Has anyone anodized a 4G63 valve cover?

[GooeyGus]

Hi Guys,
I have a quick question. I have access to a full anodizing station that a friend of mine built , my question is: Has anyone ever anodized the 4g63 valve cover? I did a search and found that most people are saying it is indeed aluminum, but I haven't been able to find anyone who said that they successfully anodized their valve cover. I could do mine in about 2 hours or so, but I dont want to go through all the effort if it isn't going to work for some reason.

Thanks!!

 

[Backinajiffy12]

Its aluminum anodizing it wont hurt at all

 

[OldSchoolMotors]

It will be fine I powder coat them regularly .

I would suggest running it through a parts cleaner since anodizing process is done in a tank and the oil will contaminate .

 

[hondaslayer1]

Dude I think that would look cool as hell if u did it if u do through the process and have a good finnished product I would be interested in having mine done I have a good shape shaved valve cover that I think would look real nice if it was done so post pics if u do it with info how to do it or steps that need to be done to do it

 

[JAYFRESSH]

Shaved and anodized would look killer.

 

[Doubleot]

I wanna see the final product, I have 2 vc's I wouldn't mind do this to at least 1 of them.
I powder coat my vc's all the time, doesn't hurt em one bit.

 

[99gst_racer]

I had every intention of anodizing the shaved valve cover that I'm currently working on. I even called ETS for a quote. But I've since changed my mind. The greatest downside that I found was that there isn't much surface protection on an anodized valve cover. It would develop surface imperfections much easier than a powdercoated surface. Especially on my car - I use my VC as a toolbox when I'm working on it.

I do still think it would be cool to try it though.
Do it and let us see how it turns out.

 

[snowborder714]

I use my VC as a toolbox when I'm working on it.

Learn to put a towel over it before putting anything down on it.

 

[JAYFRESSH]

I wanna see the final product, I have 2 vc's I wouldn't mind do this to at least 1 of them.
I powder coat my vc's all the time, doesn't hurt em one bit.

You can get a similar anodized look with "anodized powder coat colors "

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[greengoblin]

you also have to remove the baffles as they are not Aluminum and can not be anodized. You may also get uneven color due to it being a cast unit.

 

[GooeyGus]

Thanks guys. Hopefully we'll be able to give it a try this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out.

As far as protection, if done correctly, the anodized layer of aluminum created in the chemical process should offer protection that is just as good as (if not better than...) powdercoating.

If it turns out well, we may begin to offer this as a service, but I want to try doing a few first to see if they all turn out well. Cast aluminum can be a bit weird sometimes.

 

[snowborder714]

Can you share any info on the anodizing setup? Is it one of those DIY kits you buy from a company or something bigger/better?

 

[GooeyGus]

It's a pretty big setup. My friend owns a machine shop and was tired of paying a ton of money for anodizing, so he built his own setup. There's a big tank with acid/water where the actual anodizing happens, with a big variable current/variable voltage power supply. He then has several heated tanks full of dyes of all colors, there is a de-smut tank as well as a tank full of lye to strip the parts of their anodized coating if they didn't turn out right.

 

[greengoblin]

Sounds nasty.

 

[Rob10_99]

Sounds like a gangster, tank of lye huh...