valve cover polish

[dohcfiend]

how exactly do you get your valve covers/plenum all bling blingy?

[SappySE107]

sand blast and powder coat. Of course, chris has had mine for a year now so I dunno how well mine in particular will look. I didnt do chrome. Polishing it up with a die grinder takes a long time to do BTW.

[Lyle's GTP]

Their is a couple ways you could go about it. You could sand blast, then hand sand etc, etc.

But this is what I would do.

You could probably use a 3/4" Hollow knot wire brush to remove the paint. Then I would take a 2" Grey 3M roloc pad to any high spots. You will probably need a 3/4" x 3/4" Flap wheel to do any high spots in the contoured areas. Then I would probably go with a scotch bright pad over any other details. Then the elbow grease comes in. Use some autosol. or mothers aluminum polish and go to town, and the rest is history.....or tendonitis.

[Lyle's GTP]

Weird, my post got put in front of dohcfiend's post. Like a half hour in front, maybe I have some ESP, but I don't see how I can respond before he asks. Oh, well.

Lyle

[Lyle's GTP]

Ahhhhhh! (Homer Scream) It did it again. I'm freakin' out.

Lyle

[dohcfiend]

it takes a while but sounds cheap. tell me more about the die grinder. i have a friend with one and i could probably borrow it. what attachments do i put on it to polish the valve covers?

[dohcfiend]

woah.................

[SappySE107]

you will have to reshape it some to even use the die grinder and hit all the corners. I used lots of small sand paper rolls and cross buffs. I wouldn't do it again.

[geoffinbc]

See what its worth to have it done for you. Buying all the materials and then working like a bitch on it for days is not my idea of fun.

A professional can probabally do it pretty cheep and do a better job.

[Juglenaut]

After all that rub her done with rubbing compond and finish off with ultra fine steel mesh 0000 or better

[dohcfiend]

got one of them done while watching tv this afternoon. about 3-5 hours maybe. it will take twice as long for the front valve cover however. i know, no one will know about the rear valve cover but i will know plus i used it as a test mule.

[dohcfiend]

it took about 6 hours total for the other valve cover. i cheated and bought a can of chemical paint remover though i am thinking about actually getting a buffer wheel for the plenum though. it looks like alot of work.

how do i smooth the plenum out? it is kind of a rough texture and i don't think it has any paint on it b/c i see a few oxidation spots.

speaking of oxidation, do i have to clearcoat the valve covers or something to prevent oxidation?

so far materials costed me 10 bucks. 1 for masking tape, 5 for paint stripper, and 4 for the polish.

[TeeJay3800]

I don't know why no one has mentioned my thread on this topic. I gave a brief write-up of how I polished mine.

Here it is: http://www.60degreev6.com/index.php?...ewtopic&t=3852