shinning up the valve cover

i need help making my engine look purty is there anything i can do to make my valve cover look shiny and pretty other then painting it?

simple green

Originally posted by sweetcarz.com
simple green

i have tried that and the cover still looks dull to me i bought some metal polish and when it warms up i am going to try that, but are there any more opinions on making my valve cover shinny?

you can use sandpaper to get that chrome look. just use 600 grit then 1000 grit then 1500 grit and finally 2000 grit. just use them in that order and i prefer to wet sand it cause you'll get better results. After all the sanding use some metal polish and there you go

Originally posted by 94civic
you can use sandpaper to get that chrome look. just use 600 grit then 1000 grit then 1500 grit and finally 2000 grit. just use them in that order and i prefer to wet sand it cause you'll get better results. After all the sanding use some metal polish and there you go

thanks i will try that

speaking of that, what is the best way on gettin the black paint off and shining it up to nice silver look??

well you could try paint stripper... or this is a pain in the arse but I find that permatex gasket remover will strip paint like a mofo when left on long enough... I have used that for small spots that I want to strip paint from... never tried it on anything big

Paint thinner for the valve cover (take it off first), that's what I do to mine. Then simply polish it with different grit sand paper.

If you want to make it even easier, go in the power tools section of Home Depot and find the brush bits, and use a drill to polish. There's different kinds, its like using sand paper but faster and better.

cool thanks will try....

Do you recommend removing the valve cover before sanding/polishing? I'd prefer not to remove it at the moment =)