Got a custom valve cover? Didn't think so.

FarmerFrank

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So I had a hair brain idea the other day that I thought would really set my 7.3 apart. So a visit to my neighbor and a couple hours at work resulted in a one of a kind custom valve cover.

My neighbor is an International nut and I talked him out of an old IH gasser cover
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I was amazed at how close the two were being several years apart. Then I went to work with the grinder:
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After some eyeballing what I now got a started wire wheeling and then took the mig welder to it:

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It took a little bit of pounding and careful cuts to get it to fit just right.
After that I took my miny grinder and smoothed out my welds. Then I used JB weld as like body filler and sanded down until I thought it was close enough.

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Couple coats of primer and a nice coat of red later I have me a shiny INTERNATIONAL IDI valve cover. I plan on having the wife outline the lettering in silver since she would do a much better job.

Hope you all enjoy!
 

riotwarrior

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Damn...that's sweet, If I was a welder I'd cut up some aluminum plate and make custom ones myself.


Oh well I can dream I'm not!
 

chris142

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I threw 1\2 dozen or so of those in the bed of my last ih gasser when i sold it. Did you keep "time on #8 cylinder" on yours? Ive seen similiar jobs at the car shows.
 

FarmerFrank

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Yup and time 4 cyl to #1. Ill get a better picture when it's all finished. I m pretty handy with aluminum too but a sheet metal one would take much much more time, effort, and tooling than I'm willing to put into a valve cover
 

theguruat12

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I'm learning welding right now in my Stagecraft class, I'm getting good on a MIG, and we have a stick welder too I'm going to play with in a week or so. I might try something like this if I can find the lettering, seeing as I have access to two MIG's, a stick, a plasma cutter, and an oxyacetylene setup.
 

icanfixall

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Thats really nice looking. Sure tells everyone looking what they are seeing too. If we can dream I see this being done on a mill with a CNC program out of a billet of aluminum. Now thats dreaming right there.
 

FarmerFrank

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Im technically a mechanic but i do a LOT of welding and fabricating being im currently employed in the gas patch and so much is specially made for this feild. That being said it was by far the worst metal i have ever welded. Both surfaces were impregnated with oil from serveral year of being coated in it so everytime i stuck an arc it would pull the oil out of the metal making a very very poor weld job. Thus being the reason i had to use JB weld as a filler for the tiny pin holes i know would have stood out under the paint. I could not hold a steady bead so i kept starting and stopping. It acted like i had no sheild gas for better referance.

Think of it as welding two very rusty pieces of exhuast back together. It can be done but its very difficult.

I ended up chopping up my intake also and welding it back together with a 2" pipe so i do not have a top hat seal to worry about with my turbo and hopefully quicker boost with less intake volume
 

chris142

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We have a big blow torch that i use to remove oil from metal. Heat it up till it stops smoking.
 

S-west

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I'm learning welding right now in my Stagecraft class, I'm getting good on a MIG, and we have a stick welder too I'm going to play with in a week or so. I might try something like this if I can find the lettering, seeing as I have access to two MIG's, a stick, a plasma cutter, and an oxyacetylene setup.
That would not be something to use a stick welder on haha, or a torch. I can picture the mess that would make. Personally I would use a few cutoff wheels and grinders and tig the whole thing, I don't even like to use mig unless I'm welding steel around 1/2" thick. But that's just me.
 

theguruat12

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That would not be something to use a stick welder on haha, or a torch. I can picture the mess that would make. Personally I would use a few cutoff wheels and grinders and tig the whole thing, I don't even like to use mig unless I'm welding steel around 1/2" thick. But that's just me.

Yeah TIG is one thing I wish we had that we don't, it appeals to me the most, but alas, one can't have everything.
 
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