polishing metal pieces

i found the following instructions for polishing your valve cover, and was interested if anyone here has done anything like this, and if so how it came out. i know this isn't 'exterior', but this seems like it could be applied to lots of things on your car, and this category kinda fits.

Author: Geo

Tools Required:
10 mm wrench or rachet with 10 mm socket
Small blocks of wood (flat)
Rubber gloves
Small container for holding water
Small sanding pad (flexable type)
Sand paper 1000, 1500, 2000 (a few sheets of each)
Aircraft stripper (one can is more then enough)
Scraper (metal type)
Metal polish for aluminum (your choice)

Amount of time needed: Lot of time (25-30 hours worth for a start)
(Something nice to have while doing this project would be a spare valve cover to use because of the time involved on it)

1- Start by removing valve cover from engine.

2- Spray a good coat of stripper and let set 15 min.

3- Spray stripper off with water, then scrape any loose material left, reapply stripper if needed and repeat till all the paint is removed. (Use good safety habits and follow the instructions given on the can).

4- Wipe dry or let air dry.

5- Start wet sanding valve cover with 1000 G w/wood block. Wash off frequently to remove the silt from sanding. Use the rubber gloves otherwise your fingers will pick up the aluminum particles, not good, hope you used them too when using the stripper. (This is just the start!).

6- Continued till it feels pretty even, then change to 1500 G paper and continue with wet sanding as before, it should be pretty smooth by now. (You can do it, keep it up!).

7- Change to the 2000 G paper and finish with final wet sanding w/block, should be pretty shiny after this part is done. (It looking good, keep going!).

8- Now comes the fun part, are your fingers ready, they better be. Apply the polish and rub and buff out, continue till your satisfied with the finish. Do final washing off and dry. (By now your fingers will feel like they're going to fall off, but wait your almost done!!!).

9- Put the valve cover back on the engine, stand back and admire the fruits of your labor.

10- Done

someone? anyone?

I've done a valve cover...

that sounds about right. if your on HAN, i know a guy posted a write up over ther in the diy section. but its basically the same

so this is a pretty good way of doing this huh? anyone got pics of a finished one?

one thing tho, at the end i would use a polishing compound.. and then a rubbing compound. you'll have a better mirror finish using those 2 in sequence after the sanding

recommend any brands/where would i find these?

wait, mirror finish? i figured it wouldn't be that shiny. do you mean it will look like chrome, or just like reflective brushed aluminum or something?

ehh more like a very reflective aluminum.. i think to get it to look like chrome would take a lot more time.

as for the brands: not sure, i just use what i have. i use my dads polishing compound(not sure what brand) and the rubbing compound i bought is turtlewax... but i've never used any other brands so i can't tell you if they're relatively good or not. they work for me tho, thats all i need to know.

reflective/brushed ..but hey you know that the coating is on teh cover for a reason..and over a period of time with daily driving and engine cleaning and so forth that it will pit and the finish will fade away and oxidate and so forth..it will look good temp...but over time it will look like junk...just get it powdercoated or buy a type r or a mugen rep

over how long a period, months, or years?

you could always paint it with that wrinkle paint. thats what i'm gonna be doing with mine. less work and will last longer. but its all about personal tastes

I usually use a buffinging wheel and compound. Much faster and easier!
http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=432&iMainCat=432&iSubCat=432
Should last several years without re-buffing, or you can clear coat it to make it last even longer. I just re-polish my parts by hand when they need it.

where would i get this hi temp clear coat? a few years ?? bad ass. if it was gonna be messed up in a few months to a year then it prolly wouldn't be worth it, but years is fine. by buffing wheel, do you mean the kind i use w/ the soft thing to take wax off my car (obviously w/ sandpaper on it)? oh any tricks for getting the sides of the letters, i am foreseeing those being a bitch

you can get hi-temp clear from auto zone or so forth..i use teh dupli-color because it has a much better nozzle than the rest..it has a fan spray rather than circular...but if you clear over brushed its gonna look like shit..so i dont know why he said that...and if you were just gonna wrinke paint it then theres no need to sand it down..just scuff it up with 120grt

cul forget about the clear coat. what's wrinkle paint? is that just hi temp spray paint? what other options are there for valve covers besides polish/spray paint?

wrinkle paint cures just like it sounds.. with a wrinkly textured effect to it. there is a great walkthrough on HT ..excep i can't find it.. they're search function blows! i've got the site bookmarked at home so if need be i can get it there.

