Valve cover polishing

[Brian Kokoska]

For the archives, thought I'd share the method I used.
 Removed valve cover, cleaned with degreaser.  (all of
this took place in kitchen sink--sometimes it's good
not to have a live-in girlfriend)  Coated valve cover
with chemical paint stripper, let sit 10 min, scrubbed
with brillo pad and rinsed.  You might want some
gloves because that stuff *will* burn your skin.
Repeated stripping one more time.
Wet sanded in stages: 240, 400, 800, 1600, and finally
2000 grit.  Rinse off both the valve cover and the
sandpaper frequently during all stages.  You won't
need very much paper or sanding time for all of the
stages except for the 240 grit stage which took a
while because I had a few surface imperfections.  You
might want to dry it off and inspect it under bright
light from several angles between stages.
Washed with soap and water and dried.  Polished with
Mother's brand mag wheel and aluminum polish according
to label directions.  Looks great and shiny.  Even if
the rest of your engine compartment is dirty like mine
it will approve the appearance of your engine bay
dramatically and make you want to detail everything
else in there.
Gasket set from Autozone was only $35 and included all
washers and plug seals.  Reassembled and polished once
more to remove fingerprints.
I must admit I tried the buffing stick and wheel
technique and all I can say is "what the f*%$"  I
couldn't see that it was making a difference so I
thought it would be a good idea to heat the buffing
stick with a cigarrette lighter.  I did this while
sitting Indian-style on my bed watching t.v.  What
this technique accomplished was splattering hot liquid
buff-stick onto more than one of my exposed fingers
and onto my comforter.  It felt even better than the
chemical burn from the paint stripper.  My official
advice to jackasses like me is to use the 2000
grit/Mother's polish combo in lieu of the buffing.
Good luck
Brian

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92 SE-R w/ mods