Should I get my valve cover polished or buy this one?

[kristmen]

I have a valve cover off a Galant that says Mitsubishi on it. I wanted to get it polished so I cleaned it up and got stripped and ready to be polished. I took it to the local machine shop and they have like a 2 month wait. They said it would cost between $50 and $150 dollars depending how much time was needed to polish it.

Well lastnight my friend showed me a cover on eBay thats already polished for $150 thats already polished. Someone from the #DSM channel is selling it. I had looked at one before that was $240 with a polished spart plug cover too but decided it was too much to spend.

I guess what I wanna know is should I assume the local machine shops going to charge me the high price quote? I mean if its really going to be almost $150 to polish the one I got I might as well buy this one thats already polished and get it 2 months sooner.

Which would end up being cheaper? Buying this one off eBay or just waiting to have mine polished?

The guy lives about an hour from me and said I could come pick it up anytime I wanted.

What do you guys think I should do? I tried having my other one powder coated and it turned out like SHIT. All the chrome looking powder coat turned yellowish after a couple months. I want a polished one this time around.

So check it out and tell me what you guys think. Should I go for it?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7910607200&ssPageName=ADME:B:LC:MT:1

 

[Defiant]

Don't go to a machine shop for polishing. Try the chrome shops in your area, they have to polish after every step. You can probably get it moonlighted for $50.

 

[kristmen]

See thats what I wanted in the first place. I wanted it chromed but when I went to the local place that does polishing and chroming they said they couldnt chrome this cover because its aluminum.

I was like wtf you can chrome this and they guy said o yes we can but we wont because alumium is a VERY dirty metal and it would mess up are tanks then we would have to drain it and clean it and its just not worth it to us.

I liked the idea of chroming because it seems like it would be easier to get in around the lettering which was another thing the shop complained about. They said the lettering would be a pain in the ass and they wanted to shave it or charge more for the time needed to clean up the lettering good.

Thats pretty much are only local area shop too.

Might I ask what moonlightening is btw?

Can you recommend any good shops I could ship to to have it chromed even? I sent out my last cover to have it powder coated and they charged me $109 dollars for silver chrome look powder coating and it came off when oil leaked onto it. I think it was paint not powder coating. I mean it looks NOTHING like the powder coating on my intercooler pipes.

I would really rather have my cover finished as it says Mitsubishi on it I know some people dont care but I sorta like that about this cover.