POLISHING Valve Cover

[PhoenixRPR]

Hey there. I sent in my 92 Eclipse GSX valve cover to Jet-Hot to have them apply the sterling silver coating to it. They called me back telling me that the valve cover has some kinda of baffle/shield thing on the bottom that won't allow them to apply the beads because if they do, they will come off into the engine. Thoughts/suggestions?

 

[smpolishing]

Be glad they called you and told you that instead of going ahead with the beads. Thats the exact reason why I never bead blast any valve covers that I polish. Beads easily get worked into the baffles and oil residue and when the engine warms up and oil starts moving they would work themselves out into your engine. Its not worth screwing up an engine, and those beads are impossible to clean fully out.

If they can't do the polish for you though, send the valve cover to me... I do all the work by hand on valve covers, no beads involved. Let me know.

Scott
www.SMPolishing.com - Some of my work.

 

[Airpoppoff]

wow, those look really nice scott, is there anyway, you can do it with no downtime???

meaning, could be buy a polished valve covor from you, and send you mine when i get the polished one?

 

[smpolishing]

Of course, a "core exchange", thats $185 with a $50 core included in that price. Is that what you'd like to do? Send me an email at [email protected] to officially place your order, or I can send you an email if you give me your address.

Scott
www.SMPolishing.com

 

[Airpoppoff]

k i was just checking, thanks scott by the way nice nice nice work

 

[smpolishing]

No problem, keep me in mind if you ever need any polishing.

 

[PhoenixRPR]

Hey Scott! Thanks for the info. I'm glad I found you. Jet-Hot will do their patented process to valve covers which they claim will be more resistant to heat, have that shiny finish, and of course lower the engine bay temperature. I was wondering what the difference was between their process/benefits and yours? They do the whole thing for only $65.00. How much do you charge if I send you my old cover and you polish that?

Originally posted by smpolishing
Be glad they called you and told you that instead of going ahead with the beads. Thats the exact reason why I never bead blast any valve covers that I polish. Beads easily get worked into the baffles and oil residue and when the engine warms up and oil starts moving they would work themselves out into your engine. Its not worth screwing up an engine, and those beads are impossible to clean fully out.

If they can't do the polish for you though, send the valve cover to me... I do all the work by hand on valve covers, no beads involved. Let me know.

Scott
www.SMPolishing.com - Some of my work.

 

[smpolishing]

I charge $135 to polish a valve cover if you send it to me.

I'm not sure what exactly Jet-Hot is doing but I can't see how putting a coating on the valve cover would lower engine bay temperatures, I would think polishing like I do would actually do that slightly. Also, make sure you are getting a top-notch job from Jet-Hot as plating can begin to chip over time.

My process is simple tedious polishing, it gives a GREAT shine that won't wear away or chip like chroming/plating. Its the actual metal, not a coating over it. I would think heat would be less with my valve cover, and more with Jet-Hots. I'm not sure about that though. Also, polishing is there for good as long as you take care of it.

Let me know if you have any more questions or are interested.

Scott
www.SMPolishing.com

 

[PhoenixRPR]

Hi Scott. According to your website, you charge $135.00 minus a $50.00 core if I'm not mistaken? So if I send you my cover, you can send me one in just as good or better shape, polished, for $85.00? I'm sorry if I'm misreading things, I just think $135.00 is way too much to polish it when Jet-Hot does a incredible job for $65.00. Their process lowers temperatures by putting a coat on that is a lot less resistant to heat and they have a 3 year guarantee from any rusting/defects.

 

[Nappy94]

eclipsespeed002 did my valve cover, shoot him a PM and he can hook you up. I posted a pic, in a thread awhile back.

 

[bobgeorge]

why dont you just buy a dremal and polish it yourself? that is what i did it might take a little time but you also have a tool you can use on all kinds of things.

 

[redeclipse97]

Originally posted by PhoenixRPR
Hey there. I sent in my 92 Eclipse GSX valve cover to Jet-Hot to have them apply the sterling silver coating to it. They called me back telling me that the valve cover has some kinda of baffle/shield thing on the bottom that won't allow them to apply the beads because if they do, they will come off into the engine. Thoughts/suggestions?

