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Flattening Valve Covers, Oil Sumps, Timing Covers

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PatGalvin

PatGalvin

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As you all know, these items get overtorqued by previous owners and we need to flatten them out so that our gaskets seal better. Does anyone have any special tools or experience that they use to flatten out the areas on these items where the previous overtightening has created distortion or dimples? It doesn't seem as easy as a few hammer taps and I'd like not to trash them with my overzealous hammering.

Thanks for any ideas.

Pat
 
I don't have anything 'special', just a cheap set of body hammers & dollys somewhat similar to https://www.harborfreight.com/8-piece-hammer-and-dolly-set-46779.html (although I found mine for $20 at a swap meet) and the bench vise. Last time I was doing a timing cover, it seemed simpler to clamp the dolly in the vise (using soft jaws or some wood to protect the dolly's finish) so I could hold the cover with one hand and hammer with the other.

The hammering should be somewhere between firm and love taps, you don't want to do any bashing. Takes a bit of practice, so start with the taps and increase the force until you are just barely moving the metal with each blow. It's best if you can get the dolly to bridge any low spots (so you can beat on them from the other side), but working "off the edge" of the dolly will do, too.

Try YouTube for some how-to videos.
 
Hmm, I should probably point out that body hammers are different than most other hammers. Body hammers are not hardened (hence can be damaged by hammering nails, etc.), and the faces are perfectly flat (at least through the center) while most hammers have some crown to the face.

Using a crowned hammer is a bad idea, as it will tend to stretch the metal and make it impossible to get flat.
 
Once you get your valve cover flatten out you might want to use one of those synthetic rubber gaskets on it. You won't have to tighten it down like you do with the cork gaskets there won't be any more leaking problems and you can pull the valve cover off as much as you want and it will reseal everytime. It costs more, but well worth it. I have them on both my TR3A and TR6. After I rebuilt the TR3 engine I had to readajust the valves, no leaking problems from the valve cover.
 
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