Broaner

iTrader: (10)

Hey guys. Last week I decided to bust off my valve cover in an effort to clean it up. I began a project to polish it. Removing the piece was no problem. I was off in 10 minutes and I began sanding away with 80 grit sandpaper. I spend two hours on that and moved to 100 grit. I spent two more hours on that and moved up to 120 grit. After two more hours of blister causing sanding I was getting very frustrated. Even if I only step up 20 in the grit rating it is still very difficult to get the scratches out of the aluminum from my previous step. I knew this was going to take a while but not this long. But that is not the purpose of this thread.

After removing the valve cover I am fairly concerned with the status of my cams and cam area in general. I'll post pics one I get home but for the mean time let me explain. First, the cam lobes appear to be very worn. There is definitely a noticable area that is flatened out. This area is about 3mm long. It is a flatened area that doesn't follow the contour of the lobe. I know that the wear is caused by contacting the shim below. My question is: Is this accetpable wear? I have 135K+ on it.

My second concern regaurds what appears to be a problem with oil starvation and scorching. Near the timing chain there appears to be plenty of lubrication on the cams. The lobes for cylinder 2 are very shinny and polished. The surrounding area is what one would expect from the aluminum within the cam area. It is slightly dark from constant oil soaking. The lobes for the valves on cylinder 4 are slightly darker than cylinder 2. As you move away from the timing chain everything gets slightly darker. The lobes on cylinder 6 are very dark and not really oiled at all. The area around the end of the cam is very orangish. This would lead me to believe that there is something wrong. If the entire area was that color it wouldn't bug me but its not. So, are my cams starving of oil? If so, why?

My final concern regaurds the gaskets that go around the spark plug corridors. The past two times I've changed my plugs the cylinder 4 spark plug has had a bit of oil on. I new it wasn't from the combustion chamber beause the walls of the corridor were oily. Like it was leaking through the upper gasket. This was another reason I took off the cover. So, I stupidly began prying the gasket/o ring out of the valve cover. All it did was rip. I left it alone and haven't touched it since. So, how do you get these off?

Broaner

iTrader: (10)

Pics:





Also, which sealant is required for the two little areas? Is it RVT or RTV and what temp level?

About the spark plug corridor gasket; I still cannot get it out. What remains of it is stuck in there. Obviously I need some sort of seal there. If I can't get it out could I just use RTV/RVT?

Broaner

iTrader: (10)

sterlingmaxima

iTrader: (16)

i believe rvt works make sure it is high temp but be sure not to get it on teh cork gaskets or anything it will eat it some type of chemical reaction

Broaner

iTrader: (10)

Anyone else care to vouch that RVT High Temp will work on the spark plug corridor gasket? There are no cork gaskets anywhere near that so its a none issue. In fact the only cork gasket I can think of is the TB. BTW, I don't even know if they are cork, just following your lead.

What would be even better is if they tell me how they got the stock gasket out.

jbreit

Cam lobe shape....this will not be a perfect contour...there is often a "flattish" area after the peak to allow the valve to close faster. I would bet if you measured those cams they would still be dead center in the new car spec...the book will only list the peak diameter. They are likely to have some polished spots or even some very light scratches in them....but I can guarantee the lobe shape is within .002" of the day it came off the grinder.

oil starvation. you have some typical discoloration from combustion gases blowing past the rings and oil breakdown (from heat). Some areas of an engine are not flushed as well or get hotter and hence get darker...but what I see in your photos is nothing to be concerned about....an engine with half the miles where the oil wasn't changed regularly would look worse. The dark black sooty sludge in the far right, opposite the cam chain is the only sludge I see....pretty good for 135K actually. If you want to run a can of engine flush through it wouldn't hurt anything provided you've been changing your oil regularly. Trust me...if that cam wasn't getting oil it would be discolored on the face of the lobe and the journal would be all egged out (the hardened steel cam is spinning in cast aluminum with only pressure feed oil to separate them).

I use Permatex Ultra Black RTV for all my engine sealing surfaces....I have used it in exactly the location you are asking about on various engines and recommend there be a tube of it in every tool box.

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

great thread - way beyond me - but learning everyday.

99se5spd

ive used permatex (available most anywhere, carquest/napa etc.) red on valve cover gaskets, etc. i beleive it is the high temp.

kcryan

iTrader: (1)

way beyond me too but i love looking at the pics of the inside of our engine

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

That's not sparking clean but it doesn't look in no way neglected.
1) You can try seafoam in the oil about 200 miles from the next oil change to clean that up. Engine flushes imho are too harsh
2) Instead of killing yourself with handsanding, use an electric drill and flap wheels. WAY faster. I learned this lesson when I polished my calipers (see sig). You are using too close in grits IMHO. 80 is pretty rough for a valve cover. Go buy a 150 and maybe a 220 grit flapwheel and see what happens. You will be amazed. Then buy a polishing attachment for the drill and use some 3m polishing compound, then aluminum polish.

Here's a VE30DE pic that's very clean.

kcryan

iTrader: (1)

sorry to keep posting without adding anything to this thread but i have the biggest smile on my face because of all of these awesome pictures

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

That engine looks very clean to me. Nothing jumps out to be alarming. Try switching to a higher detergent oil such as Castrol GTX to clean things up a bit. I don't see any ware on the cam's from the photos.

In regards to your oil on the spark plugs, you need to change those middle o-rings. They should pry out of the valve cover. Get the valve cover gasket kit from Nissan, it should include those o-rings.

sterlingmaxima

iTrader: (16)

to clean the motor teh best thing and the cheapest is kerason it is cheaper to buy the gallon and is exactlly what motor flush is, they just add coloring to it to hide it. If you smell the two you can tell the difference get a good autmotive brush high strength and scrub it down get the gunk off you allready have the valve cover off might *** well and just flush the kerason out with cheap motor oil until its mostly out then put the good stuff i have done this to all my cars i have owned does a great job.

Broaner

iTrader: (10)

Thanks for all the help guys. I decided that polishing was not for me on this piece. After much debate with myself and friends I concluded that a nice black finish would be nearly equally as impressive. I used engine enamel. I prepped it nice and then took my time. Two layers of primer, four layers of semi-gloss engine enamel and two layers of clear. It is currently drying in the paint booth. About the spark plug gaskets, I cannot for the life of me get it out. They are so old and hard that they only rip. I can't get the whole thing out cleany though, so... What to do? I'm thinking that using RVT on this area will stop my leaking and work fine. Is this true?

To those that commented on the pics, I always used to love threads like this before I became bold, dumb, enough to do these things on my own. So, get out there and try it out. I'll post pics of the finished project up later. I'm putting the cover back on tomorrow when it dries if I don't need gaskets. In less than a month I'm going to bust off the manifold, TB, Rear VC and do the same. I'm going to take my time on the TB though cause its so small and simple to polish. Later. Thanks again.