Polished Valve cover (tc)
07-02-2005, 03:50 AM
#1
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Polished Valve cover (tc)
Has anyone tried polishing thier valve cover with mothers or some other metal polish? I have seen the pics of the red painted valve cover and I loved it but I don't want the down time. Any ideas or examples would be tight sorry if this is a repost!
07-02-2005, 04:08 AM
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iwould take alot more time to polish it. plus to do it right you would still have to take the valve cover off. It would look really sweet, but youll halso have pretty regular maintenence
07-02-2005, 04:42 AM
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polishing is a true pain in the ___, and it takes alot more than just some metal polish.
It took me about 7 hours to hand polish my b16 valve cover. The sad thing is, after about a month or 2 it will look like crap all over again, if you want to do something, get it professionally chromed. Polishing sucks.
It took me about 7 hours to hand polish my b16 valve cover. The sad thing is, after about a month or 2 it will look like crap all over again, if you want to do something, get it professionally chromed. Polishing sucks.
07-02-2005, 10:48 AM
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I've read somwhere that the valve cover on the TC (the one under the plastic cover, of course) is made of Magnesium. It does look a little different color-wise compared to the Aluminum alloy head and block.
The question would be, can you polish Magnesium?
IMO, don't bother, cause the magnesium cover looks boring with no markings anyway. Just paint the plastic cover on it any color you want instead.
Chombi
The question would be, can you polish Magnesium?
IMO, don't bother, cause the magnesium cover looks boring with no markings anyway. Just paint the plastic cover on it any color you want instead.
Chombi
07-03-2005, 12:04 AM
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This is from another post I did so you can get an idea of what painted looks like. It is cast Aluminum, if you look at the very from edge of the valve cover/block meets you will see the mold inlets which are pretty rough. I have seen a polished valve cover and it looks good, with aluminum, it requires constant polishing and with all the wires. It may be more work then it is worth, chrome it then.
***
Pretty easy to do, not that expensive and the turn around was only a couple of days. Chris from n2htwlz whom some of you may know the “Hot Wheels” XB, CHris is the bomb for paint work. If you want a color theme in the engine bay and wan't to have that unique look and presentation. Pack up all the engine bay goodies and send it off to be painted.
***
Pretty easy to do, not that expensive and the turn around was only a couple of days. Chris from n2htwlz whom some of you may know the “Hot Wheels” XB, CHris is the bomb for paint work. If you want a color theme in the engine bay and wan't to have that unique look and presentation. Pack up all the engine bay goodies and send it off to be painted.
07-03-2005, 12:17 AM
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Originally Posted by slowpoke
I highly doubt that vc is made of magnesium. Magnesium is expensive, its most likely cast aluminum.
2nd paragraph 6th line
07-03-2005, 12:20 AM
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ScottsdaleTC
I love the hell out of the engine bay and the vc I am trying to do this on the vehicle i didnt want to open up the engine and risk some service writer pencil dick tell me they won't cover and engine problem.
I love the hell out of the engine bay and the vc I am trying to do this on the vehicle i didnt want to open up the engine and risk some service writer pencil dick tell me they won't cover and engine problem.
07-03-2005, 01:36 AM
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Originally Posted by slowpoke
I highly doubt that vc is made of magnesium. Magnesium is expensive, its most likely cast aluminum.
Looky here: www.autofieldguide.com/articles/060401.html - 27k
I googled it under "magnesium valve cover Scion TC and got a lot of links saying the same thing.
Trust Chombi, he knows what he's talking about............most of the time
07-09-2005, 01:39 PM
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Polish magesium just like you would aluminum. It won't end up looking much different than aluminum. Once you have it all polished, either clearcoat it , have it clear anodized or clear powder coated and you won't have to polish it again.
07-09-2005, 03:24 PM
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actually i was working on this last week for about 10-15 minutes before work. i have only spent 20 minutes tops on this because ive had alot of work going on. so next week i will buckel down and try to get it all done. but here are pics as of 7/2/05
