paint blistered on the valve cover again!!!!!

[resq302]

  Ok, so I took the charger out today to gas up with Sunoco Ultra 93 and I get back and I smell something weird.  The paint on the valve cover blisted up big time again on the side of the HP exhaust manifold.  What the F?  This is the second time this has happened.  The first was the paint blistering a little bit on the pass side next to the HP exhaust manifold.  What would cause this?  The valve covers were just recently repainted also.  The temp gauge even though it reads 30* hotter than it should was running about the 12 o clock position so the coolant temp was not hot or overly hot.

Could it be that the paint is bad and can not with stand the engine temps?  The paint I used was the old style Mopar Performance Street Hemi Orange paint if it matters.  Before I painted the valve cover, I sanded down the valve cover with 320 grit and wet sanded it.  Any thoughts?

[hemi68charger]

first, I hate that Mopar Performance paint.. Try another brand.. Also, did you use and engine high temp primer? I always use the engine high temp primer then paint the engine component...  I maaaay be using Dupli-Color, but I'll check when I get home....... Also, are your exhaust manifolds getting too hot?

Troy

[firefighter3931]

Brian, is this happening on both valve covers ? Seems like the manifolds are running hot....maybe hotter than before ? Has this just started happening....i'm assuming so based on out previous IM's.


Ron

[Silver R/T]

there's no spray paint that will stand up to exhaust heat. Best way is to have them powder coated. Many people spray their headers with 1300degree paint and expect it to stand up and later discover it flaking and rusty headers. You have to ceramic coat them if you want them looking nice and expect them to stand up to high heat.
On a side note you can sandblast those v/c's that way paint will bite into the metal much better. 320 grit is too smooth and you dont have to wet sand them.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

My HP manifolds are Jet-Hot coated and are supposed to lower under hood temps which it does but my pass side VC still gets burnt...
Nature of the beast?

[y3chargerrt]

I used Totally Autos engine paint and never had a problem with it burning off. I have read how some guys on here have trashed their products but I have never had any problems with them.

[resq302]

The problem before was that it blistered the pass side.  This time it blistered the driver side.  I have never had this problem before I started trying to fine tune the car to get more power out of the motor.  One thing I did do on the way home from gassing it up was to have fun and floor it most of the way home with the 4 bbls wide open.  Might it have been running too lean with the 4 bbls open?  Possible.  It does have a problem when I floor it or give it decent amount of gas taking off from a dead stop and letting the clutch out.  It seems to pop once through the carb and then take off.  I am currently rebuilding the factory carb to see if that might make a difference.  At idle, it is running smoother now than what the factory carb did.  The coolant temp gauge never went as high as it did before but that could have also been that I was running at speeds over 80 mph on the way home on I-287 today.   Lets just say that I needed some stress relief and the front end seemed to be bouncing with the bias ply tires at 90+ mph.  All in all, with the exception of the pop through the carb when I would floor it, it ran great.

The blistering is only on the side that faces the exhaust manifold.  Weird because the pass. side is perfectly fine.  It has never done this before.

[resq302]

Just curious but what temp should the HP exhaust manifolds get to be?

[BrianShaughnessy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-Mopar-383-440-Exhaust-Valve-Cover-PROBLEM-SOLVER_W0QQitemZ280155054264QQihZ018QQcategoryZ34202QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[69bronzeT5]

there's no spray paint that will stand up to exhaust heat.

, we used a kind of can paint that you brush on for my headers. Works great (my dad has used it on other cars)

[resq302]

there's no spray paint that will stand up to exhaust heat.

I beg to differ!  The VHT paint has held up EXTREMELY well and has not blistered, flaked, rusted through, or even peeled on my charger or my dads El Camino.  I swear by that stuff.  The only down fall is that sometimes the nozzle gets clogged like the old style mopar paint.

[firefighter3931]

Just curious but what temp should the HP exhaust manifolds get to be?

Brian, i haven't used an infrared gun on a set of manifolds but the last set of headers i checked were in the 480* range with the engine at operating temp. 


Ron

[resq302]

I have a friend who is going to loan me his infrared thermometer to check what kind of temps I am getting at the valve cover and on the exhaust manifolds.  Hopefully it will go up high enough on its scale to let me get a true reading.

On a separate note, does anyone know how close the VHT Chrysler Orange is to the old style Mopar Perf street hemi orange paint?

Thanks,

Brian

[resq302]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-Mopar-383-440-Exhaust-Valve-Cover-PROBLEM-SOLVER_W0QQitemZ280155054264QQihZ018QQcategoryZ34202QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Bryan,

As nice as they seem, I can not use them as my vehicle is pretty much a concours restored vehicle. If it was not equipped with it from the factory, it can not be on the car, per AACA judging guide lines.

Brian

[71ChallengeHer]

Brian, I have a brand new can of the Mopar Perf. Street  Hemi Orange Paint. I might be able to get a few more cans.

[BrianShaughnessy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NOS-Mopar-383-440-Exhaust-Valve-Cover-PROBLEM-SOLVER_W0QQitemZ280155054264QQihZ018QQcategoryZ34202QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Bryan,

As nice as they seem, I can not use them as my vehicle is pretty much a concours restored vehicle. If it was not equipped with it from the factory, it can not be on the car, per AACA judging guide lines.

Brian

Painting them every week with the same stuff won't solve the problem.     I'm just suggesting something that will help.   I run them to help with cooking valve cover gaskets myself.    Do what you gotta do   

I really don't give 2 craps what the AACA cares personally. 

[resq302]

Jackie,

I have 3 new cans of the MP street hemi orange left.  I also have just as many if not more of cans that are brand new but have clogged nozzles.  I will keep you in mind!

Bryan,

I do thank you for your option but there must be some type of problem that is causing the paint to blister as it has never done this before.  It originally was the pass side that blistered, now it is the driver side.  It could be just that I am using too fine of a grit sand paper or that the paint might be too thick on there which is not allowing the heat to disipate fast enough.   This time, the valve cover is going down to bare metal on the flat spots and as much as I can do in the curved areas where the bolt notches are.

[Rolling_Thunder]

Just curious but what temp should the HP exhaust manifolds get to be?

Brian, i haven't used an infrared gun on a set of manifolds but the last set of headers i checked were in the 480* range with the engine at operating temp. 


Ron

I put a temp gun on my boss's Bird...    and another bird we have in the shop...       they were between 620* - 800*   

when i broke in my 440 I has the manifolds up to 1328*F  -  guess my timing was a little off   

[tecmopar]

I've done literaly dozens of sets and have never had a problem. I don't sand them, I glass bead them or use walnut shells and then wipe them down with Acetone, and then blowing them off with air, never touching the metal with my hands because of the oils in your skin which usually causes this problem. Using many very light coats works best, good luck. On iron manifolds I have found that the Eastwood Co. Stainless heat paint to work the best, you can spray it or brush it and once it heats up it gets a nice fresh cast look to it. The ones that I have done and still see once in a while still look great to this day.