Polishing rocker covers

A short while ago my best mate for about 30 years Stuart, took the engine out of his '71 bay so he could fix a small oil leak and make the finishing touches to the pipework on his home made turbo system. Stuart asked me if I could polish his rocker covers for him while the engine was out, and of course I said I would.

 

 

This is how the majority of VW rocker covers
look like. Due to their location they get all sorts
of road dirt and grime thrown up at them and
of course most are original, therefore they 
have had at least 40 years of abuse.

Actually Stuarts covers were not that bad.
OK they had a small amount of pitting and
they had lost their shine many years ago, but
there are worse ones out there.

From this angle you can see the true condition
of the rocker covers.

After a quick clean up with cleaning fluid to
remove the general road grime and grease 
they are starting to look better already.

Next job was to rub them down, I would have
normally used the sander but as these were
not to bad I used course, medium and fine
wet and dry until the minor imperfections had
all but gone and they felt nice and smooth.
Next job was out with the polishing kit. Starting
with the course cutting compound to remove
the pitting and any scratches, then moving onto
the medium compound to buff them up and
then finishing off with the polishing compound
to bring out the shine until I was happy with 
how they looked. This one cover took about
3 hours work.

Well worth 3 hours work, it's almost like new.
It is quite satisfying to do this sort of polishing
work.

Nice and smooth and shiny, it's a shame they
will only be seen if someone gets on the hands
and knees and looks underneath Stuart's bay.

One down, one to go.

After approximately another 3 hours sanding,
cutting and polishing the pair are complete.

The finished items. Stuart was happy with
the result, which is all that matters. And I
have to say I'm also pleased with how
well they polished up.

By the way, in case anyone was wondering
what the plug is for on the left hand cover,
it's for an oil drain pipe for Stuarts turbo.
You can see how Stuart built his turbo
 system from scratch for his 1679cc, '71 bay
in his workshop by visiting his blog at:
http://chequeredfrontvw.blogspot.co.uk/
Check out the blog archive menu on the
right of his page to see all his blog entries
about his turbo and other work he has
carried out of various vehicles.