Originally Posted by Strife

Do you want the original finish or polished so that you can see yourself? Is your air cleaner cover steel or aluminum (not sure of '80). If you want a real polish, a lot of dirty, hard work is involved. I polished mine - the air cleaner was fairly easy but the cam covers took a lot of sanding work and a buffing machine. The earlier covers are rougher castings than the latter ones, in what I've seen. The covers are delicate, and you should mount them on a board if you are going to sand them or polish them, because they can warp.
I have some pictures on my website.

As far as cleaning is concerned, no good can come from pressure washing. You would be asking for trouble of the worst (electrical) kind. Once you get rid of leaks (my valve cover gaskets were shot) and hand-clean, the remainder burns off and you wind up with a decent-looking engine.

This weekend, I lost my mind and polished out my power steering pump!