Anyone know how to get a killer shine from your L series Engine?

I've seen many great looking engine bays with polished up mirror like SU carbs and Valve covers that make me very jealous.

Alot of people talk about using different grades of sand paper to get these that way but I'm not 100% on the procedure so i'm wondering what advice and things I can do to get a great shine from my engine.

I have a spare set of British SU's I can practice on so I'm not fussed too much about making them look bad if something doesn't work out.

I ask because I'm looking at a very sexy set for sale and considering buying.

:classic:

Here, http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4492

I brought my valve cover up to bright with just wheel polishing. If you must have perfect polish, you need to get rid of all surface defects with sanding through the grades. The problem is, the valve covers are pretty porous castings. So, as you're sanding to get rid of the holes, you open new ones up!

I've gotten pretty good at poishing, these last few years and have collected quite a few tools to do it right. I have 2 large motors that run the different compounds on 10'' wheels, and a big slow motor for a sanding arbor. For finished aluminum, I start with Emory compound to take out most of the small imperfections. then I solvent wash between each of the next copmpounds - Stainless - Tripoli - White rouge. You got to keep your wheels clean as the clog up with aluminum and start to fog the work. On raw castings, there's no choice but grinding and sanding before the wheels see it.

I'm scared to do my Carb domes because I'm worried about distorting them with the heat and pressure of polishing. It would be a bummer to have pretty domes with stuck pistons. True?

Victor has it right.. you have so sand it smooth or you'll never get that reflective finish that looks so good. You'll end up with shiny matte surface if you don't sand.

I just did one of my valve covers and it is a lot of work. I used a buffing set that I bought from Eastwoods with the stand, motor, wheels and compounds. Plus it took a lot of sanding with the air sander, Dremel tool and by hand as well.

It isn't as nice as I'd like, but it looks better than it did when I started.

Here's the before pic.

And after about 4 hours or more of work. Had to keep re-sanding sections that didn't meet my approval, the left side has just been sanded with 220 and the right side is after a quick buffing to check the finish. You have to be very careful not to sand the curves wrong and end up with flat spots... Takes some patience on these sections...

BTW, for those of you who want to try it, Eastwoods has a pretty good video that explains the steps as well as all the tools to do the job the easy way....

Finished.. I'd rate it a B+ for a first attempt. I learned a lot of little tricks that should make the second time go faster with better results....

I did mine as well but by hand. I basically followed these instructions:

http://www.georgiazclub.com/tips/ztech/coverpolish.htm

The first key is to not go too easy in the beginning. Use the coarsest grade of paper needed to get to the bottom of the worst defect.

The second key is to make sure you don't try to jump grades. Sure, you'll eventually get out all of the marks from the previous grade but it will take longer. As I recall I went in the following order:

80

100

150

220

320

400

600

1000

1500

various metal polishes

Also, I found that working with wet paper works best (you can get coarse paper that can be used wet) as well as some of the newer sanding sponges and soft sanding blocks from 3M. Those are especially helpful on the curved surfaces.

Howdy folks,

I was just on the Ztherapy site ordering some gaskets and see that they offer polishing services for intake manifolds, carbs, and maybe they would do a valve cover for you. They aren't cheap but I am sure it would save lots of time and from what I have seen they look very good!

Just an alternative!

My shine program went like this.After hours on the wheel with the polish stuff my valve cover was still foggy.I went to the man that does my chrome and has the gorilla polisher.Can you beat this I asked.He smiled and said HELL YEAH!,hit his wheel for about 20 seconds.I found I had wasted ALOT of time.He charged 15 or 20 bucks.I did the intake and carbs.I filed the metal off from the seam on the side of the intake.I also took it to a friend/welder that filled the small little dimples on the intake near the engine that collect that little crap that only a Q-tip can get out.I used a dremmel to grind it smooth.You wouldn't know it ever happened.It stays clean now.Since I no longer use most of the crap on the balance tube between the carbs,rather than just plug them off,I had my friend fill all the holes and I sawed off,then ground smooth all the mounts.My balance tube only has the one brake booster connection.The great thing is once you get it slick you just wipe the motor clean!! I never could get my photos online but 2many Z's has the photos of my car that you would like to see. Perhaps he would be so kind if you ask.

Pics of your car Daniel are in my gallery. I downloaded them and then asked Mike if there was a way to move them over into your gallery but he couldn't find a way to do it....

So, they are there in my gallery...:lick: :bandit:

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3562&password=&sort=7&thecat=500

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3563&password=&sort=7&thecat=500