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 Renewing 56 Dodge D500 Valve CoversJump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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56D500boy |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 11182     Location: Lower Mainland BC | I've been wanting to do this since back in September when I got my 56 D500. I finally had some good weather that I could work outside with smelly paint stripper, solvents and paint. So I got at it yesterday. Removing the valve cover finally allowed me to see whether there was any build up of sludge in the head. There was none. Yippee!! Renewing the valve covers involved: 1. Stripping the paint off with spray aircraft (sticky) paint stripper, a scraper and steel wool. Wear thick rubber gloves!! (Along the way, I could see at least four layers of paint, the most recent red, a silver, a black and the original red) 2. Using a drill chucked with an abrasive plastic "wire" wheel to remove tough bits. 3. Wet sanding with 200 and 400 grit wet/dry sand paper with solvent as the wetting agent. 4. Getting all the residual paint, cork gasket and hardened oil bit out of every nook and cranny with whatever it takes. 5. Repeating steps 2, 3 and 4 until there is nothing left but clean metal 6. Wiping everything with solvent and drying. 7. Spraying the covers. For the valve cover I used VHT red caliper paint (exact match, by chance, to the official Mopar red paint). For the wire covers, I used Tremclad (Rustoleum in US) semi-gloss black. Today will involve re-installing that valve cover with a new cork gasket, new hardware (stainless), new Autolite R45S spark plugs (no gasket) and new top of tube rubber gaskets. Then I will repeat the renewal process on the left valve cover and the power brake vacuum can. Edited by 56D500boy 2017-05-23 2:51 PM (315HemiValveCoverRenewal_1.jpg) (315HemiValveCoverRenewal_2.jpg) (315HemiValveCoverRenewal_3.jpg) (315HemiValveCoverRenewal_4.jpg) (315HemiValveCoverRenewal_5.jpg) (315HemiValveCoverRenewal_6.jpg) (315HemiValveCoverRenewal_7.jpg) (315HemiValveCoverRenewal_8.jpg) (315HemiValveCoverRenewal_9.jpg) Attachments ----------------  315HemiValveCoverRenewal_1.jpg (192KB - 858 downloads) 315HemiValveCoverRenewal_2.jpg (188KB - 804 downloads) 315HemiValveCoverRenewal_3.jpg (203KB - 788 downloads) 315HemiValveCoverRenewal_4.jpg (205KB - 748 downloads) 315HemiValveCoverRenewal_5.jpg (161KB - 803 downloads) 315HemiValveCoverRenewal_6.jpg (199KB - 844 downloads) 315HemiValveCoverRenewal_7.jpg (231KB - 804 downloads) 315HemiValveCoverRenewal_8.jpg (179KB - 815 downloads) 315HemiValveCoverRenewal_9.jpg (214KB - 774 downloads) | ||
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| DepsilonD |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 792  Location: Buena Park, CA | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 11182 Location: Lower Mainland BC | Thanks, Dave. I'll get a photo of them back on the car this afternoon. Had to get some red RTV to tack the new cork gasket in place in the valve cover. Got that this AM but no new hardware. The nuts are 5/16"-24 and they only had -18 in stainless (or plain). The bolts are 5/16"-18 but 1/2" long. They only had 1" (in SS and plain) and I didn't feel like cutting them down. I will look at a better store on another day.  | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 11182 Location: Lower Mainland BC | 56D500boy - 2017-05-23 3:55 PM Thanks, Dave. I'll get a photo of them back on the car this afternoon. :) Well, more than a year later, I finally post a photo of the valve covers - reinstalled. LOL.  The photo is from last July (2017) (and I have posted it in the forum, just not in this thread).  UPDATE: What I remember was there was a "wrong way" and a "better way" with the gasket, involving flipping the gasket over up/down left/right until the holes lined up better. When I finally figured out the best orientation, I ran a small bead of RTV on to the interior lip/flange of the valve cover. Then I pushed the new cork gasket into the RTV and flipped the cover over and put it on the head, over the studs.) I had previously cleaned the heads of any residual gasket material from the old gaskets and then wiped them clean). Then, as I tightened down the nuts, I pushed the gasket back under the valve cover wherever it was trying to push out (in a few areas). I snugged the nuts down but not a gasket-killing amount. One year later and not a drop of oil leakage and no escaping gasket to be seen. Edited by 56D500boy 2018-07-09 10:52 PM (DaveFsD500EngineWithFaked315HemiHeadVinylSticker.jpg) Attachments ---------------- DaveFsD500EngineWithFaked315HemiHeadVinylSticker.jpg (174KB - 711 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 11182 Location: Lower Mainland BC | 56D500boy - 2018-07-09 4:57 PM UPDATE: What I remember was there was a "wrong way" and a "better way" with the gasket, involving flipping the gasket over up/down left/right until the holes lined up better. When I finally figured out the best orientation, I ran a small bead of RTV on to the interior lip/flange of the valve cover. Then I pushed the new cork gasket into the RTV and flipped the cover over and put it on the head, over the studs.) I had previously cleaned the heads of any residual gasket material from the old gaskets and then wiped them clean). Then, as I tightened down the nuts, I pushed the gasket back under the valve cover wherever it was trying to push out (in a few areas). I snugged the nuts down but not a gasket-killing amount. One year later and not a drop of oil leakage and no escaping gasket to be seen. UPDATE on the Update: When I was out changing the front passenger side shock the other day, I could see that the passenger side valve cover gasket was leaking oil that was dripping down onto the engine and the exhaust manifold. NOT cool. I will try just tightening the nuts and bolts holding the valve cover to the head but I may have to involve some more RTV (or ????) if that doesn't work. I don't want an oil-leaking, stinky engine.  