--Luke

does it look kinda weird? i figured you wouldn't want a wrinkled texture on anything automotive (maybe your dashboard, but not in the bay)

how do they come out w/ hi temp paint? could you make it look like a fatory job (ie how h22s, b16,etc) looks?

nah the wrinkle paint always looks awesome i think. personally i don't like the smooth painted valve covers.. they just don't look right.

i googled "wrinkle paint" and found this:

http://maseratinet.com/SPARE_PARTS/WrinklePaint.jpg

that black one looks a little uneven or something. but the red shows how a nice job can come out.

...but if you clear over brushed its gonna look like shit..so i dont know why he said that...

The original post asked about a "polished" finish, not a brushed finish. I agree, clear coat on a "brushed" finish would look like crap! And, like I mentioned before, I prefer to just re-polish my parts as needed. I personally don't clear coat polished finishes, simply because I've seen clear coat on engine parts turn cloudy and yellow over time (sorry I should have mentioned that before). Check the link in my first post to see what I'm talking about.

Wrinkle paint looks awesome on anything! Love those Maserati parts!

actually i've just been sold on the wrinkle paint (prolly gonna be hella easier to diy too)

hahah yes.. wrinkle paint wins another one. :)

do i find wrinkle paint @ auto zone/pep boys?

yeah they should have it. call them up first to check before you take the time to drive out

Well, another option for your valve cover (though one you most likely wouldn't do yourself) is powdercoating. You can choose a variety of colors, and it is very durable. You shouldn't ever need to redo it.

is there another name for wrinkle paint? i searched it on ebay and only got 3 hits, which is real low for ebay. oh, in your pic they're in cans, so you gotta brush them on? or do you get a sprayer? the one on ebay i looked at was in a spray can

yah usually they come in a rattle can. do you have like an advance auto, or autozone nearby? they should have it. i know my local advance auto has krylon and plasti-kote wrinkle paint spray cans. they only have em in black tho.. but thats the color i'm gonna do anyways so.

damnit i was thinking navy would look badass. ya i have an autozone, napa, and pep boys within reasonable drives. so damn busy, prolly get around to this in the next few weeks. i'll def post pics up when i'm done. i'm gonna do the polished or brushed thing w/ the 'h' and 'vtec' and wrinkle the rest. should be tight

oh thanks for turning me onto this wrinkle paint idea. this should come out so good. everytime i look at my engine bay i think of it painted like that

:D :D

edit: i'm trying to find this guys diy walk through he did over on HT but their search function sucks. i came up with this pic tho:

http://www.skafia.com/myPix/-Rodrez--959805911.jpg?

wtf it won't work? o well here is the link:

http://www.skafia.com/myPix/-Rodrez--959805911.jpg?

edit2: omg idk what's goin on with that damn link ahha.. here's the HT thread:
http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=640755&page=2

wtf it won't work? o well here is the link:

edit2: omg idk what's goin on with that damn link ahha.. here's the HT thread:

LOL... having bad luck with the links and pics there?

Glad you got it to sort of work, lol.

^^hahahah :p

wow thanks for the link, 2 good points there. first, using vaseline or chapstick so you don't get paint on the lettering (it would have taken me forever doing it my way w/ tape), and to leave an area w/o paint where you're gonna be having your ground

yep, i've heard the vasaline/chapstick works very well for the lettering and stuff :)

alright just found another idea. instead of being limited by the types of wrinkle paint you find, use wrinkle paint then spray over w/ hi temp engine paint in whatever color you like. sounds obvious enough, don't know why i didn't think of that on my own

haha actually i never thought of that either. thats a good idea man lol. good thinkin! it should work just fine

ya it was in a diff forum. here's the link, check it out, it came out really good looking. hope mine comes out like this (prolly diff color though). people have been telling me to get it sandblasted, that it won't come out as well if i just use stripper then sand it. anyone have insight on this? i'm sure this is the kind of job where if it doesn't come out perfect, it will automatically look like shit. like if you got a red valve cover, but it looks like you put that shit on there urself, it's gonna look pretty gay. i'd assume that by doing it carefully myself it'll come out fine. i can't imagine how differently paint will adhere to a surface whether it was sandblasted or really evenly sanded, using coarse grit and slowly working to fine

whoops forgot to post the link
http://accordinglydone.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3775&highlight=valve

That is a good idea for the wrinkle paint, I never thought of that either.

OMG that looks fawking beautiful!!!!!!!!!! i love it. now i'm gonna check out the color selection of hi-temp paints. :)

That does look really nice...it looks really OEM too....wow...

using the cool words of forum slang: its uber uber sessy!! haha :boink:

using the cool words of forum slang: its uber uber sessy!! haha :boink:

Interestng post there...

anyone got any thoughts on whether or not i can just sand w/o sandblasting? has anyone here actually done wrinkle paint on a valve cover before?

anyone got any thoughts on whether or not i can just sand w/o sandblasting? has anyone here actually done wrinkle paint on a valve cover before?

