I was going to attempt to polish out my valve cover today, but im not sure the fastest way to do it. I assuming i should use a paint stripper first, but then after paint is off im not sure what to do next, i was thinking different grits of sandpaper. Well im sure alot of you guys have done this so if you could fill me in it would make my job alot easier, thanks.

Wes

 

Its a whole lotta work, didnt know what i was gtting into, to make a decent polished valve cover, your going to need a whole lotta sandpaper, from 100-1200 or even higher if you want a mirror finish, rubbing compound, and some final finishing polish. Lots of elbow grease, time, and effort into this task. If you want just an even, nice looking metal finish, not chromelike, jsut get it sandblasted. If you want the mirror finish, get it chromed, if you want a polished vavle cover, its not a one day thing.

 

Yeah, polish is too much work...and when you **** it up because you don't know what you're doing, it's a huge waste of time.

You're best bet for an inexpensive, durable finish is powdercoat. They offer "near" chrome finishes these days.

If you want to strip the old black finish off, use Kleen Strip premium aerosol paint stripper...available at Home Depot in the the paint section(orange metallic/white can). One good coat for 5 minutes and a blast from the hose will have that thing 99% clean.