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Well, when welding cast aluminum there's the issue of pre-heating the part and the effect that would have on the paint on the valve cover. But, other than that he should be able to do it. The main reason you would have trouble on the inside of the VC is that it's cast (meaning it's porous) and has been exposed to numerous heat cycles and oil it's whole life. This has worked a TON of imputiries into the cast material and can make getting a decent weld very hard if you don't properly clean and pre-heat it. USe an oxy torch to heat it and boil out the oils then wipe it down with a rag and some acetone, THEN wire brush it. YOu don't want to brush it before wiping it off as the bristles will just help work impurities back into the material.
Repeat this a few times then weld while the part is still hot. YOu want to have the surface at least 350* F to get a decent weld, but if you were carefull i imagine you could get that area where the rivet face is hot enough fast enough that you could save the paint on the outside of the VC and still get a good enough bond to make it hold under normal use and stresses.
What i would be worried about is more rivets coming off in the future and making there way into the engine (this was a big fear of mine after welding the AN fittings to it and the other part of why i removed the baffle in the first place. I'm holding off on mine until i see what happens with a friends colt that he's putting together and not using the baffles in his VC (squeak10186 from here on tuners), if he doens't hurt anything on his motor without them i'm going to grind off the few i've welded back on and just run it that way..the last thing i want to constantly worry about is those rivets and if they're still where they should be when i'm out driving.
Hell, if he can't or won't weld it, I will do it for free if you want to pay to ship it both ways..... You would assume responsibility for the risk of using back on the engine again ( just as i'm sure the other weldor will tell you also)
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