I bought an early cam cover with "Turbo Fuel Injected" cast into it and thought it would be neat to remove those words and polish it for my NA 2.3L engine. I've actually seen one done this way on the web or in a magazine somewhere.
First the my machinist didn't want to mill the words off because he said that the cover was die-cast and probably porous and brittle (compared to a sand-cast valve cover). He suggested that I take it home and sand the words off with my dremel tool.
Meanwhile I tried to strip the paint and found it difficult to remove in several places. Sure enough those areas turned out to be porous when I got more aggressive with the paint removal. I eventually had to go to a random orbit sander with 100 grit paper before I could smooth the casting out. I started block sanding with increasingly finer grits and finally stopped when I found a "watermark" pattern showing on the surface. The grain of the aluminum was showing!
So, looks like I'm back to black crinkle paint with a brushed finish on the raised surfaces!
Just thought I'd let everyone know what they were getting into if they decided to try the same.
First the my machinist didn't want to mill the words off because he said that the cover was die-cast and probably porous and brittle (compared to a sand-cast valve cover). He suggested that I take it home and sand the words off with my dremel tool.
Meanwhile I tried to strip the paint and found it difficult to remove in several places. Sure enough those areas turned out to be porous when I got more aggressive with the paint removal. I eventually had to go to a random orbit sander with 100 grit paper before I could smooth the casting out. I started block sanding with increasingly finer grits and finally stopped when I found a "watermark" pattern showing on the surface. The grain of the aluminum was showing!
So, looks like I'm back to black crinkle paint with a brushed finish on the raised surfaces!
Just thought I'd let everyone know what they were getting into if they decided to try the same.