Paint and Polish!

I have been considering polishing my valve covers and fork lowers for some time now, but I really do not have the budget to buy a pedestal grinder/wheel or the space to put one. I have read a lot about how to do this process and one of the big things I keep reading is to get the clearcoat off before you even attempt to clean and polish.

I have also read that you can sand it off (lot of labor and potential scratches), aircraft paint stripper :shock: (maybe after I buy my first plane?), oven cleaner (my Wife would kill me if she saw me through these pieces in the oven :smilie_happy: ) I know, I know, spray oven cleaner.

Well, skeptic that I am about the potential of a decent end result, I pulled out a set of old valve covers that came from one of the bad engines. I found Duplicolor paint stripper at Pep Gurls for $4.99........in budget!! I gotta tell you, I am impressed! No odor to speak of and in about 20 minutes total time, this stripper made these valve covers look real nice!! Got some paint thinner to wipe off the last of the stripper and have them clean for now. (Pics to follow)

I am going to try two things. First, a while back I heard that Flitz will bring aluminium parts to shine without all of the cloth wheel work I keep reading about. I think it is worth a try for the sake of the Forum to actually try this and either put it to bed or wow ourselves at the results!

The other cover I am going to change the color and paint it with Duplicolor Iron engine paint.

First, I pulled out the covers and wiped them down to get the dust off them. Next, 3 wet coats of Duplicolor paint stripper. Followed by scraping with a plastic scraper and old rag. Lastly, wipe down real good with paint thinner.

Valve cover #1:





Valve cover #2:

I wouldn't use oven cleaner, again. It turned the aluminium gray. I found Kleen-Strip paint stripper at wally world ,works well and about $4 a can. One can should do it for you.

Once you get that old yellow clear off they usually look pretty decent. Flitz is good stuff, I used to buy the paste in the metal tube but now I see they have even more in a plastic bottle for the same price...Hmm...I wonder if it is the same formula?
Semichrome is good stuff too as is mothers billet polish.
Looking forward to the pics, good luck.

Those look good. Oven cleaner wouldn't touch the paint, but it did fine with a green pad on the clear coat... Well now I wonder, would oven cleaner also strip paint? After all clear coat is paint.

I just need to polish my carbs then my polisher will be sitting idle for a while. If you want to barrow it, it's all yours. Just feed it while you have it.

I am real happy with the product and impressed with how easy it is to work with. The aluminium is real smooth now and it doesn't seem like it would take much to polish up.

While working on this, I also decided to try out the Duplicolor Iron color engine paint. I saw an engine over at NGW with this color used on a valve cover and really liked the color! I wondered how it would look on a whole engine. So.....I pull out half of the '81 block and decide to spray some paint. Now, I am obviously not installing this engine so prep consisted of a cotton towel wipe down. :hihihi:

Shot the color, waited 20 minutes and shot the clear. I don't know about you, but I think this is just a way cool color for an engine!





Compared to this:

Quite a difference! Nice! I like the iron color, too.

That is a nice color.

I'm watching to see how the rest of the polishing goes on those valve covers.

Ordered some Flitz metal polish and a Flitz polishing ball. I am going to try that on the valve covers first to see if Flitz will produce the same finish as a buffer (according to their claims). It is a no-brainer for me to try since I don't have a buffing wheel. If this actually works, it might be a lot easier to get that polished finish than all of that buffing (I hope)!

If it doesn't work as expected, no big deal, I have to to at least give it a try!

BTW, I mocked up the old '81 head and rear cover for the half engine and gave them a shot of of the Duplicolor Iron engine paint. When I pull the engine, I am going to prop the half engine in to see how this color looks with the black frame and tank. I can already see that the chrome bolt heads and other chrome parts look great against the Iron color. I might be accenting a few items with a satin black to see how that looks.

I may also experiment with a valve cover. The 1800 valve cover has a stripe of polished chrome through the center and the rest is painted aluminium. Might be a cool look on an 1100 cover?

Flitz is in!!

Read the directions, watched the videos and according to Flitz, aluminium with no clear coat will polish up like MAGIC!! :thanks: :yes:

Sooo.......clearcoat was removed a few weeks ago. Pull out the old trusty Craftsman 3/8" drill (kinda old....1984) and check the RPM.


1200 RPM.......not exactly lightning speed and a little under what Flitz recommends (2800 RPM) BUT...I'm on a budget and I only have $28 dollars to spend and it all went towards the Flitz kit! :whip:

(No budget for a buffing wheel around here....or room to mount one)

Just for comparison, here are the chrome aftermarket valve covers:

opcorn:

1st try with the Flitz only revealed that the minor marks in the aluminium do not polish out! :cheeky:



A little wet sanding with 1000 grit to knock down some of those marks and it now looks like this:



(Hard to get good pics inside the garage at night..)

A little more wet sanding and a little more work with the Flitz and I am not too unhappy.....



The camera is not doing the finish any justice! :cheeky: (It is hard to get a pic at night with or without a flash!)

In the end, it may not be mirror glass finish, but it sure is shined up nicely for $28. invested:

Lookin' good! Anything's better than old, dull aluminum!

Bottom line.....the valve covers were pretty bad before. The clearcoat is easy to get off with cheap Duplicolor paint stripper. I recommend a good wet sanding before using the Flitz. Lastly, although not mirror finish, it sure looks a lot better than it did before!

I'll see how it looks in the daylight tomorrow and try to get some outside pics in the sun.


Any opinions on the different engine color with the polished valve cover and chrome bolts by chance?

looks pretty good to gerry ...nice

Well done Gerry :good: