I cleaned my engine well with Castrol Super Clean which did a great job removing the dirt/grease, but also removed what was left of the finish on my valve cover.

I decided to refinish it, so I stopped by the dealer and picked up a new valve cover gasket, then picked up some sand paper, black BBQ paint and some rough scouring pads from the hardware store. Since the finish was gone and the valve cover was clean, there was not much prep work to do. I pulled the valve cover off and scrubbed it down to the bare metal. I then put 5 or 6 light coats of the black paint on, letting it dry between coats. After the final coat was dry, I wrapped some fine sandpaper over a small block of wood and sanded the top off the lettering and ribs across the top.

The entire process only took a few hours and came out really well. This made a huge improvement on the looks of the engine.

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