Valve cover strip/finish....

[bmw1602.com]

I just finished my valve cover mods for my race car on an old valve cover a board member sent me.

I wanted to get it sand blasted and the local sandblaster only has fine silica and he said it would probably pitt the soft alum. valve cover so much it would look rough....

what should I do?

take sand paper to it........talk about a bummer....going take for ever....

Maybe I'll just spray it with a krinkle finish balck paint.....

which krinkle finish do you guys recomend?

how have you finished you valve cover? post pics and process

THANKS!!!!!!

[BillWilliams]

with glass beads, but if you can't black krinkle looks good too.

Prep is the key, clean, clean and reclean. VHT is very good stuff, and a warm bbq grill helps the krinkling go faster.

[esty]

i've sandblasted most underhood parts without ill effects, including several valve covers...unless the dude lights a smoke while holding the loaded nozzle in one spot, it's unlikely even a novice would damage a valve cover

it's the best and most effective way to thouroughly clean the parts because the aluminum parts are somewhat porous & like to hang on to old crud and slime

[BillWilliams]

If you can get it to 200 degrees for 5 minutes or so, after you clean as well as you can, more moil will surface and you need to clean that too.

Sometimes I pre cook for two or three times before I powder coat

[TMK-001]

I take it the wife would be out at this time? :-P

[BobBreed]

I've been sucessful using paint stripper to get oil paint off. I've then sprayed a ton of brake clean on the cover to "pull" the oil out and wipe it down with paper towels. I've found that the Eastwood's wrinkle coat seems to work the best. I usually warm up the cover with a halogen lamp before shooting. If it doesn't start to "work" within 5 minutes, I shoot another heavy coat and help it wrinkle using a hair dryer.

Bob

[Guest Anonymous]

go ahead and sandblast that cover. i've done it up to 70psi without problem. it will give it a matte finish. you can then easily burnish it with 000 fine steel wool or spray paint it with dull aluminum for a factory fresh look.

photos, please...

[bmw1602.com]

go ahead and sandblast that cover. i've done it up to 70psi without problem. it will give it a matte finish. you can then easily burnish it with 000 fine steel wool or spray paint it with dull aluminum for a factory fresh look.

photos, please...

photos are on the way....