More polished valve covers...

[Superdave]

i would be happy to just get a solid 70 degree with slight breeze, instead they say it'll be 70 and its 90 or 50, weather sux up here, i cant even wrench on my car right now since i dont have a garage, its too cold, hell, i dont even have gloves, im so broke

it's 15F outside right now.. but a nice 60F in the garage

[El_Diablo]

you bastard... i just had a car towed cuz i cant use a jack, to much ice in my parking lot, doesn't help that its on a grade

[ForcedFirebird]

it's 15F outside right now.. but a nice 60F in the garage

LOL. It's about 80* here

[IanSzgatti]

it must take a while to polish these things up.. they are sooo course... also, what exactly is anodizing?

[ForcedFirebird]

it must take a while to polish these things up.. they are sooo course... also, what exactly is anodizing?

6hrs a set for mirror polish.

The hardcoatings guy talked me out of annodizing because of durability and the EPA cracking down on colors (black and clear is still offered). Got a sample here from a new process. Post pics soon.

[19Cutlass94]

it's 15F outside right now.. but a nice 60F in the garage

Im jelous you have a heated garage! I have a 4car garage but its not heated

After you polish them could you get them powdercoated instead of anodized?

[IsaacHayes]

What would be the point of powder coat after polish? Just powder coat the factory smooth ones and it'll be shiny enough.

[ForcedFirebird]

What would be the point of powder coat after polish? Just powder coat the factory smooth ones and it'll be shiny enough.

The "smooth" covers aren't smooth enough. The pits hold dirt/grease etc, and when baked it bubbles up.

Annodizing is a chemical process and he said that laquer thinner will dissolve annodizing - not powdercoat. Also they don't need to be polished with hardcoat. The rouge can have the same bubbling effect as mentioned above.

I need to take a pic of this sample. Blue translucent is the most popular color, and color changes is what costs the dough. He needs me to bring some covers in various stages of finishes to even come close to giving a quote. I have 3.5 sets now in stages.

[IsaacHayes]

Mine seems smooth enough, a good cleaning is all that would be needed to get rid of the oils. The cleaning part may be hard however.

Anodizing being removed with lacquer thinner? Either you got that switched or that guy is smoking something! Anodize is natural oxidize on the aluminum that is made to grow thicker... No solvent will take that off. Only a strong alkaline.

[ForcedFirebird]

Mine seems smooth enough, a good cleaning is all that would be needed to get rid of the oils. The cleaning part may be hard however.

Anodizing being removed with lacquer thinner? Either you got that switched or that guy is smoking something! Anodize is natural oxidize on the aluminum that is made to grow thicker... No solvent will take that off. Only a strong alkaline.

Perhaps it wasn't laquer thinner, but it was a common solvent (acetone?). Either way, I still could only find black and clear annodizing. The powdercoat has multiple options/colors. The translucent colors look a lot like annodizing, but are much thicker, and you can see the buildup at the bottom of the piece (where the cotaing is melted and ready to drip off almost).

[IsaacHayes]

Nah, I clean my flashlights with acetone. (I'm into custom built high powered LED lights. They put to shame anything you've seen in the stores. I have a 3C maglite re-anodized in HA (typeIII) natural too hehe. That one is putting out almost as much light as a car headlight.)

No hydrocarbon solvents will touch anodize. It's aluminum oxide... Only alkalines.

[FallenZ24]

Is there a trick to removing the mounting screws and grommets? I've been thinking about trying to polish a front valve cover.

It looks good. Good job.

Joseph

[ForcedFirebird]

Flip the cover over and use a socket the same size as the metal sleeve around the screw and tap it with a hammer.

[neo71665]

Nah, I clean my flashlights with acetone. (I'm into custom built high powered LED lights. They put to shame anything you've seen in the stores. I have a 3C maglite re-anodized in HA (typeIII) natural too hehe. That one is putting out almost as much light as a car headlight.)

No hydrocarbon solvents will touch anodize. It's aluminum oxide... Only alkalines.

You can anno in any color you want and even multi colors. We have it done to paintball markers all the time. The only common household item that I can think of that will eat off anno is liquid draino and it takes awhile. If you want some pics of some crazy anno jobs on paintball markers just send me a PM and I'll post them. I can also see if i can find the how to to do anno yourself at home but it involves battery acid and a battery charger to DIY.

[3100 MPFI]

I had to go to storage yesterday and get some things when I came across my old 2.8 plenum that I had polished. I took it out, and cleaned it up. I had done the same thing to my valve cover (which is still in storage).

before cleaning it:


during cleaning:


check out that BLING: