Cleaned up my valve cover

[Ben's Z]

Took one picture of it off the car before I started. Two pictures with the cover back on the head. Decided to do this while I did my cold valve adjustment. It is not mirror finish but has a pretty decent look to it now.

Now I want a non egr manifold to smooth down and polish!

[Decoy12]

Nice job, Ben. It looks really good!

[mgood]

Ben, look great. I need to do mine, could you explain how you went about the polishing? And what you did to reinstall it.

[ta240]

looks great, plenty close enough to a 'mirror' shine. Anything shinier and you wouldn't want to drive it

[Ben's Z]

I wasn't real sure on how to go about this so I did some trial and error. I found wet sanding with 400 and 320 grit sand paper knocked down all the pitting and corrosion pretty well. I went to a local heavy duty parts house and bought a yellow and white buffing wheel. With the yellow buffing wheel I applied brown jewelers rouge to the wheel and applied it with my 7" Makita buffer at about 1800 revs. This really cut well and took out the majority of the sanding marks which were pretty limited to begin with. After I used that wheel and compound I switched to the white wheel and some light green compound. Both of this compounds come in long trapezoidal block and are found at trucking parts stores. I also bought some stuff called "white diamond" that I put on with a rag at the end, I don't think it helped shine it anymore but it was recommened and supposedly it protects the finish. You don't want to use the same wheel with different compounds. Be prepared to be covered in black soot/film when you are done and if you want to be divorced do this in the house. With only the large buffing wheels I couldn't get the recesses of the bolt holes for the valve cover too well. Ideally a little spindle buffing tip on a drill or straight die grinder would be ideal here. Help this helps.

Ben, look great. I need to do mine, could you explain how you went about the polishing? And what you did to reinstall it.

[d240zx2]

That's a real nice improvement, Ben. I've had some success with aluminum polish from MSA, a three-part buffing process. Also Mother's makes a fairly decent cleaner/polish that works pretty well after you've removed the surface oxides.

[mgood]

Ben, thanks for the info. I just purchased this http://www.eastwood.com/aluminum-polishing-kit-13-pc-set.html polishing kit from Eastwood for $25. I looks like it has all the parts.

How difficult was it to get the cover off and did you need a new gasket?

[Ben's Z]

Easy to take off although I had to disconnect the plug wires, make sure those go back in the right order.

Yes I bought a new gasket, cheap insurance. The old one was cork, the new one from FelPro appeared to be some synthetic material.

Ben, thanks for the info. I just purchased this http://www.eastwood.com/aluminum-polishing-kit-13-pc-set.html polishing kit from Eastwood for $25. I looks like it has all the parts.

How difficult was it to get the cover off and did you need a new gasket?

Edited April 21, 2011 by Ben's Z

[Willoughby Z]

Just a thought regarding the intake manifold. I seem to recall that somewhere on this forum or another, that someone filled all of the holes with bolts, welded them, cut them off and then ground down and smoothed everything with a grinder and flap sanding wheel. Sounds like it would be alot of work but I don't know about the availabilty of non-EGR manifolds. Just a thought.

[Travel'n Man]

Mothers Power Cone is worth every penny - you may think that it will not hold up to a drill but be ready to be surprised!! This is a great item to use along with a good alum polish. I still use wet sandpaper with different steps but this will put that final shine on it..........outstanding item along with your power drill!

http://www.mothers.com/02_products/05146.html