mobile?Metal finishing Q&As since 1989
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Trying to match cast aluminum valve cover finish
Q. Okay, I work for a prominent hot rods parts manufacturer.
I'm new
Trying to make valve cover spacers (look like Lincoln Logs) match valve covers for LS engines.
Help, trying for a raise.
Don Allen- Knoxville, Tennessee
May 16, 2024
(to provide context, hopefully helping readers more quickly understand the Q&A's)
Apparently, upgraded high performance valve assemblies won't fit under standard valve covers, so one alternative to taller valce covers is to use the standard valve covers but put spacers under the valve cover of sufficient height to allow clearance. A quick googling says these spacers are sometimes cast aluminum and sometimes machined from billet aluminum.
A. Hi Don.
You are speaking of "match" rather than look as good or better. There are other ways to match a finish, but the easiest is to follow 3 steps:
• use the same material/alloy
• apply the same mechanical finish
• apply the same finishing process.
Do you know the alloy used in those valve covers and in your spacers, and whether they are the same? Do you know the mechanical finish that was applied to the valve covers? That's what you should try to use on your spacers. Do you know what finish is applied on those valve covers? Presumably it's anodizing, but I'm not enough of a Corvette enthusiast to know.
I suspect that mechanical buffing is the easiest way to get your spacers to look "close".
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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