Valve Covers

[katsi]

I have the motor in the car and one spare on a stand that I plan to rebuild as soon as I can get my car sorted. The valve covers on both are really rough so I am going to assume that they all are. Not knowing a lot about metal, is it ok to go ahead and lightly grind these smooth? I would like to paint them but with all the little pimples on them, it's going to look really bad. Any thoughts? Also, they almost look as if they are stressed and cracked in places. Anyone else's look like this? Afterall, they just keep oil from squirting all over and provide a mounting point for the throttle and plug wires so I guess it's not that serrious. But, I think they are aluminum. Anyway, just asking B4 I do something I can not un-do. Thanks.

[kmac33]

You will be fine smoothing them out before painting. A number of us have polished them out completely ( I had mine chromed after polishing to make upkeep easier). Be careful using a grinder on them - it is easy to go too far with a grinder. Better to use progressively finer grits of sandpaper, or if you have air tools, a die grinder with zizz wheels.

[blurple124]

I'm restoring mine to a pseudo-polish and then painting them with clear engine enamel. Like katsi said, just work your way up in sandpaper grits. I have a Dremel that does a fantastic job.
Here is one cover when I removed it:



Here is the same cover after a bit of rough sanding (this is smooth enough for your painting, if you were going with colors:



And here is a preview of where I hope to get them before the final polish and clear coat:




So far, this is probably 4-5 hours of work.

[azruss]

most of what looks like stress cracks are actually cracks in the casting dies. you will find the older the part, the higher quality the casting. the newer covers are pretty rough. even when sanding them out, you will never get them perfect. I had good luck with my sandblasting them and then applying a clear coat for protection.