De Tomaso valve cover logo

What is the general consensus on how to secure these plates to the rocker covers. Originally glued onto the rockers they mostly fell off and were lost. I am looking at welding or perhaps even epoxying some small bolts to the plates and drilling through the rockers and bolting them on. Getting the bolts at the correct level so they pull up on their heads rather than pulling the plate should be OK. I think some of the Aero space type epoxies would do the trick. Just epoxying them back onto the rockers still has them being glued to the painted surface. Thanks Mike

Are your stock covers steel or aluminum? Drill holes clear thru for 2 screws & nuts apiece, then fill the countersunk screwheads with JB Weld and dress the stuff down. Use paint over the top and stop worrying- metal fasteners will not shear but chemical ones certainly will. Hot oil against the covers will soften any known glues.

Jack, what do you recommend as the best method of making sure those nuts don’t come loose and end up munching the valves? I thought ny-locks might not be able to withstand the heat?

Mark

Thanks for the advice. My covers are steel with the plates covering the Powered By Ford script. I did not think of drilling through the plates, however looking at them there are small flat spots in each corner that could be drilled, countersunk and JB weld or similar over the top and this section is painted black. To stop the small nuts coming off perhaps Nylocs and Loctite or maybe small double nuts? Mike

69goose, I would avoid any kind of Nuts or glue on the inside of the Cover.

I suggest to drill a 4,5mm Hole in each corner of the Signs, then attach the Signs on to the Covers with some tape and mark the Holes on to the Covers. Then PUNCH a Hole through the Sheet Metal Cover with at very sharp Awl or similar so that the diameter of each hole is 3,5mm. That will allow you to take a 4mm Tap and cut a Thread in each Hole and because you have punched the Holes there will be a really good basis for a Thread and subsequently attach each Sign with 4mm Screws in the Corners (use a drop of Locktite to seal). I suppose Australia is Metric land or you can alternative use a similar size Imperial

All-metal locking nuts will work. There are several designs. The usual hardware store nyloc plastic lock-nuts will melt around 250F degrees and can then release. This also holds true for lock-nuts holding windage trays in oil pans, conversion roller-cam spiders in the lifter gallery and for brake rotor-hat locking nuts.

Well I hope Aviaid used the right ones in my pan? At this point I am not going to pull it off to check but they sure do use nyloc's.

Thanks for the responses. I had not thought of screwing into the covers, however I would not think they were thick enough to successfully take a tap. Perhaps using the same principal and using self tapping countersunk screws that just go through the metal, may work. Once through and secure I could fill over the screw heads and paint over the holes with black paint as the low spots should be. Mike

I bond them on with a mastic adhesive. The brand I use is a UK product called U-pol Tiger Seal. (There are many similar products out there just ask any body shop)
This is super strong and copes with the heat no problem. It dries like rubber so will never crack. The most important thing is to make sure the paint on the valve cover has maximum adhesion to the steel. Before you paint the cover, place the DT plaque on the cover and put masking tape around it. Then rough up the surface of the steel in this area to insure a good mechanical bond for the paint. Do the same on the back of the plaque. I dont paint the back of the plaque, just around the sides and maybe 1/4" around the edge of the underside.

Also be aware there is a paint window for maximum adhesion between top coat and primer, this is very important.

If I was using fasteners I would peen the end of the bolt to make sure it could never undo. I think it would be hard to stop oil leaks using fasteners because you would not be able to seal it from the inside for fear of the lump of sealant falling off and blocking an oil way.

Johnny

Hi Johnny, my covers are already painted so I cannot vouch for the quality of paint hold. But it is seeming more like going through the rocker cover may be more problematic than it is worth. At the end of the day over the years I have collected plenty os spare plates! Thanks Mike

Hi Mike,

The adhesive has plenty of surface area so I dont think you have anything to worry about.

Johnny

quote:

Originally posted by Bosswrench:
Hot oil against the covers will soften any known glues.

Depends what you consider as "any known"...
Plenty of stuff available that will glue, resist the heat, and the oil. Doesn't come necessarily cheap, but does exist. We for instance even glue parts inside transmissions without any problem