Results: Polishing Valve Covers (Pics)

[Hisserman]

Here are the results of an improvement you can add to your Viper without a lot of money, just a lot of energy and loving care:

A week or so ago I asked if anyone had any suggestions for polishing the mag valve covers. There were several good suggestions, but the best came from V10 MAFIA. He recommended using Eagle One Wadding Polish. I wasn't able to find Eagle One, but I had learned some time ago that there were several good wadding polishes. You can get them at any good hardware store. I used Never Dull Magic Wadding Polish and the results are shown below.

UNPOLISHED VALVE COVER:

POLISHED VALVE COVER:

UNPOLISHED LETTERS (Sorry about focus, but you get the idea):

POLISHED LETTERS (Equal opportunity focus):

POLISHED SNEAKY PETE

The polishing takes some really serious elbow grease, but you can see the results are worth it. You can aid it with a felt tip on a Dremel, but it is hard to control and you risk burning into the powdercoat if you slip. The best way is to just rub your heart out.

It was a lot of hard work to get the final finish, but smooth polish is really eye catching. If you are like me, you've forgotten how good these valve covers can look. The oxidation comes back in a matter of weeks, but the wadding polish will make it quickly go away again if you keep up with it. By the way, the wadding polish cleans up your aluminum rails really well too (see polished valve cover pic). Thanks again to V10 MAFIA and all the others who offered suggestions.

 

[Sam 01 RT10]

Looks nice. I may do that one day this week.

Did you tape around the logos, or is the wadding safe enough if it accidentally gets on the powdercoat?
I've got some Eagle One in the garage waiting to be put to use.

 

[Hisserman]

The wadding is safe enough if you slip off the polished area. Just clean it off the powdercoat fairly quickly before it sets up. Go for it, you'll like it!

 

[1MEANSNAKE]

Great post, im going to try this when i get some free time.
Your elbow grease turned out excellent.

 

[Doug Supercharged Vipers]

Very nice indeed!

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

Then mist on and rub off a little WD40 or CRC to keep them from oxidizing again. Do that every couple months and you won't have to polish them again. Those with new to brand new cars do that soon and you will never have to polish. I took one look at those letters and did it the first week I had the car. Old salt water boating trick.

 

[95Viper]

Is there any truth the the posts about these oxidizing from the inside out?

I too polished mine and sprayed WD40 on a rag and wiped them and they hold their polish a long time. If they oxidize from the inside out, why would WD40 on the outside slow the process?

 

[Tiepilot]

Slowing the oxidation process by not leaving the shined magnesium exposed to air. Good Luck, I gave up polishing and touching up mine. But it is true about the oxidation statement. It'll help prolong the polishing by keeping it coated but it's not permanent.

 

[Schulmann]

Great ! I know what I will do this evening !

 

[dennis]

Painting them black looks also cool, isn't so much work, and no problems with oxidation at all.

But yeah, this looks awesome.

 

[JWVIPER]

Thanks for the pics, picked up some this weekend and will give it a shot as well !

 

[V 10 MAFIA]

Damn, they turned out great! Now I have to go work on mine. Initially it is alot of hard work but it does pay off. Now every couple of weeks you hit them again with the polish and they will brighten up fast, about 5 to 10 min. Glad I could help. I would put down masking tape over the valve cover around logo and lettering if anyone decides to try the dremmel with felt tip to protect the valve cover powdercoat.

 

[Schulmann]

Finally I managed to polish both sides of the engine.
This was a slave job ... my fingers are gone ...

 

[JWVIPER]

I did 3 ribs on one side and one VIPER logo and my fingers are done.. It works but it is tough. I dont think they look that bad after all...

 

[Hisserman]

Come on you woosies, how much do you love those cars -- you can do it! After you get it done the first time it is a lot easier to keep them clean from then on.

At this week's cruise-in a Vette owner who saw my valve covers wondered which aftermarket place I'd bought them from. When I told him that they were stock, he dropped his jaw and said "You're sh*Ting me!!" -- loved every minute of it.