Tech- restoring aluminum valve covers

Tech- Restoring cracked and faded aluminum valve covers

This has probably been covered before, but still gonna give it a go. But first a warning. If you follow this advice, you'll probably leave every swap meet for years with beat up aluminum covers in your grubby paws. Anyone can do it, just takes patience and minimal tools.

Step 1, paint removal- A thorough degreasing followed by aerosol aircraft stripper from any local parts store. You may be thinking that strong chemicals like paint stripper could damage aluminum- but that's what aircraft are made of, so it's cool. Rinse thoroughly and use a scotch brite to dislodge the worst stuff.



Step 2, asses the damage. You may uncover cracks once the paint is gone, that's also cool. Dings and gouges are not such an issue, you can sand quite a bit out. You can even weld in other chunks (broken fin) and it'll all polish out the same. Already looking better, the paint stripper removes some oxidation



Step 3, dig the crack out. Our subject has a typical crack around the mounting boss. Use a dremel tool or other small grinder to V notch any damage on both sides. Be liberal with the V, and drill the endpoint of the crack. In some cases, may be appropriate to chase the crack with a hacksaw, by hand, slowly. Then clean the wound with brake clean or other solvent to get residual engine oil out of the crack. You're ready for welding. This picture is about 2/3 dug out.

 

Step 4, take it to somebody that can weld aluminum and be ready to buy their lunch. I've had it done a few places, ends up $20-30 everywhere. It was welded both sides, but didn't need finished inside.



Step 5, dremel the welds back to the parent surfaces and wetsand all defects and grind marks out of the cover with 220 on a palm sander. This is where you attack any dings or gouges or convert milled surfaces to polished. Do your best to smooth em, it's amazing what high polish will hide when it's all said and done, just take the sharp lines out of defects. Sorry, no in-process wetsanding pics, you'll have to use your imagination but it's straightforward. Here's the only tools needed get it ready for polish



Step 6, pre-polish sanding. 400 wet on the palm sander, all over the covers, focus on problem areas that are not sanding evenly. You're removing 20 years of oxide and imbedded grime. Focus anywhere 220 was used. Will take 10-15 minutes per cover, minimum. Repeating the process with 600 or 800, 5 minutes per cover, will save some buffing time later on, but isn't necessary unless you're being picky.

Now you may be wondering, with all the high-tech gear thus far, surely his buffing process is equally space age. Boy are you right. Here's my buffer, 1960s montgomery ward 115V electric motor on a $15 chinese pedestal. Before I fully welded the bolt-together pedestal, filled 12" up the tube with lead wheel weights. It's dreamy and doesn't walk around thanks to the vibration absorption. Also convenient to carry into the backyard, where the buffing mess goes un-noticed.

 

Buffing materials you may ask....Again, leading edge stuff here. I buy at Lowes cause they're close to the house and somehow I'm always out of compound on sunday evening. Their compounds are numbered, but seem like tripoli and jewler's rouge to me. Anyway, pick up 2 wheels, cause you need 2 compounds. #3 for rough polishing (tripoli) and #6 for final polishing (jewler's rouge). Label your wheels so that you don't mix compounds. Who you buy from doesn't matter, but be consistent so you're not putting different stuff on the wheels every time you run out. These 2 wheels and 2 sticks will set ya back like $18



Step 7, the finish line- The buffing process is pretty straightforward. Load the wheel by holding the stick into it, then polish an area of the cover. You'll consume about 1/8-1/4 stick of each compound, per cover. I like to keep a water sprayer handy, it extends compound use and reduces heat. After rough cut, wipe it down with a clean cotton towel (no red rags). You may decide to spot repolish if there's stubborn defects, and there probably will be. Lastly, repeat the process using the final polish and wheel to bring the hard shine to life.

Congratulations, you made it. Your covers that looked like this



Now look like this

 

PS- Your newfound polishing skills can also be used on stainless steel with slight adjustment to the compounds and new wheels. (don't use the same wheel on 2 metals). Now you can waste all kinds of time doing stuff like polished custom exhaust (or just custom tips) Borla exhaust tubing is particularly smooth, and really no harder to polish than aluminum

 

Lookin' good.

Ever think about gas welding the aluminum?

 

Super nice results. I'm already hooked on tryin this myself.

 

Everything in these pics looks great!

(...except Bud Light.)

 

Why would you gas weld the AL ? just TIG it...

 

looks good.......I need to dig out my crusty old finned covers and get to work.

 

Not everyone has a TIG.

 

Just curious, is the beer essential for getting the paint stipped off?

 

Thanks I needed some advice for restoring

my edelbrock valve covers

 

Naw, just a reward for doin' the first stage!

 

On a related note, do you have any tips on removing stubborn oil stains on aluminum parts? I've had parts where chemicals (I've tried engine cleaners and the green stuff), bead blasting, and buffing would not remove the deep stains that are down in the pours. I haven't tried brake cleaner. Does that work? There must be a way!

 

Aluminum valve covers are like women. When soaked with alcohol, their coverings fall off.

That's exactly the case here. In a few years I hope to add a TIG to the garage, but for now $20 every couple months gets me by.

This post's intent was to show the average HAMBr can do it, and may already have most of the tools. You don't need a TIG or a pricey professional buffer to make it happen.

Thanks everyone

 

A baseline TIG is only about 2x the price of a good gas welding setup (or a cheap MIG) and is way more than 2x the capability.

But yeah, for 20 each bucks I will weld your VC cracks all day long

 

Awesome tech.

 

Yes, it is absolutely esential as it is used as a universal solvent in this case.

 

Thanks!

 

Worked great!

Formerly factory wrinkle-painted (they didn't have a choice, really crappy castings) '78-'82 Corvette finned V/Cs now look semi-presentable.

 

Great Tech. You make those covers look great.

 

All of my covers are cleaned in a heated ultrasonic cleaner overnight. It pulls much of the oil out of the pores, and leaves as natural of a finish as possible.

 

Great Tech story. The welding up of cracks and flaws tells how many AL items can be brought back to life!

 

Well, now I don't have an excuse to not make the old Cal Customs covers I picked up this summer look like new. Not painted, but oxidized.

 

This thread actually helped somebody do a set of covers????

AWESOME! You just totally made my day.

(Yeah, I know, it's been a mediocre day at best.)

I've been looking for a cheap set of those covers with the same idea

 

Not advisable to use brake clean prior to welding. http://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner--phosgene-gas.html

 

I wish we had the pics back.

 

That's not a beer, that's a Bud light!!!

 

"On a related note, do you have any tips on removing stubborn oil stains on aluminum parts? I've had parts where chemicals (I've tried engine cleaners and the green stuff), bead blasting, and buffing would not remove the deep stains that are down in the pours. I haven't tried brake cleaner. Does that work? There must be a way! "
A friend of mine back in 65 put a set of stained but clean vette covers on his new impala. He used Skelly Supreme motor oil and by the next oil change the stains were gone. Clean motor oil is one of the fastest ways to clean dirty greasy hands. Exactly how this applies I'm not sure.
Pete

 

10+ year old thread brought back from the dead! But a good one, still! Polishing is good therapy waiting on spring to finally spring in these parts.