polishing valve cover

[Michael Cummings]

i dunno if theres already been a thread about this or not..but i'm plannin on doin this in the next month or so..over winter....i'm gunna do it by gettin the air plane paint stripper, then sandin down the cover with sand paper slowly getting finer and finer to smooth it all out...gunna use a dremmel to get in between the letters...then was gunna use the mothers mag polish......just wondering if anyone else has done it..if you did it a different way just wondering how you did it....cause i want to do it right the first way
and am i gunna need to get a new gasket when i put the valve cover back on..cause i just got a new one like two months ago

[Robin Toor]

if you got a new valve cover gasket two months ago then no, I dont think you'll need a new one... it should still be good....

and I chrome dipped mine, which didnt turn out THAT good cuz the chrome didnt get in between the letters.... with a dremmel you'll be able to get in between the letters and polish it perfect, just make sure you take your time and take it slow....  

maybe I can get you to polish up mine in between the letters where the chrome didnt get it  

[Michael Cummings]

yea my car will be off the rd for like 3 months..so i got alot of time..thats why i'm going the polishing route cause its cheap and the more time you take the better it will look..yea i was gunna use the dremel for inbetween the leters to try and do a somewhat quality job
does anyone know of any other way to polish the valve cover other than what i said

[Eric McIntyre]

all us island boys  are taken our babys off the road!
i wanna do this to mine also.....should be sweet

[Dan Harshey]

Well considering i have my car off the road too, and i pretty much need a new Valve Cover gasket anyway, i might as well do it too.  All of us island guys will have shiny valve covers in the spring to show off  
Dan

[Andrew Scott]

Yup me too, I'm gunna paint mine though

Group buy on valve cover gasgets and sandpaper?

[Michael Cummings]

hahah its alotta work to polish a valve cover and make it look good...if you do it half assed than its gunna look really shitty...just to give heads up to other guys that wanna do it..i been readin about it ...seems like it takes alot of elbow grease....just beware....yea i was gunna paint my cover untill i saw a polished one....plus my car is silver so i think it'll go good

[JamieSibley]

Here is a trick to save you a bunch of sanding.

After you have stripped the paint and all the grease and mess off.. take a container of lye ( safeway ), mix with 2 gallons of water in a shallow container, then soak the valve cover for about 5 - 10 minutes at most.  

The lye solution quicky!!! disolves the aluminum oxide and other impurities on the surface. This technique is used when they anodize aluminum.

NOTE: DONT TOUCH THE LYE OR THE LYE SOLUTION

[Kevin Standeven]

unless you're kissing the back of your hand and then dumping lye on it...that's acceptable.

[Michael Cummings]

lye? i've never heard of it....so you say i can get it at safeway?...hmm...do you think any sanding would be necessary afterwards or before......and if you cant touch it i guess you would use rubber gloves and would you just hose the valve cover off afterwards?
should you sand anything afterwards or just dry it off and start polishing