Sorry, I've never wrinkle painted a vavle cover before. If you sand it VERY well and thorough, I think you should be okay.

ya that's what i'd assume. well i think that'll be my next project, in the middle of wiring a vtec light right now

ya that's what i'd assume. well i think that'll be my next project, in the middle of wiring a vtec light right now

Keep us posted, and post pics when you get the valve cover done. I think the reason they told you to sand blast it is because most people arn't very thorough when they sand, or they miss spots, or they get tired of it because it's so time consuming and quite. Yes, sandblasting will be quicker, but if you take your time and sand it very thorough, you should be fine. After all, it's all done to remove the old material and prep the surface, so to speak. Good luck!!!

goodluck jazer. keep us informed on how the project comes and post pics when its done

goodluck jazer. keep us informed on how the project comes and post pics when its done

Yea, post pics when you're done. I hope it turns out well.

i will. just finished the vtec light, came out badass (except the color, gotta do something about that). pics are in link in my sig. can anyone tell me why it is lighting at 2500 rpm though? can't figure it out. 2500 rpm, i can cruise w/ it on, then floor it, and really feel that spike of power come on. i thought when it picked up like that that it was vtec engaging. does it sit there kind of engaged waiting or something? because if the light's on, that means there's power going to the solenoid, so the car is definitely telling it to turn on

when i'm going to put on my valve cover, do i need to get a torque wrench or can i just use my ratchet? never done taken it off before, don't konw procedure, haynes doesn't say you need a torque wrench, but then again, haynes isn't always right (it's a shame, a damn shame)

i would think you need a torque wrench. if you over do it you can fuck up the seal and you'll leak oil. make sure you have a new gasket ready to go on when the cover is done being painted. its recommended you replace the gasket any time you remove the cover

You'll need a torque wrench to torque it down to the proper torque setting, and you'll want to torque the bolts in the porper order.

how much do torque wrenches/head gaskets go for? where would i find a headgasket / does type matter?

Any auto parts store like Shucks/Napa/Auto Zone should have a Valve Cover Gasket/Head Gasket. Of Course OEM has them too (probably for a lot more, how much I do not know). As for torque wrenchs, by the clicker kind, DO NO by the needle kind. The lciker kind is the one you set of a certain torque, lock it and then it ,makes a clicking sound when it receachs the proer torque. Shucks should have a brand called powerbuilt, those are around $45. Sears Craftsman is 80-99 for the clicker type. I am guessing you'll need a 3/8" drive (5ft-lbs-80ft-lbs) for this, not a 1/2" drive (80ft-lbs-150ft-lbs) The 1/2" drive is helpful when torquing the lugs onto wheels, etc. I have a Powerbuilt 3/8" drive ($45)and a Craftsman 1/2" drive ($80). Both work fine.

alright so, materials list is torque wrench, headgasket, acid (what type again?), sandpaper (which grits do i use, and is brand / type important?), wrinkle paint (prolly black), and hi temp spray paint in the final color. i'm assuming i shouldn't do a coating of anything over the last coat of color. anything i'm missing in my list, besides maybe some OC's for my arms by the time i'm done sanding that thing.

oh and of course chapstick for the spots that won't be getting paint.

james-- you don't like the needle torque wrenchs? thats the kind i have. its my dads. but i guess i don't know which is better, the needle or the clicker.

_luke

james-- you don't like the needle torque wrenchs? thats the kind i have. its my dads. but i guess i don't know which is better, the needle or the clicker.

_luke

No, I don't like the needle type. I know a lot of mechanics that dopn't either. They just aren't as accurate, and it can be hard in certian places to look at the needle as you are torqing it down. The clicker type is more presise, and also, when it reachs the preset torque, it clicks and stops...and that's it. You can't overtorque, per say. The needle type is better than nothing, AKA eye balling it (bad idea!!) but the clicker type is the much perfered torque wrench. That's all I have in my garage at home. You can get them (clicker type) for like $44.99 at Shucks/Kregan.Checker, and around starting @ $69.99-$79.99 at sears.

The clicker type costs, more, but is worth it. It's easier to use, you set the torque at what you want, lock it and go. The needle type is dependant on you looking at it. As a result the clicker type tends to be more presise, not to mention you can't overtorque, because once you hit the preset torque, it makes a clicking sound and will stop wrenching it down. Let up on it and your done.