fireboltgirl
Donation Time
One more Series 3 question.....Should the valve cover have any kind of a plating or finish? Was it simply left as natural aluminum?
Thanks!
Kim
Series 3
Tiger 2
Thanks!
Kim
Series 3
Tiger 2
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finish on Series 3 valve cover
- Thread starter fireboltgirl
- Start date
John Boggis
Donation Time
Bob, what is period correct about a polished cover ?
65beam
Donation Time
valve cover
john,
where were you in the sixties? in this country all kinds of things were being done to cars. many here in the states removed items such as bumpers, grills, hub caps etc. these were also period modifications. i had my first valve cover polished in 1970 when i had paeco build my street/race motor for the series 4. period modification! at that time i added BIG lights to the car also. had a real problem keeping the battery up with the aircraft landing lights. maybe you should check out some of my old auto world catalogs to see some of the bolt on period modifications that were available for all cars. amco made a ton of items for all makes. look at the mods being made to the tuner cars of today? same ideas, different times! all period modifications.
john,
where were you in the sixties? in this country all kinds of things were being done to cars. many here in the states removed items such as bumpers, grills, hub caps etc. these were also period modifications. i had my first valve cover polished in 1970 when i had paeco build my street/race motor for the series 4. period modification! at that time i added BIG lights to the car also. had a real problem keeping the battery up with the aircraft landing lights. maybe you should check out some of my old auto world catalogs to see some of the bolt on period modifications that were available for all cars. amco made a ton of items for all makes. look at the mods being made to the tuner cars of today? same ideas, different times! all period modifications.
John Boggis
Donation Time
Bob, as the original question is in the factory correct section of this forum I don't think that a polished cover would be period correct for a series 3 Alpine produced in 1963.
65beam
Donation Time
valve cover
john,
it didn't come from the factory with a polished finish. probably due to some cost cutting on the part of rootes due to their financial situation. but you have to admit that rootes had them cast in a way that it's very easy to polish them. and thay look so nice! it would do wonders for the the engine compartment of your car. makes the factory oil leaks easy to see also. another question i have for you is why do you never show the undercarriage of your car? how clean and correct is the underside? i'm sure there are folks out there that could use the help in putting their cars together.
john,
it didn't come from the factory with a polished finish. probably due to some cost cutting on the part of rootes due to their financial situation. but you have to admit that rootes had them cast in a way that it's very easy to polish them. and thay look so nice! it would do wonders for the the engine compartment of your car. makes the factory oil leaks easy to see also. another question i have for you is why do you never show the undercarriage of your car? how clean and correct is the underside? i'm sure there are folks out there that could use the help in putting their cars together.
alpine_64
Donation Time
The factory finish as stated by John is the dull as cast finish, as per the header tanks, manifolds and other alloy parts.
As for "period correct", polishing certainly fits the bill.. i have a personal preference for polishing the rocker covers, header tanks and manifold (especially the rough cast parts as it makes them MUCH easier to clean as debris doesnt get caught in the rough finish.
Recently the guy with the SIVGT shell on ebay was selling off other parts for that project, he had polished the brake and clutch MC bodies too... might be a bit much for me.. but each to their own..
As for "period correct", polishing certainly fits the bill.. i have a personal preference for polishing the rocker covers, header tanks and manifold (especially the rough cast parts as it makes them MUCH easier to clean as debris doesnt get caught in the rough finish.
Recently the guy with the SIVGT shell on ebay was selling off other parts for that project, he had polished the brake and clutch MC bodies too... might be a bit much for me.. but each to their own..
John Boggis
Donation Time
Bob, I have answered this question before when you asked on a previous thread. Unfortunately I do not have a ramp at home, so can not photograph the underside but when the car is next on a garage ramp I will take some pics.
alpine_64
Donation Time
Limey
Donation Time
Hi Kim,
What I did was to hand polish out all the dinks and scratches using very fine sheet (1200) with a final polish to mirror to remove the last fine damage of 40+ years. this left a polished cover that was not period. What I did next is a bit painful but I then de-polished it using a very fine abrasive nylon pad, very lightly, vry laboriously.
This matted the surface back to as close to original as makes no odds. I am satisfied that it is a good match as I have NOS cast items that are the same finish as near as dammit.
It took many evenings of tedious work but it does look period correct which is always better than bling IMHO.
Good luck
Oliver
John Boggis
Donation Time
Michael, I was thinking of building a ramp to get the car in the air and then get someone to lay in front of the car and take the picture as it comes down...any suggestions of who i could get to lay in front of the car .Hey john.. you have a flat bed scanner?
alpine_64
Donation Time
Michael, I was thinking of building a ramp to get the car in the air and then get someone to lay in front of the car and take the picture as it comes down...any suggestions of who i could get to lay in front of the car .
Im sure we could call for volunteers.. but you just have to make sure that the car gets its wheels to the ground, even in stock form the cars dont have much clearence, choose the wrong person and it might get caught on the camerra mans head...
alpine1963
Diamond Level Sponsor
Hey Kim,
It was a pleasure to meet you at the Invasion. You are a great asset to our club and your desire to build a factory correct Series 3 has to be admired by many. Don't feel bad for asking questions. Every question you have asked there are many of us that really would like to know the answer too. The most frustrating part of bringing back one of these cars to those specs are the lack of recorded information that is available to us. We do have an "archive" for these cars but it is practically non-existent. Many other marques have very detailed information abut every paint color for every part. I have a friend here in Columbia that can find out every detail on a Jaguar that you could possibly imagine. All we have here are a few people that have been around for awhile and can offer advice on what they have seen through the years. We are very grateful to have them but that does not get us to the absolute factory correctness we need. Bob and John both have beautiful cars that any of us would love to own and we are thankful for their insight. But, why can't we get the archive department to share to information we need?????? I'm sure we would love to help them out with what they need if it is financial donations are whatever.
Kim, keep your drive to build this beautiful Series 3 and thanks for being in the Alpine community with us.
Cheers,
It was a pleasure to meet you at the Invasion. You are a great asset to our club and your desire to build a factory correct Series 3 has to be admired by many. Don't feel bad for asking questions. Every question you have asked there are many of us that really would like to know the answer too. The most frustrating part of bringing back one of these cars to those specs are the lack of recorded information that is available to us. We do have an "archive" for these cars but it is practically non-existent. Many other marques have very detailed information abut every paint color for every part. I have a friend here in Columbia that can find out every detail on a Jaguar that you could possibly imagine. All we have here are a few people that have been around for awhile and can offer advice on what they have seen through the years. We are very grateful to have them but that does not get us to the absolute factory correctness we need. Bob and John both have beautiful cars that any of us would love to own and we are thankful for their insight. But, why can't we get the archive department to share to information we need?????? I'm sure we would love to help them out with what they need if it is financial donations are whatever.
Kim, keep your drive to build this beautiful Series 3 and thanks for being in the Alpine community with us.
Cheers,
tony perrett
Gold Level Sponsor
Most cars that you see will have had the covers polished at some time but to attain a finish fairly close to original, either dry bead or vapour bead blasting is probably the answer.