Powder coating the air cleaner

[StoningtonQB]

So I picked up an original air cleaner recently and am getting ready to do a media blast and a powder coat in semi-gloss. The dilemma I'm having is what to do about the Thermac valve. I don't want to drill it out to remove it for coating, and at the same time have no intention whatsoever of ever making it functional. It may work, but I don't know for sure (and I don't care to find out). However I want this to LOOK original so I have been toying with the notion of just coating right over it. Would there be any problem with having this done? I still want to hook the vacuum lines back up afterwards to give it the appearance of a functioning valve. I'm wondering if the powder coating guy will give me any balls about it.