Cleaning up finned aluminum valve covers

[Rookie Vette owner]

I found a set of the finned aluminum valve covers today at the Food Lion Auto Fair in Charlotte this morning. Hopefully $100 was a decent price. They have a few years of oil and crud on them and I was looking for a little help in cleaning/restoring them. I am not sure what the surface should look like; satin, smooth, etc. I have seen some that were polished, but I don't think that is original. Would sand blasting be too harsh? Should they be coated with a clear coat after they have been cleaned.

Thanks for any input.

 

[KANE]

I found a set of the finned aluminum valve covers today at the Food Lion Auto Fair in Charlotte this morning. Hopefully $100 was a decent price. They have a few years of oil and crud on them and I was looking for a little help in cleaning/restoring them. I am not sure what the surface should look like; satin, smooth, etc. I have seen some that were polished, but I don't think that is original. Would sand blasting be too harsh? Should they be coated with a clear coat after they have been cleaned.

Thanks for any input.

You'll need these four things if you want to get to polished -
1.) Paint stripper
2.) Green 3M scratch pads
3.) Several Dremel polishing wheels, wire brush, polishing compound
4.) Lots of elbow grease!!

I would clear coat them after doing any repainting or polishing. I'd say that sandblasting could work- but you'd end up with a lot of time taking out scratches from the process.

I thought about polishing my L82's valve covers to match my TPI intake that I polished when I was installing it. I decided polished valve covers are way over done- I'd rather paint mine the same color as the body and contrast the valve covers against the TPI (which is polished).

$100 isn't too bad so as long as they aren't cracked, warped or deficient in some way.

Whatever you decide- post pics!

:cool

 

[wishuwerehere82]

I guess it depends on what you want them to look like when finished.
Years of crud will disappear with some Goop hand cleaner and a toothbrush.
If the varnish inside is tough to get off, some engine degreaser will loosen it up.

Now the outside finish will be showing signs of age.
Sandblasting is a one-way trip for aluminum. It will deform thin materials by expanding the surface that is blasted. Likewise with Glass beading. I'm not saying it will warp the covers, but it could in the process of getting the oxide off.
The other reason I call it a one-way trip is that the surface gets so rough that it is very hard to get any other finish on it, sanded and polished for example.

Sanding and polishing to a mirror finish is an option, if that's what you want.
You can use a wet-or-dry sandpaper to wet sand the oxide off. 320 grit works to remove oxide and pitting, then go to 400 grit , 800 grit, and then move to polishing compound.
Buffing wheels with different grit polishing compunds are available from Eastwood, Sears, and industrial finishing companies. You CAN do it by hand, but a good buffing wheel and an electric motor cuts down on the carpal tunnel syndrome. Complete degreasing after buffing removes all of the wax binder used in the buffing compounds. Goop hand cleaner works well for removing buffing compound, Dawn dishwashing liquid afterwards will remove the fingerprints.

A high temp clearcoat will complete the job, but will reult in a slightly duller finish than the original polished finish because of light scattering in the clearcoat. Alsa Corp. makes a clearcoat for chrome finishes that is supposedly more transparent than other clear coats.

One other consideration is to make sure that they are really Aluminum, and not Magnesium. Magnesium is very flammable, and sanding can result in piles of extremely flammable dust that will burn white hot if ignited. This is why I recommend wet-sanding.

 

[fine69]

I found a set of the finned aluminum valve covers today at the Food Lion Auto Fair in Charlotte this morning. Hopefully $100 was a decent price. They have a few years of oil and crud on them and I was looking for a little help in cleaning/restoring them. I am not sure what the surface should look like; satin, smooth, etc. I have seen some that were polished, but I don't think that is original. Would sand blasting be too harsh? Should they be coated with a clear coat after they have been cleaned.

Thanks for any input.

$100 is a pretty good price for the pair. I have em in both my cars. Although the Vette has the polished valve covers, they were originally a brushed aluminum finish. I think the original look better.

I would not clear coat them --- as in time the paint will eventually yellow from the extended heat.

 

[Rookie Vette owner]

Thanks again for all the input, I believe that I'll just give them a light degreasing for now and see how they turn out. I think the original finish is what I am striving for.

 

[minifridge1138]

I'm not sure what they were like in 1973, but the ones on my 1982 were black, the tips of the fins were white (i believe) and they had the crossed flag emblem on the passenger side.

 

[petes74ttop]

Hi RVO, Lowes speedway is one of the best shows in the Charlotte area, sorry I missed you and sorry you got those valve covers before I did! I'll be there in the spring, hope to meet you then. PG.

 

[Rookie Vette owner]

I'll definitely be back, I try to make it in the spring and fall. You never know what you will find.. As a matter of fact, that is where I found my 73 last fall.
Hope to see you there.

 

[GerryLP]

You'll need these four things if you want to get to polished -
1.) Paint stripper
2.) Green 3M scratch pads
3.) Several Dremel polishing wheels, wire brush, polishing compound
4.) Lots of elbow grease!! ....
I'd rather paint mine the same color as the body and contrast the valve covers against the TPI (which is polished).

$100 isn't too bad so as long as they aren't cracked, warped or deficient in some way.

Whatever you decide- post pics!

:cool

Darkshark's list is pretty complete.

On originally-painted aluminum (or magnesium alloy types) finned valve cover, one should be prepared for finding voids on the casted surface. It would almost seem that perhaps one way to explain for the manufacturer to go from the bare covers to painted covers was to recover the cost on bad castings.

On my L81 set, I had to strip them pretty clean, and this also removed the filler they had used on them. I used a metal filler to fill the voids, sand, and then paint the covers.

 

[Rookie Vette owner]

Is there any way to determine whether they are aluminum or magnesium? Different part numbers?:confused

 

[Curtis]

Seems like we did a test in chemistry class in High School to determine metal types.. It did involve fire and the color of the flame as the metals were introduced. I am too old to remember the specifics. :W

 

[GerryLP]

Seems like we did a test in chemistry class in High School to determine metal types.. It did involve fire and the color of the flame as the metals were introduced. I am too old to remember the specifics. :W

...please don't try this at home, but even more so, not with the cover you want to salvage...otfl

 

[Curtis]

Oh where is your sense of adventure Gerry ?

 

[wishuwerehere82]

If you take a scraping with a razor blade off the inside of the valve cover, Magnesium will burn white hot on it's own when held to a match. Aluminum will not burn, but it will melt.

 

[Rookie Vette owner]

I think I'll try the scrapping first, but the other does sound interesting. I don't remember the test in question from school, but I do remember the Navy training videos that went on to say that the magnesium fire could not be extinguished so you had to let it just burn itself out. On a ship that meant that if it was a big piece it would burn right through the decks and keep going if you couldn't get it jettisoned overboard quickly.

Are the aluminum covers more common? worth less?

Thanks again for all the input!!