My first polish.

[Auladan]

Howdy folks.

In a week or so I'll be fitting my replacement motor into my Talon, and decided the spend the in-between time on some 'sprucens.

I've never polished a thing in my life, but for whatever reason I've recently been inspired to polish my valve cover by hand. I just bought the necessary supplies and'll begin sanding tonight. I've used the search and found plenty of how-to threads, so I have at least a basic understanding of what I'll be doing.

If anyone has any helpful tips, I'd love t'hear 'em.

I'll post some before and after pictures in the coming week. Wish me luck!

 

[chriw21_2000]

GET A BUFFING WHEEL!! You will be there for ever if you plan on polishing it by hand.

Laterz

 

[TURFNNSURF]

Deffinetly get a buffing wheel of some sort. If you have access to a bench top grinder, see if you can get a buffing wheel to fit on it. I started polishing my Valve Cover by hand, after 3 hours all i had done was the raised lettering. That was with a RotoZip tool and polishing bits. I ended up taking it to a Bike(Harley) shop and the owner polished the whole VC for me for $50. I think it was money well spent.

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[Auladan]

That's all I have done. I've been sanding this sucker with fine grained (of all things) sandpaper and a toothbrush for a total of like 6 hours now. Or maybe 10. Or 23498752305. I can't remember.

I'm so ready to break down and buy a buffing wheel.

But for old-school efforts, I think it's come a very long way. It's ALOT shinier face to face, and I havn't started the actual polishing yet. Still sanding the little noocks and crannies.

I need new fingers.

 

[Auladan]

Another angle.

I think I'm doing a pretty darn good job.

 

[TURFNNSURF]

YUP

You are making progress, slow as it might be... you're going to want to get a buffing wheel for the polishing anyway. The reason being is that between the polishing compound and the spinning of the wheel some heat is created and that will help smooth out the sanding swirls from the fine grit paper..

Keep up the good/hard work it will pay of in the end...

 

[Auladan]

Thanks man. Yea, I'm planning on a trip up town tomarrow morning for the Buffing Wheel. I want this thing done; my fingers feel like I Just suffered through a two-week Mario Party marathon.

Anyhow, the Cover has 169k miles on it, so it had it's fair share of filth when I started. I really wish I'd taken a before picture so I could honestly rate my work. That aside, do you know of any places where I can find a new Valve Cover Gasket, and about how much they cost? I'm on the search for one right now.

Last question: Since this is such an old Valve Cover, are there any concerns I should have? See, this is the cover off my old engine; the JDM engine with 30k still has its own Cover on.

I was planning on using this one when I get everything where it should be (back in my car) because I've already dumped so much time into it, and was curious if their should be any concerns.

Thanks!

 

[TURFNNSURF]

Your local NAPA auto parts or even autozone or Pep Boys should carry a valve cover gasket set... It should contain the Gasket for the main valve cover, a half moon rubber piece for the side of the camshaft and 4 smaller round gaskets with tabs for your spark plug holes. I think mine was around $25 to $30

 

[BacknBlack92ESi]

. I just noticed your eyes looking through the spark plug holes. Oh, and great job. I dont have the patience nor the time do pollish mine.

 

[Auladan]

Haha, yea. I was wondering if anyone would notice that.

Oh, and thanks TURF for the info. I'll head up their later today and get me some Gaskets.

Soon this WILL be done, and I can't wait.

 

[1993eclipseGS]

Hey man, Thats really starting to show progress I think the latest pic looks pretty good now.. Cant wait to see the finished pic! Good luck and keep up the great work

Rob

 

[Turbo_Frog]

Hey man, could you post some links of where you found various info on how to go about doing this? I searched and couldn't find anything valve cover specific, i know its all the same but I wanted some info regarding the particular valve cover. I'm pretty sure I have everything I need but the info to get a little more heads up........>Thanks!

 

[Auladan]

Sure thing man.

http://www.se-r.net/engine/polishing_valve_cover.html

http://www.londonautoclub.org/html/tech_info/polishing_valve_cover.htm

The second one is better covered and more detailed, but I didn't follow either to the letter. I got the right supplies (or as close to as I could find) and kinda figured out what worked for me through trial and error.

I found that when you're sanding, sand in the same angle. If you're going horizontal, then stay horizontal. If you go vertical just once, it'll mess it up, so y'gotta be careful.

Anyhow, let me know how it goes!

 

[Turbo_Frog]

Wow thanks again man, I'll be sure to keep everyone posted!!!

 

[Red90GSX]

hah, i took the easy way out i decided maybe.. bout 2 months ago that i wanted to polish and chrome everything i started with the valve cover i just sand blasted that sucker down taped off the lettering and sprayed it down with a heat resistant chrome paint (few coats later) i covered up the chrome and re-sprayed my lettering red took me about 8hrs (between paint drying and havin a few beers) other wise it looks real great I also did it to my eci intake manafold and a few other little parts here and their

 

[STECARS]

you can buy one at chrome2go.com triple dipped in chrome for $125 check it out.
oh, TURFNNSURF im also in jersey would be nice if you can hook me up with that harley shop cuase i been getting robbed and i need some stuff polished.