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Pull them, take them to a chrome plating shop and ask them to polish the covers and between the fins. Shouldn't cost much. I had this done several years ago on a couple flat bottom drag boats.
I responded to your thread with photos on the NCRS TDB. I used Mother's aluminum polish and my Dremel with small round soft polishing disk attachments in the grooves. I also noted as did Easy Mike above that they weren't highly polished originally.....!!! You could probably just use mild dish soap and water with a soft tooth brush to clean out the grooves. There are tons of NCRS threads with techniques and products listed to clean them and keep the original dull patina.
Since my car is an L48 and came with the metal orange VC's, and plain black AC lid, after I had it judged I installed the GM HP aluminum covers and a chrome AC lid to dress it up a little. Personally I prefer the polished look.
Never really understood why GM never kept the chrome lid (at least) on the Corvettes in 73 & up. I guess they saved some $$$$$.
Great looking car BTW
Jimmy
Your choice, but LT-1 valve covers were not polished.
Since I do not have original unpolished LT1 covers, and I had to buy the polished GM replacement ones sold by the vendors, how can I produce that even dull unpolished look like the original LT1 Covers on my polished ones? It Needs to be perfect and even
If you want a high polish use the Mothers as recommended by Tooch1.
For an original look; I tried a number of recommended methods and found the best cleaner for raw, unpainted parts like valve covers and intake manifolds is Eagle 1 Etching mag wheel cleaner. This product has the correct acid in it to clean the best. Don't use it on any polished item unless you intentionally want to dull them. Second step to get that factory look is to get them soda blasted. One additional recommendation is Not to spray them with any sealer or paint. Here's a couple of spares I did.
Originally Posted by Alex66
Since I do not have original unpolished LT1 covers, and I had to buy the polished GM replacement ones sold by the vendors, how can I produce that even dull unpolished look like the original LT1 Covers on my polished ones? It Needs to be perfect and even
One way to do it is by using blasting media to take the shine off. I've used regular silica sand but you have to be super duper careful and only do a very light job. I've never tried them but I assume crushed walnut shells or soda would be a safer media to use. I've done valve covers, brackets, intakes etc with sand with very good results though. I typically shoot the parts afterwards with flat clear coat to avoid powdery surface corrosion later.
Very light blasting can also do excellent prep work for paint on aluminum. Not an LTI Chevy obviously but after blasting it I painted the intake on this particular engine with a greyish color. I haven't done it yet but I plan to paint the valve covers the same color and then polish the tops of the fins too. The blue paint I used for the block and heads is for a Dodge engine but I'm not too crazy about Ford's blue engine color. This motor is going in a little `93 Ranger Splash stepside so it's not exactly a correct build anyway.
07-25-2017, 11:07 PM