Edited by 56D500boy 2019-05-02 1:17 PM | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 11182 Location: Lower Mainland BC | Well this is embarassing. I went out to the Dodge this afternoon, armed with a 3/8" drive rachet, a 1/2" socket and a 6" extension and found that *ALL* 12 of my valve cover nuts/bolts (3 nuts and 3 bolts per side) were loose. Not sure why. I thought that I had used lock washers and had snugged everything down. *BUT* it is probably 2 years since I stripped and repainted the valve covers so it probably isn't surprising that they were loose. I know that I didn't use star washers but now I think that I want to. I wiped the lower edge of the very leaky passenger side valve cover after I tightened things down and now will have to wait to see whether tightening was enough to stop the leak(s). Edited by 56D500boy 2019-05-02 11:27 PM | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 11182 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . Well after 7 years and lots of PS fluid leaking down onto the valve cover and wire cover and brake fluid spillage from my front disc conversion caliper bleeding (hard to fill that single pot Master under the accordion PS booster), I finally decided to paint the driver's side wire cover. The cover was off because I wanted to try to seal the hemi (double-rocker) spark plug tubes to the head and, while the cover was off, it was time for paint. I decided to use VHT caliper paint this time because the valve cover which got painted with VHT red caliper paint seems to be impervious to PS and brake fluid attack. Tremclad/Rustoleum not so much (got eaten a bit). So first thing is to strip off the old paint (actually was not easy), sand the cover (220 and 600 grit), clean the cover (methyl alcohol) and then paint. (Two coats). I will let it dry over night before reinstalling. Not sure why I went with gloss black (and not semi gloss). Oh well. Done now. (56DodgeD500SparkPlugWireCover_DriversSide_DamageFromPSandBrakeFluidSpillage.jpg) (56DodgeD500SparkPlugWireCover_DriversSide_AfterPaintStrippingSandingAndCleaning.jpg) (56DodgeD500SparkPlugWireCover_DriversSide_AfterPaintingWithTwoCoatsOfVHTcaliperPaint.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 56DodgeD500SparkPlugWireCover_DriversSide_DamageFromPSandBrakeFluidSpillage.jpg (149KB - 377 downloads) 56DodgeD500SparkPlugWireCover_DriversSide_AfterPaintStrippingSandingAndCleaning.jpg (148KB - 360 downloads) 56DodgeD500SparkPlugWireCover_DriversSide_AfterPaintingWithTwoCoatsOfVHTcaliperPaint.jpg (148KB - 333 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Exner Expert 10K+ Posts: 11182 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . "Recently" (a few months ago), I was "playing" (read: Opening a bunch of cans of worms) regarding my 315 D500 double rocker ("hemi") valve lifters and push rods. REFERENCE rabbit hole: http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=80723&... In that process, while the valve covers were off, I cleaned and repainted them. When I eventually reinstalled them (after cleaning/replacing the valve lifters and/or push rods), I used a new cork valve cover gasket on the odd (drivers) side because removing the valve cover is a long process because of the generator/PS pump, etc. HOWEVER, in my "wisdom" (read: stupidity), I went cheap on the even (passenger) side and reused the 9 year old gasket with the aid of some red RTV silicone. Turns out that was a mistake Took me awhile to realized that oil was leaking past that even side gasket/RTV combo and dripping down onto the exhaust manifold and then the exhaust downpipe. Not pretty (see below). When I did figure out the problem, I literally watched oil drip from the valve cover edge, down onto the manifold and then smoke when it hit the downpipe. (OH THAT IS WHERE THE ENGINE SMOKE IS COMING FROM!!) So now I have to remove the valve cover (yesterday afternoon), clean off all the red RTV and install the last cork gasket that I have on hand. I think I will involve some RTV between the cork and the lip of the head but none between the cork and the metal valve cover. Then I have to figure out how to get that unsightly baked on oil off the downpipe without removing the aluminized coating (the pipe was a new one from Waldrons). (Ideas? Brake cleaner did little or nothing. Might have to treat it like a varnish and use paint stripper (??)) Lesson learned: Going cheap can bite you in the butt. (While the valve cover is off, I am going to check the current valve adjustment (for hydraulic lifters, i.e. zero lash plus 1/4 turn on the adjusting screw). Excuse me while I kick my butt. (Was that Hendrix or ?? ) PS: I am not sure if the Hot Heads oil filter adapter is leaking oil as well (or not) Edited by 56D500boy 2026-06-11 1:06 PM (ConsequencesOfGoingCheapOnHemiValveCoverGasket.jpg) Attachments ---------------- ConsequencesOfGoingCheapOnHemiValveCoverGasket.jpg (141KB - 64 downloads) | ||
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