fasteners. Use a little RTV on the back to seal it up. Give the plate a brushed finish to match the raised fins. Maybe take the plates to an engraver and have "Motor by PATGIZZ" engraved on them with a little black paint in the engraved area to make them easy to read. Then if the notches look bad take some of the leftover aluminum flat stock and make some filler pieces and PC7/JB Weld them in place.

This for the win.

Hide in plain sight and no one will suspect. Works for elephants why not this!

Me, I always like the square breathers, looked right for the era.

As to the notches in the flange, how visible are they going to be especially if you have a spreader in that area?

I'd leave the notches there, as a period hack.

On a tangent, I've seen those made for TV commercials about Alumiweld, which looks to be basically aluminum solder or braze- is the aluminum brazing stuff that is posted about the same thing?

This is alumiweld- http://www.alumiweld.com/

I've NEVER tried it, not vouching for it- etc. still wondering what the heck it even is.

I used Alumiweld to make the mounting bracket for the EDIS ignition pickup on my 924:

Hardest part was clamping it together and keeping enough heat in it. The steel vise would wick away the heat and if I used a wood vise, it would burn so I had to move fast.

It is very much like soldering wiring together, except you have to remove the contaminants and oxide from the surface of the aluminum with a stainless steel brush (I cheated and used a wire wheel) just before you try to use the rod on the parts. For larger parts, you can heat them up in an oven prior to applying more heat with a torch.

I'd probably get your money back unless they were a screamin' deal.