So this is what 56 degrees F looks like!

W

White95Max

New member
Wash/S&G/Paste Glaz



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I'm determined to get that orange peel out of the valve cover. Since my arm is trying to tell me that it's tired of polishing aluminum, I think I'll have to bust out the PC with a 4" orange pad and use the Mothers mag polish with that. If that orange peel was gone, the reflections could be terrific.
 
Thats a casting texture. Be careful when you sand it down, I've seen a few Mazda covers that started to leak after people sanded them down. Some of the pits go very deep and if you try to chase them out you end up with tiny pin hole in the cover.
 
Hmm. I guess I could always just do the letters and leave the rest alone. I don't plan on actually sanding the aluminum. I'll just use the 4" pad and see where that gets me.



If the pits aren't holes now, it couldn't hurt to polish the surrounding area down to that level right? I mean obviously I don't have any need to polish deeper than the pits. Chances are I don't have the patience to polish that far down. I think it would take forever. But I can see polishing the letters until they are nearly perfect.
 
Just a shot in the dark, but try sanding it down a bit to even the surface out then do multiple coats of hi temp paint (bright silver or chrome) and sand between layers. My guess after a few layers and sanding in between would give a nice even finish. Take this with precaution since i have never done it and its just a total un-educated suggestion! :)
 
I plan to do just that with the upper heat shield. You can see how corroded it is near the screws. I'll have to see how the PC works on the valve cover before considering other possiblities.
 
I know what you mean, Paul. When I was much younger, my Dad got transfered to Chicago for a couple of years. After a month straight of subfreezing temperatures, it warmed to 37 degrees and I was outside in a t-shirt and perfectly comfortable even though there was still a lot of snow on the ground.
 
Yep. It all depends on what you're used to. When you struggle to get above 25* for a week, hitting 50* is cause for celebration!
 
White95Max said:
I plan to do just that with the upper heat shield. You can see how corroded it is near the screws. I'll have to see how the PC works on the valve cover before considering other possiblities.
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Is that your excuse for not cleaning it up properly. lol Good luck with the polishing, should be fun. I polished my fuel rails, but they were probably a little easier.
 
Well I polished it in the fall, but no I didn't clean it before these pics. The underside of the hood is pretty dirty too. All I did was polish the metal lines in the engine bay, and the valve cover.
 
I can only polish my fuel rails and AC condensor. :( The rest I gotta buy and its not cheap. :( We are going to get after pics of it right? You gunna do the intake?
 
No way I'm attempting the intake manifold. I'll scrub it with a toothbrush and APC, but that's as far as I'm going. The texture on that thing would take a ton of work to smooth out. And I'd have to remove it in order to work on it.
 
White95Max said:
No way I'm attempting the intake manifold. I'll scrub it with a toothbrush and APC, but that's as far as I'm going. The texture on that thing would take a ton of work to smooth out. And I'd have to remove it in order to work on it.
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You know what you need...you need a dremil (spelling?), it would make it a lot easier.
 
dunno, i'm pretty impressed with that valve cover! And at any rate, I like the orange peel look of that valve cover. It gives this more rugged look.



How did you get it so clean? What did you used to polish?



My Protege's block was pretty bad last spring: (70K miles of no cleaning)



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I didn't even know how to approach polishing that ('cause I'm a n00b).



So if anything, that should make you feel much better about your own engine's look.
 
Heh, that's not too bad. Here's what mine looked like when I bought it at 64K miles.



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I used Mothers Mag/Aluminum Polish by hand, applied with cotton terry towels. It takes som elbow grease for sure, but it's worth it in the end. Maintaining this look only takes 5 minutes/month.
 
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