Factory Valve Covers: Restoration of Engine Harness Wire Tabs

[daves66valiant]

daves66valiant submitted a new Article:

Factory valve covers: Restoration of engine harness wire tabs

Thought I’d do a little thread on how to fix the dreaded factory valve cover wire tabs that frequently break on our 50+ year old Mopar’s. If you are lucky you can find originals with the tabs intact but most of the ones I’ve seen are either broken or on their last legs before snapping off....

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[Bill440cars]

To say "Nice Job" would be an understatement! Very good, in the way of being informative & a nice group of photos, showing the steps.

 

[340inabbody]

daves66valiant submitted a new Article:

Factory valve covers: Restoration of engine harness wire tabs



Read more about this article here...

Dave, looks awesome job thanks! Can you tell us more about the paint you used and the process?

 

[daves66valiant]

Dave, looks awesome job thanks! Can you tell us more about the paint you used and the process?

Thank you guys. If I didn’t mention already, the stainless is too stiff. I may in the future redo these tabs with a more flexible mild steel.

Paint: I sanded the covers with 120. Then massaged any metal defects. Then made sure the rails were really flat to prevent oil leaks. If there were spots I couldn’t tap out I used a little filler.

I primed with light coats of self-etching primer. After that I used some high build primer and smoothed everything out to 400 grit wet.

Washed with Dawn dish soap. Rinsed with hot water and wiped dry and used an air hose (my air is clean/dry for auto painting btw) Then wax and grease remover. Key is to let that flash about 30 min. Before top coat.

Top coat was OEM Red from Mopar performance. Good color match. It Can be hard to find local. Ordered mine from Summit I think. 1-2 light coats. Final coat was slightly heavier to get the gloss.

 

[diymirage]

step 1: send em to Leanna
step 2: bolt me back on

done

 

[daves66valiant]

step 1: send em to Leanna
step 2: bolt me back on

done

Yeah and she’s going to make all new factory correct looking tabs, dip them and spot weld them for you, and do all the other tedious stuff. Not saying she can’t do it. I don’t believe it would be worth her time without charging $500 a set. No offense but have fun paying through the nose. The spirit of this article is DIY and I actually found the work/effort rewarding. I pay for a lot of stuff that I could technically restore myself but choose not to at times. Respectfully, to each their own, this is not a promotional thread for Leanna.

Would be nice if AMD made repops for 67-69. If so, this article/thread wouldn’t exist.

 

[CudaChick1968]

Yeah and she’s going to make all new factory correct looking tabs, dip them and spot weld them for you, and do all the other tedious stuff. ....

I already have a good stash of new fabbed factory-looking wire harness tabs ready to go. Plastic dipping is done last.

Nice DIY Dave!! You have much to be proud of.

 

[daves66valiant]

I already have a good stash of new fabbed factory-looking wire harness tabs ready to go. Plastic dipping is done last.

Nice DIY Dave!! You have much to be proud of.

Thx. Good on you to make a bunch of them. For sure saves you a ton of time.

 

[4spdragtop]

Thanks Dave! Excellent on all levels, documentation and results!
Not sure why I'm unable to rate this thread? But it's a