Anybody now what i need to do to take off the valve covers on a 3.8 or no where to get a red chrome set at?

 

yeah im still looking how to take off the valve covers on my 3400, and where to get that chrome (be it paint or a finish)

 

I will give you a good explanation 2morow of that procedure but I'm tired and goin to bed and just wanted to reply quickly.

 

hey thanks much!!

 

Holy ****, I need to clean my monitor. That red (whatever it is) and that black and yellow color scheme. My god. I <3 it.

 

To remove the rear valve cover you will have to take off the ign coils/module and set it aside, there is a tube that goes from the valve cover to the throttle body, remove it, and also the alternator and alternator bracket and engine lift eye. ( label the bolts because there's a few different sizes, I still have an extra bolt i can't figure out where it goes )
To remove the front valve cover detach the spark plug wires, pcv tube ,drain the coolant and remove the coolant bypass pipe.

I painted the valve covers and the 3400 #'s bright red, I plan on taking off the upper manifold and clean it up with the wire brush to brighten it up.

throw a new serpentine belt wile you're at it.

Hope this helps.

 

cool thanks!

 

I don't know what you mean by vibrate- you knock down the roughness with a flap wheel if its really rough; then you use a buff wheel and a coarse cutting compound to get the whole thing perfectly smooth, then you use a looser wheel and a very light cutting compound and polish out the coarse scratches to give a mirror shine. A little bit of hand polishing every now and then, and it'll look gorgeous.

Aluminum doesn't 'rust' the way iron and mild steel do. Typically you chrome the steel pieces because you can't polish them without rusting (ie like old school metal bumpers).

Paint will never give you the same finish as polished. You can definitely make it look reflective, and neat- but without actually buffing the thing down to a smooth surface- no paint can replicate the shine and reflections of a true polished aluminum piece.

 

hey bumpin' could you give me links/pics of everthing i will need to get that mirror finish?? thanks much!!

 

everything i said before with the upper intake then you
1. remove the 2 bottom bolt/studs (you need this clearance later so the valve cover gaskets are lined up properly) on the coil and module assembly (you can leave the plug wires attached and lay out on the rad support
2. remove the alternator bolts and remove alt
3. there should be 4 bolts holding the tensioner and alt bracket onto the head remove them they are all 15mm head, but an easy way of proper relocation on install is put them back into the bracket once its off and lay it aside or color code them or number them with a sharpie marker
4. remove the engine lift/upper mount bracket (doing this part sucks) usually the dowel in the head that it aligns itself with is seized to the bracket
5. there shouldn't be anything else stopping you from pulling the covers off at this point
6. paint polish whatever just make sure you clean the gasket groove so its spotless and BUY NEW GASKETS apply a rtv sealer to the pointed part of the gasket and a little bit on the intake/cylinder head surface after its clean and dry if you don't do this it will leave horrible oil stains and leak on the side of your engine.

i hope i've been helpful, i've torn hundreds of these engines down to do the lower intake manifold gaskets. if you havn't already changed these i would recommend it at this point because your nearly half way there. i would give you a description of how to do it but its too complicated to tell you here. the deluxe fel-pro intake gasket set will include all the parts needed to do all of the work you are going to do including the valve cover gaskets and upper plenum o-rings and a redesigned lower gasket made with a steel core and rubber sealing material. you do need to drain the coolant to do this.
as far as i'm concerned if you do not replace the lower with this style gasket your wasting your time.