I have my 02 apart for a "head job" and my valve covers just looked like crap. The original silver gray paint was almost all gone and covered in corrosion and the inside had thick oil buildup almost like tar or resin, Baffles me though nothing else has any corrosion but the valve covers. So I decided to coat them in a metallic silver I normally would of done them in something obnoxious like lambo green or candy blue but for the land rover I didn't want it to be all blinged up.

I replaced the old crappy self tapping screws that hold the wire looms in place with new stainless steel machine screws. I tapped out the existing holes with a 10-24 tap.

Here are a few before pics while I was in the process of degreasing them



The Inside, I actually had alot of the grime scraped off before i took this pic



tappin holes


and the finished product. I'm real happy with the results.




I removed the inside plate and low pressure media blasted and went over with a stainless steel wire brush to smooth the surface.


Thanks for looking Mike.

 

Looks great! When I used to work at a garage, I used to toss my valve cover in the parts washer the machine shop guys had while I would adjust my valves.... if it was nasty.

Too bad these things leak so much. There will probably be oil covering your hard work in less than a year.

 

Wow man that's a great job you did there. Just make sure you got all of the brass bolt holes out of the valve cover gaskets before preceding. I had one fall out and I had to fish it out of my engine with with a magnet. I was a lucky sob.

 

Did some Discos come from the factory with black valve covers instead of the grey ones. Mine has black valve covers and the engine has never been taken apart, leading me to believe that they are original.

 

They appear to be black on my 1999.

 

Wow, fantastic job - they look like new!

 

So, what is a lot more important is all the burned crap on the inside of your engine, what are you doing about that? What brand and weight oil have you been using and how often have been changing the oil.
I would highly recommend a good engine flushing to get rid of some of that for your engine sake.

 

nice job....

 

Ive never changed the oil yet so who knows then again Ive only driven about 100 ft since ive owned it (bought it with a blown head gasket), I didnt think the amount of grime was a issue considering its almost 10 years old with 120K, But im no expert. What would ya recomend for a flush on a rover motor? Ive often been told flushing is a bad idea because it can cause debris to come loose and plug up oil passages, pumps and other things?

 

Well since it is already apart, clean out as much of that crap as you can with carb cleaner.
Once you have it back together, use some cheap oil and then do a ATF flush.
If yoy want some help with this, send me your number and I'll call you.