Fabricated valve covers - should I anodize

[Mkuhn138]

I just got these fabricated valve covers from Jeff Johnstons billet fab. My plan all along has been to anodize them black to match many other parts I have. However, after receiving them and admiring the craftsmanship I feel like anodizing may take away from the raw impressiveness of them. What do you all think??? I mean these things are truly a work of art...

 

[cybrfire]

I just got these fabricated valve covers from Jeff Johnstons billet fab. My plan all along has been to anodize them black to match many other parts I have. However, after receiving them and admiring the craftsmanship I feel like anodizing may take away from the raw impressiveness of them. What do you all think??? I mean these things are truly a work of art... View attachment 147934

I think it'd be a shame to hide all that nice work.

 

[CGT80]

Clear coat them. They might look good polished but the aluminum will get dull looking whether they are polished or left as is. My aluminum ladder rack and tool boxes went dull and collected crap on them. Luckily my two big side boxes from Jobox/delta are clear coated. They are 7 years old and still look like new.

 

[Deuling]

Much too pretty to anodize.


If you clear coat. Look into a clear that wont yellow from the engine heat. Standard clear coats do. My nice intake is yellowish now because of that

 

[Fordum]

They do a clear anodize. Basically its a quick acid wash to create a microscopic oxide coat, followed by a hot water bath to stop the oxidation and harden it.

Not quite as good as a electrical anodize, but tougher than coatings. Try a search on it. Its used when you want aluminum to stay shiny.

 

[munepit]

What others have said! Dont cover that up!!!

 

[Mkuhn138]

Yeah definitely think I'm gonna go with the raw finish. Do you think clear anodize or powder is even necessary? There's not really going to be anything contacting them that will abrade the surface (that I can think of at least). I still think clear anodize may dumb down the look a little?

 

[rdn2blazer]

Over time they will start to corrode. You know that white pitting like aluminum does. Unless you keep them polished often, I would clear anodize them. There is clear powder coat as well. I think anodize would look nicer though. I clear powder coated a brand new Edelbrock manifold and it had a very slight off clear tint to it. Kind of bugged me but not enough to change it.

 

[Mkuhn138]

OK, so I decided to clear anodize and do the fill cap red. I dropped them off today and the coatings place called me back in 4 hours telling me they were ready. They turned out great - they definitely have more of an aerospace look than a hotrod look, which is fine by me.

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys.

 

[DEMON44]

Nice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[livid4dirt]

OK, so I decided to clear anodize and do the fill cap red. I dropped them off today and the coatings place called me back in 4 hours telling me they were ready. They turned out great - they definitely have more of an aerospace look than a hotrod look, which is fine by me.

Thanks for all of the suggestions guys.

Those turned out real nice, great fab work and cooler than chitt.

 

[Avery4jc]

I have an almost identical set of valve covers on my truck and I polished them A LOT and slapped them on. They get dirty and oily after wheeling but I can just wipe them with a soft towel and they look great again.