I just got my valve cover back from the Powder Coating shop. I had it done in a color called "bright aluminum" it makes it looked like polished aluminum. I like it. I have the exhaust manifolds, and crossover pipes etc getting ceramic coated in a similar color. Will post those photos when I get all the parts back.

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Mercedes Fleet:
2004 CL600 Designo Espresso SPORT
2004 S600 Designo Espresso SPORT/Lorinser Pkg.
1999 S320
1988 300TE
1972 280SEL 4.5
Diesel Fleet:
2014 GL350 Blutec
1987 300SDL Blk/Blk 4 place seating #18 head
1987 300SDL Smk Slv/Burgangy #17 head
1986 300SDL Blk Pearl/Palomino #14 head w/ 280K
1984 Lincoln Mark VII Fact BMW Turbo Diesel

That's gorgeous. Now I know what I'm doing to mine. I'd be embarrased to post a picture of it right now.

Can you provide info on source, cost, and details?

TIA

You are going to make me want to do something I really can't afford to do right now.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Lemme see here....................$5K from one Honda Civic.................minus $2.8K for one M/B 300D.....................hmmmmmm..................seems a bit difficult................equals.........................ahhhh...................$2.2K.

More than enough money!

Verizon just bought MCI ................7,000 likely layoffs............and who knows who.

Big mortgage payment + horrible taxes = not as much in bank as I wish I had.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

You paying $5K down there yet?

For 2,000 square feet.

4 bedroom Colonial cost me $450 a month in property taxes effective this month

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

wow. mine's only about 425 a quarter just a little to the north of you... 3br cape cod on 1 acre

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

Yep, just over $5K per year.

About the same as here for an older colonial.

Newer houses are closer to $7.5K.

here's my air filter cover- it's color is called "elbow grease" My valve cover is the same color. Goggle " clean cycle " and buy some miracle metal polish. It's cheaper than powder coating, but that 603 cover looks NICE.

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Assesments are way behind the curve of fair market value.........and that scares the hell out of me. THe assesment is still only 60% of what it would sell for right now.

And assesments are based on 100% of fair market value here.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
---------------------
Section 609 MVAC Certified
---------------------
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Fortunately, they never did get that done here. This house is still assessed at $2,000. which is, supposedly, 1.01% of the "full value" of $198K.

Of course, if they decided to do a wholesale reappraisal of the full value for the entire town, naturally everybody would be screaming bloody murder. No politician could risk it.

William, did that cover start out painted? Did you strip it of paint first?
It also looks fantastic.

How much of that "elbow grease" color is required for that result?

Both the valve cover and the air cleaner cover look awesome! My vote is going to have to go to the air cleaner cover because that's all that's in my price range...
Elbow grease is still affordable, however, I think mine's too far gone to polish up that well.
Nice job fellas.

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I polished my air cleaner and I bought a set of used valve covers and polished them this winter, as well obtaining/polishing a used fan blade.

I used stuff I bought from Caswell Plating (www.caswellplating.com), a buffing kit with some polishes, buffers, and an arbor. They have really neat stuff.

YOU NEED TO WEAR A MASK WHILE DOING THIS. It took some time to get the hang of it but it worked very well. The valve covers were difficult because the castings are not really "perfect", and I left a few unnoticeable bad spots (on a 117 engine). The ones I did came off of an early 80's car; mine (86) really seem to be cast better. However, they turned out very well overall.

I'm also a little concerned about their being spotlessly cleaned before installation - I don't want to give my engine an automatic overbore with any grit that may have gotten attached to the remaining oil inside. I hope to find a shop that does cleaning/degreasing around here before I install it.

The fan was a nightmare. I don't recommend doing this. The metal seemed to take a polish well but also seems to develop oxidation almost immediately (maybe it's magnesium?), so I may put clearcoat or something on it. I also worried about unbalancing it - the idea of flying fanblades coming off at 3000 RPM concerns me. I left some bad spots on this also because of the "taking too much off" issue, but overall it should look pretty schnazzy.

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86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm