Chrome dipping?

[xertia]

I've noticed a few nice polished chrome looking rocker covers around and wonder how much that sort of look costs? Can you actually chrome dip the rocker cover, or do they just paint them?

Cheers.

[AU dude]

Since the rocker cover is cast aluminium, i polished mine myself. I used some wet and dry sand paper, 1200, 1500, then polished it up with a meguiars all metal polish. It cost me $14 all up and a couple of hours work, and i didnt even remove my rocker cover. It come up pretty shiny....

Then again you can get someone else to dip it or polish it up, so your probably looking at a few hundred dollars. But weres the fun in that.....

[au2sw]

was it just the standard 6 rocker cover, or is it the vct? and how much did the powder coating on the inlet manifold cost you? looks **** hot. did you do the same thing with the thermastat housing (wet and dry and polish)? me thinks it is time for me to do something like this.......and its cheap....DOUBLE BONUS!!!!!!

[AU dude]

Originally Posted by au2sw

was it just the standard 6 rocker cover, or is it the vct? and how much did the powder coating on the inlet manifold cost you? looks **** hot. did you do the same thing with the thermastat housing (wet and dry and polish)? me thinks it is time for me to do something like this.......and its cheap....DOUBLE BONUS!!!!!!

Its just a standard inline 6. I removed all inlet piping and spark plug leads, cleaned rocker cover up with soapy water and steel wool, then used wet sand paper over the rocker with 1200 then 1500. I made my own little buffing tool and polished over it a few times, and it come up like it is now. The trick to get it really good is alot of preperation, you have to sand it heaps and get it smooth or else the the polished look wont come up good.

Inlet is sprayed with normal car paint, but i only did one coat of clear and scraped a tiny bit when i installed it back on.

[xertia]

Yeah that looks nice man, I think I'll go the wet and dry method too. ;-)

Cheers.

[JoesAu]

i started mine today, ive used 400 first off to cut off the crap of the top. Im going up gradually im using 600 at the moment. then i'll use 800, then jump to 1200. then polish it with a buff. u need to press pretty hard.

[james22]

Currently doing mine at the moment too. What a PITA. I used a wire brush wheel in a drill, then attacked with wet & dry sandpaper, then grabbed a buffer and used auto sol metal polish to finish the job.

[JoesAu]

ive got it bACK to bAre alloy just about, im getting no where really now i cant get the finish i want, im going to get a fibre polishing wheel to see how that goes, also im gonna clear it as well, paint it, so it doesnt tarnish and go discoloured.

[AU dude]

so hows everyone going with there rocker cover?

[Mr_4.0]

it will discolour over time no matter what paint you use.

i used expensive paint, and did MANY coats, and mine is no where near the same as it used to be.

why dont u guys just take it to a place that does coating and so forth, and pay them to professionally machine it back like they would before a powder coat or paint job. then tell them just to polish it at that point. that way u get what you want. sometimes payuing someone to do something isnt so bad.

i have seen sooooooooo many "home improved" rocker covers come up looking like C.RAP!

[XR-ENVI]

professional polishing isnt very costly it at all
we had a whole heap done and it was very well priced
if you wanna save elbow grease then look into it
in geelong we went to a place called classic chrome in Lambert ave
paid about 250 for heaps of stuff

[AU dude]

Were is the fun in getting someone else to do it? i dont care if it was a backyard job. the main reason i wanted to do it because it was cheap and i had the time to do it. plus i didnt have to take the rocker cover off. i am very happy with the end result.

[JoesAu]

yeah but u didnt use 2paK thats why it discoloured. My ccover looks like stainless steel at the moment. Im gonna polish it tommorow should look awsome with buff. Then Clear it.

[walker]

Powder coating is not all that dear and comes up really well, chrome dipping also looks the part but the only thing with chrome it holds in the heat...

2pak would be the next beat thing

[JoesAu]

well i didnt get time to clear it, just bout to get my car running after 3 weeks.

[AU dude]

Originally Posted by JoesAu

well i didnt get time to clear it, just bout to get my car running after 3 weeks.

did you polish it up?
any pics?

[au2sw]

havent started yet, just never enough time, its a one day job atm.

[AU dude]

i think it took me about 4-5hours to do

[JC]

A cheap option (not polished though) is to use VHT wrinkle finish paint - looks great, and comes in red, black and blue.