I recently had my valve cover powdercoated, I had to sandblast it because I have a 97' non-turbo ( black valve cover ). Yes, the baffel on the bottom side was full of thousands of very small beads. I just grabed a small flashlight and went to a local carwash and used the high pressure water to blow out all the beads then checked the holes with the flashlight to make sure it was clean. I have had the valve cover back on for over a month now without any problems. Just walk back into that shop and say "f*ck off and chrome my valve cover already!"

 

[redeclipse97]

Originally posted by smpolishing
Be glad they called you and told you that instead of going ahead with the beads. Thats the exact reason why I never bead blast any valve covers that I polish. Beads easily get worked into the baffles and oil residue and when the engine warms up and oil starts moving they would work themselves out into your engine. Its not worth screwing up an engine, and those beads are impossible to clean fully out.

If they can't do the polish for you though, send the valve cover to me... I do all the work by hand on valve covers, no beads involved. Let me know.

Scott
www.SMPolishing.com - Some of my work.

Impossible to fully clean out? I had no trouble with cleaning them ALL out! Actually it was pretty damn easy. I have access to a 10' by 10' industrial enclosed rotary sandblaster used for commercial gas meters that I sandblasted my valve cover with, so trust me, those beads were f*cking everywhere. I managed to clean them all out and have not had one bit of trouble, except for fighting a oil leak cause I bought a cheap gasket.

 

[smpolishing]

You can do that for your own personal things, but I can't be sure I got every bead every time and then send it to customers. There's too much liability involved.

Scott
www.SMPolishing.com

 

[PhoenixRPR]

Hey Scott, are you saying the job you do on the vlave cover polishing could potentially leave those beads lodged into the baffle on the underside?

 

[InnerCircleVP]

Scott, can you grand off the letters and all 2 and make the valve cover smooth, or is that not something you do?? Also what about the heat shield for the exhuast manifold. How much to polish that as well as the valve cover?

 

[smpolishing]

PheonixRPR, Absolutely not. Thats the exact reason why we don't do bead blasting, if you don't fully clean the beads out, one could come out into your engine and cause some serious headaches.

InnercircleVP, we can definitely do that, whats your email address? I'll send you a real quote. Let me know.

Scott
www.SMPolishing.com

 

[ENEVEL RACER]

Not trying to be a cheap skate, but what is all involved in polishing your valve cover? ie.. what tools, polish, any other things would I need? I want to do it, but I want to try and do it myself. I figure I'd go down and pick up the 420A valve cover from the junk yard and do it that way. I really would like to know. I learned how to anodize metal, and would like to learn how to polish. I have some custom things in mind. Also, that baffle that on the valve cover, does that 420A also have one, and if it does, what is it made of? I was think on anodizing the valve cover, but it requires it to sit in a vat of die. Would that hurt the baffle?

 

[ENEVEL RACER]

Never mind, my buudy here at work found me a link to do it myself. Looks like a piece of cake. Here's the link if anybody wants it. Valve cover polishing

 

[redeclipse97]

Originally posted by smpolishing
You can do that for your own personal things, but I can't be sure I got every bead every time and then send it to customers. There's too much liability involved.

Scott
www.SMPolishing.com

Yeah, I guess I see your point. If I f*ck up its my fault and my car, If you f*ck its your fault and not your car.

 

[smpolishing]

ENEVEL RACER,
Great! Good luck with it... email me if you have any questions or need anything.

redeclipse97,
Exactly my point. I've got no room to screw up when dealing with other peoples cars. So, I just take the extra time and do it by hand... no big deal and it saves me from always being worried about my customers cars.

Scott
www.SMPolishing.com

 

[ENEVEL RACER]

Originally posted by smpolishing
ENEVEL RACER,
Great! Good luck with it... email me if you have any questions or need anything.

Scott
www.SMPolishing.com

Thanks man. I'll post pics when it's done. The one thing that I didn't catch in that link was, do you wet sand or dry sand. Personaly, I like wet sanding, but was a little concerned about wet sanding bare metal.

 

[smpolishing]

Wet sanding works great on bare metal, it won't pose a problem.

By the way, can't wait to see those pics!

Scott

 

[tsi_turboawd]

Would spraying the AIRCRAFT STRIPPER on the valve cover be ok with it still on the engine? ..then polishing it

 

[Nappy94]

I would suggest you buy a core and work on that. Just in case.