More polished valve covers...

[ForcedFirebird]

Started polishing some valve covers for a customer. Here's sanded to 220 with a few corners still at 80 grit...





I'll post when they are complete. The 3400 UIM is getting the same treatment and going in a 4th gen Camaro with 3500 heads.

[hecZ26]

Looking good

[RedBird]

I assume you're going to use a buffing wheel fairly soon, i hope you're not going to do it all by hand. Screw that LOL

[19Cutlass94]

Nice!

I decided to have mine powdercoated instead of taking the time do it stuff like this myself

[ForcedFirebird]

I assume you're going to use a buffing wheel fairly soon, i hope you're not going to do it all by hand. Screw that LOL

Got a machine shop, have lots of tools . None of the sanding thus far has been by hand

[IsaacHayes]

I should of sent you my covers and you sent me those. Mine stock were smoother looking that what you have there!! LOL Only a little polish is all is needed for mine. Oh well they're painted now!

[ForcedFirebird]

I should of sent you my covers and you sent me those. Mine stock were smoother looking that what you have there!! LOL Only a little polish is all is needed for mine. Oh well they're painted now!

HUH? All the casting marks are gone. Here's what they look like stock and cleaned...



Or are you just being wise again?

[SappySE107]

No, there are smooth ones available. I have some as well.

[ForcedFirebird]

No, there are smooth ones available. I have some as well.

HMMM. Would have made my life a little easier, lol. Problem is I take whatever good deal I can get my hands on. Where did you get them?

Oh well, only got about an hr into it so far.

[SappySE107]

I don't remember what they are from. hmm, I remember the 97 (supposedly) 3400 I bought had a smooth rear and rough front. Not sure where my smooth front came from.

[geldartb]

i started something like this a year ago with the rough one and then found out i had a smooth one to start with. then i said screw it and painted them. did the same thing with the plenum got halfway through it and painted that too.

i dont remember either what they came from

[IsaacHayes]

Hahha damn those are rough! Yeah I almost wanted the rough ones cause after I painted my covers they looked super slick and glossy compared to my rough cast intake manifold and didn't match!! haha I used semi-gloss black and the covers look high gloss...

My car is a 94 and when I bought it, it came with the smooth covers. The previous owner's dad worked at GM dealership so likely they put on the metal ones I'm sure it had plastic from the factory.

On mine the PCV does not have that square protrusion there either.

I just put some rubbing compound on it one day and it shined up nice in a spot but never took it off to do the whole thing. I thought about polishing it when I was putting the 3500/3400 intakes on but that would detract from the whole look I was going for with the stock black and chevy text "factory high performance look".

[treeZ24]

the one bad thing about the aluminum GM used, is that its quite porous and no matter how much you sand the bloody piece you're not going to get it mirror smooth. cast aluminum ftL when polishing it.

however when everything is shiny from a foot away it looks killer

[IsaacHayes]

Yes I noticed this when I was polishing/sanding the area for my Chevrolet text on my plenum. Little air bubble holes. It didn't matter too much to me cause I just wanted that area relatively flat for the mask I was laying down so the paint wouldn't bleed on a rough surface and cause jittery edges. After the mask I used semi-gloss black and varied the distance as I sprayed and the smoothed area blends into the cast areas fine. Even if not I did it in a designed area so that it would look intentional.

I'll upload a pic tomorrow of my engine that shows how shiny the valve cover still looks even with the paint can far away to give it more matt finish.

[ForcedFirebird]

Almost finished. I hit the cover to the armiture of the buffer and scratched it, so now I got to go back and re-sand a couple spots One pic with flash, the other without. Still a lot of compund on it.