Re: Chrome Valve Cover!
Originally posted by gotsoot
... and he called about the price for a piece big enough to make the cover, are you ready- 250. 00! so the billet cover to me would be out of the question.
That is only a mere drop in the bucket as to what my Cummins ("red") valve cover cost to chrome plate by the top plating shop in the Northwest! Add to that a custom machined billet aluminum oil fill cap cover and the 5 "large style" (i. e. , '98. 5/'99) hold down bolts... and that was with my labor decking the top of the valve cover and smoothing/detailing the lower "clamp" periphery prior to submission to the chrome plating shop.
Decking the top of the valve cover was decided upon to give the cast aluminum valve cover that billet look. A single point fly cutter was utilized as the best means to impart as little deflection to the top of the valve cover surface as possible. This was important because I knew that once I had it chrome plated it would look like a mirror and it had to be dead flat or it would look warped, definitely detracting from the look I was after. After the fly cutting operation, I followed up with a random orbital sander to blend the freshly decked surface to the periphery of the oil fill boss and rear angled section of the top of the valve cover.
Once everything was back from the plating shop, I tightened each of the five hold down bolts equally and sequentially, using a precision straight edge to double check deflection of the surface. I was ultimately pleased with the results.
Vaughn, thanks for posting that pic of my engine compartment on page 2 of this thread... and for the kind words.
Bob, I want to see your new valve cover for myself... it looks nice. Is it done in CermaChrome? If so, that's the same process that Dave Perea had applied to his ATS exhaust manifold.
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