My Version on a 24V billet lookin Valve Cover

[Steve St.Laurent]

I see the VW engine block in the fire thing every holiday trip to the dunes. If you put a whole block in there it will last for the weekend . DEFINATELY don't get water ANYWHERE near magnesium on fire - and yes there was beer involved with that incident (was the guy next door).

 

[Ram4Sam]

Re: Re: Watch it burn

Originally posted by Turbo Tim 1

I'll bet there was beer involved in that little science experiment

Why Tim, what would make you assume that?



Sam

 

[Turbo Tim 1]

Because if it was me I know there would be. At least if not in the beginning than there would be shortly after I figured out it would be burning for a while.

 

[JHerrlich]

Magnesium is fun stuff. That and Aluminum are the primary ingredients in Thermite. Contrary to popular belief, a thermite grenade will not burn through an engine block (it will burn though steel plate though), but it will crack the block from the heat.



Edit: Oh yeah, forgot the primary ingredient, Iron Scale. That provides the Oxygen so it can burn underwater (or anywhere else).

 

[John]

Hey JB, that valve cover of yours is lookin' pretty sweet! I did pretty much the same thing with mine except I started with a Cummins valve cover (as opposed to a Cummins/Dodge valve cover). It gave me the billet look I was seeking. Then I decided it had to be chrome plated! I topped it of with...



what other than a custom, one-off, chrome plated, billet aluminum oil fill cover that I bonded to a new OE oil fill cap.



Regarding mag. , I used to machine a fair amount of it years ago. If a fire starts (and magnesium starts real easy if it is machined by an inexperienced machinist), a talc powder will suppress the fire. Polished, it does not shine quite as brightly as the "right" grade of aluminum however, it has a look all its own.



My preference? Polished titanium. It doesn't get any better than that!





Which reminds me...



I really need to get back to work on those trick two-off stainless steel (Optima) battery boxes my TDR as well as NW BOMBer buddy Dave Perea gave me! As some of you may know, the trick stainless steel goodies he and his wife Diana design and fabricate are second to none! I was fortunate enough to have the honor of receiving these trick battery boxes which used to be in Scott Dalgleish's "Second Time Around" '98 Sport Ram. Some more (slight) modifications, a little more polishing and they'll be good to go (for my specific application). I have almost finalized my plans on a pair of custom battery hold-downs to complement them!



Thanks Dave!

 

[John]

Originally posted by JB @ C and L Machine

... from what I remember, that when machining mag that the speeds, feeds, and sharpenness of tool is very important.

Yes, the correct chip per (cutter) tooth (chip load) is important for machining magnesium... as is tool sharpness. Light cuts with too much RPM and a dull tool will net some "interesting" results!

 

[PRout]

When I worked in a fab shop at a major aerospace corp, we had a moron ginding mag parts on a disk sander.



When I noticed that he had mag dust all over the table, I started to warn him, and thats when it went up!



Wow man is that stuff hot! Burned bright white. Somehow I and a couple other guys were able to seperate the burning dust away from the "pile" w/ a broom, and only had a small burn, which ended up on the concrete floor away from the rest.



We avoided a serious incident, and the guy that did it was lucky to keep his job.



If I remember right, we ended up getting an extinguisher that was specifically for mag fires.



Thats a very cool looking valve cover.

 

[JB @ C and L Machine]

sounds like we got alot of input here. JB

 

[Edward]

Copied from a (MSDS) Material Safety Data Sheet for Magnesium.

Fire Extinguishing Media:

Use metal extinguishing powders such as G-1® graphite powder, Met-L-X® powder, powdered talc, dry graphite, powdered sodium chloride, soda ash, or dry sand. Warning! Do not use foam, chlorinated products such as Halon®, carbon dioxide, or water to extinguish magnesium fires, because dangerous reactions will occur. Use of water on molten magnesium will produce hydrogen gas and may cause an explosion.

The fire extinguisher used for flammable metals is a class D. Sand as well as the other products mentioned above can also be used but they must be ABSOLUTLY DRY.



Edward

 

[Diesel Freak]

Originally posted by Chipstien

Once Magnesium catches there is pretty much no stopping it. Heard of magnesium catching fire and burning clear through 1" plate steel. Now that is a hot fire.

It can be put out. all you need is some sand.





BTW, it does not make it's own O2. However if you try and put it out with water, the fire is hot enough to cause the water to dissasociate and then the fire will flare up and spatter... causing a big old mess.



How do I know?





Been there done that!

 

[fmj]

Once you guys get the fires out here's some info on polishing magnesium. Talk to some of the old drag racers on keeping mags polished. They look great, and I swear you can see them start turning green 2 minutes after you spend all that time polishing. I had Halibrand mag front spoke wheels and sold them cheap. I spent hours polishing deep dish mag rear wheels and they were even worse for loosing luster. IMO, I would use only polished alum for the valve cover. I don't know anyone that ever clear coated or powercoated magnesium, that might work. JB that's an awsome looking cover, great work.